9.  The Names on the War Memorial

Bernard “Jack” Andrews was the son of Arthur and Elizabeth Andrews, who lived in High Street. His father was foreman at the corn merchant’s. Jack was 18 in 1917 and joined up, much to his mother’s distress. He was promoted to Lance-Corporal. He was killed by a shell at 4 o’clock in the morning while he was asleep, on 8 May 1918. His captain described him as a “very jolly boy”, “one of the star turns of my company”. He served in the 1st Battalion King’s Rifle Corps. There is more about him here .  CIP 31 May 1918, picture

Harry Andrews was no relation to Jack above. He was a private in the 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. His father was an agricultural labourer, and the family lived in Newton, then subsequently Little and then Great Shelford. He was 36 in 1914, and a regular soldier. By the time of his death he had served for about 23 years. He married in about 1910, and had twin boys, Walter and Arthur. His wife also lived in High Street. He was killed on 28 September 1917 in France. CIP 9 Nov & 28 Dec 1917, picture

Stanley Ayre

Stanley Fawcett Ayre was the son of a widow, Ella Hudson. His father had been an engineer. His mother had remarried, and been widowed for a second time. It is not clear what brought them to Shelford, but the University is a possibility. She came to Shelford in the early 1900s, rented a couple of cottages, then built herself Dial House in Buristead Road.

Before the war Stanley apparently joined the Imperial Yeomanry, but bought himself out in 1912 (he would then have been twenty-two). Army pension records show that he enlisted in the Inns of Court OTC (territorials) in 1915, served for roughly 50 days, and was discharged home. They list his profession as rubber planter. In September 1915 he embarked for France, now a member of the Royal Field Artillery. In June 1917 he was made up to 2nd Lieutenant. He was killed on 30 November 1917, aged 27.

Arthur Benstead was a private in B company, 11th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, and a volunteer. The Bensteads were a Swaffham Prior family, but father Frederick had taken a job as horsekeeper at Granhams Farm in Great Shelford. Young Arthur was a farm labourer. He was part of the Somme offensive in 1916, and was wounded on July 14 in the face. He returned to the Front and was killed on 28 April 1917, aged 21. July14 1916, picture CC Jul 19 1916.

Noel Boreham was a private in the 7th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, and a volunteer, part of Kitchener’s Army. He was part of the Somme offensive, and was killed on 3 July 1916, the third day in. He was a domestic servant with Rev. Willey Nettleship, who was the priest at his home parish of Brockley, near Bury St Edmunds. Nettleship became vicar at Great Shelford in 1911, and Noel, then aged 19, presumably came with him.

Three Chapman brothers: Henry, Josiah and Alfred

Henry was the eldest brother, aged 30 when the war broke out. Josiah was 25, and Alfred 19.  The family in 1911 lived in the Old Pound Yard. Father Daniel was an agricultural labourer and horsekeeper. The three brothers all served in different regiments.

Josiah was the first Shelford man to die, killed on 16 November 1914. He had been a regular soldier, and a private in the 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. In 1911 he was serving in Bermuda and Jamaica.

Alfred was an agricultural labourer and served in the 1st Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment, undoubtedly one of the cohort which was recruited in spring 1914. He was killed on 20 July 1916, on the Somme.

Henry too was an agricultural labourer and a volunteer, serving in the 11th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. This suggests he volunteered as war broke out (Kitchener’s Army). He was the last brother to be killed, in April 1918. At various points they were sent home to be nursed by their mother and sister because, according to a member of the family, “they had frostbite, were covered in lice and were just so unwell by being in the trenches for so long”. Three brothers lost, a terrible burden for one family. The loss of "these three lovely men" scarred the family, but was little talked about, perhaps simply too painful.

Sidney Clarke

Sidney was the only son of the shepherd on Shelford Bottom farm. He was one of those only just old enough to fight towards the end of the war. The family had obviously moved around a bit, but his mother was a Stapleford woman. Sidney was killed in action on Saturday, 23rd March 1918. The CIP tells us on 26 Jul 1918 that Mr and Mrs Clarke of Shelford Bottom had had news that their only son, rifleman O. S. Clarke, of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps was reported missing. Sadly, on November 30 they further reported that he had died in Germany. This was after the war had ended. Sometimes news was slow in coming.

Two Colchester brothers, Bernard and Edward

The Colchester family lived at what is now 89 Hinton Way. The father described himself in 1911 as having “private means”. In fact he had made his money, along with his brother, as a manure merchant. He was originally from Ipswich, but had moved into Cambridgeshire coprolites, and his wife was a Cambridge woman. The couple had 5 children (having previously lost 2 sons, reason unknown). By 1911 they had 3 children at home, a daughter Dorothy who is said to have become Cambridgeshire’s first policewoman, Geoffrey a student, and Bernard who was going into law. Bernard was then 21. Geoffrey, Bernard and an elder brother Edward all served in the forces. Edward’s second name was Cromwell, and it was claimed that he was directly descended from the Lord Protector through his grandmother.

Bernard Colchester

Bernard had spent 10 years in Canada, and first served as a private in the Canadian Scottish Regiment. Subsequently he transferred to the Bedfordshire Regiment, where he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. He had been in six actions in France. He was killed on 25 April 1917, during an attack on Greenland Hill, near Arras, when machine guns took their toll. His father heard “unofficially” that he had been shot through the heart. Bernard was the youngest son, and the second son lost. More information here:

http://www.bedfordregiment.org.uk/6thbn/6thbtnofficersdied.html

See CIP 11 May 1917 for a report of his death.

Edward Colchester

Bernard’s elder brother Edward had joined the merchant navy as a young man, serving also on the naval reserve. He then went into the peacetime royal navy. After the war broke out, he served as a Lieutenant on HMS Irresistible which was initially employed in escorting troop ships to France, making a total of 187 journeys back and forth. Then his ship was sent to the Dardanelles. The Dardanelles straits were of great strategic importance, and action there was designed to open up the war against Germany in the light of stalemate on the Western Front. Initially it was a naval action, but would later be followed by military invasion. His letters, as quoted in the newspaper report, are full of reassurance to himself and his parents, and the strong assertion that he was doing his duty, and that they would win out. He was killed on 18 March 1915, age 31. The ship was struck by a mine, but it appears that Edward had died in the preceding action. He was described as “a man of indefatigable energy, yet modest to a degree”. The whole Dardanelles enterprise was ill-fated and eventually abandoned, more waste of life. CIP Mar 26 1915 for article and picture.

The third Colchester brother, Geoffrey, was a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers and survived. He won the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry under heavy shell-fire. He had been working as an engineer in the USA, but came home on the outbreak of war to volunteer. CIP 27 Oct 1916.

Albert Crawley

No obvious candidate

Albert Davies

Appears in the Roll of Honour as a private in the Suffolk Regiment, but not a Kitchener man. He was married. In 1911 he was living in a small cottage in Woollards Lane with his wife and family. He was a bricklayer’s labourer, aged 36. He came from the London area, but had married a Shelford woman. He was killed on 11 June 1915.

Victor Dean (Albert Victor)

Victor was the son of a labouring family from Tunwells (Poplar) Lane. His mother was widowed early, and Albert remained at home. He worked as a maltster. He was not on the roll of service, so was probably conscripted. He was one of 66 casualties from the 4th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment on 23 April 1917. He was 33 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. An In Memoriam entry appears in the CIP 25 Apr 1919 “In loving memory of Albert Victor Dean of Poplar Lane, Great Shelford”.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/43688219@N00/3155058446/

Two Devereux brothers

The Devereux family originated from Jersey, but moved to Cambridgeshire. Walter Devereux, the brothers’ father, was the West Cambridgeshire Conservative agent, while his own father had been a rear-admiral in the navy. The family lived at Honington House in Woodlands Road. When war broke out Walter devoted himself to the war effort, while his three sons all served in the forces - Humphrey William, Edmund Bourchier and Robert de Bohun Devereux. Only Robert survived the war and went on to fight in the Second World War. He attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Scots, and died in 1981.

Humphrey Devereux died age 22 on June 26 1916. He was killed by a shell in the trenches. When the family moved to Cambridge, he attended the Perse School. He was in his second year at Corpus Christi when war broke out. In spite of his youth, he became an officer, receiving a commission in the South Staffordshire Regiment, a territorial unit, and he went to France in February 1915. He was wounded once in October, and returned to France 6 months later. In May 1916 he was promoted to lieutenant. Shortly afterwards he was killed. His officer’s letter said that: “he was my best subaltern, and in a few weeks would have been recommended for promotion to captain”. He speaks of Humphrey’s “fearless resolution”.

The newspaper article also notes that Humphrey’s father was working in the YMCA huts in France, obviously needing to support his sons in any way he could. One cannot but feel for poor Mrs Devereux, left to worry alone at home.

Report CIP 7 July 1916, picture

Edmund Devereux was also 22 when he was killed. He had joined the navy in peacetime. In 1915 he was serving as sub-lieutenant on the Warrior. In January 1917 he volunteered to join the RNAS. By the time of his death, on 26 November 1917, he was serving on HM Airship P2. He was killed while on patrol off the Orkneys.

http://www.greatwarci.net/honour/jersey/database/devereux-eb-chatham.htm

CIP 7 Dec 1917. Picture on Ancestry

Christopher Flack

The Flacks were a Cambridgeshire family, and had lived in Shelford for over 20 years. Christopher’s father was an agricultural labourer and later a gardener, employed by the Gaskell family, and lived for a while at Uplands Cottage. Subsequently Christopher’s parents lived (in 1918) at 3 Granta Terrace. Theirs was a big family, but only Christopher was listed in the 1915 Roll of Service. However, it seems that brother Hubert also served. Christopher was a volunteer in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He died from the effects of gas on 5 May 1918. He was 27. It was some time before his parents learnt of his death. By this stage in the war, details given in the newspaper are very scant. Perhaps there had been too many deaths by then.

CDN 7 July 1918.

William Fordham

William Fordham was a married man, aged 34 in 1914. He worked as a domestic gardener. The couple lived in one of the Willifield Cottages on High Green, and had 3 children. Little Arthur died in 1915, when he was 7.

William served as a private in the 8th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, and was killed in action on 17 February 1917.

Alexander Free

Alexander Free and his wife both came from Castle Camps, where they were living in 1911. He is described as a general carrier, a man with a horse and cart who transported goods. They must have moved to Shelford. When Alexander was killed, on 22 November 1917, his wife was living in Oakfield Cottage (in Hinton Way, Great Shelford). Alexander was 32. He served as a private in the 4th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. His officer’s letter states “We were coming out of action on the night of the 22nd of November, when an enemy shell exploded and killed him instantly”. He reassures her that her husband did not suffer, and that he is buried “in a little cemetery behind our lines”. How hard these letters must have been to write. CIP 21 Dec 1917.

Victor George

The George family had a rather complicated relationship with the war. Sophia George was a widow who ran a newsagent and general stores in Woollards Lane, where Brunch Base and Shelford Spice now are. She had eight sons. Harold had married and left home: he was doing war work on planes. Fred and Clarence were conscientious objectors. Reuben was exempted on grounds of a reserved occupation, growing food as a nurseryman. Up till then, Victor had worked with his brothers in the nursery. He joined up in August 1915, and had been in France for 14 months when he was killed. He was a pioneer in the Royal Engineers - these were the men who dug and maintained trenches, laid communications cables, built bridges and generally did manual labour - and for 6 months he served as batman to the lieutenant. Victor was killed on November 14 1917 by a sniper’s bullet in Belgium. He was awarded a medal for bravery by the Belgian government. He was Mrs George’s sixth son, and was 33 when he died. CIP 30 Nov 1917.

Jack Hardy

Jack came from a Great Chesterford family. He seems to have been brought up by his grandparents. His uncle Fred Hardy was working as foreman at Shelford Bottom Farm, and most likely got Jack a job with him. Fred’s own son, Frank, went to the war early on, served in the 8th Royal Berks Regiment.  By 1918 he was reported as being in the Warwickshire Regiment. He became a Second Lieutenant. He was reported missing in March 1918, but by June Mr and Mrs Hardy had received a letter from their son stating that  he was a POW in Germany and well. However, things did not go so well with Jack.

I believe that Jack was stockman on the farm. His employer applied three times to have him placed on the reserved list, but he was only granted short periods of exemption, and obliged to re-apply. Finally in November 1916 the military representative on the tribunal proposed to swap Jack for another man, and Jack was sent off to the front. He served in the 2nd Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment. He was killed on 8 May 1918. Clearly his aunt and uncle were like parents to him, and they posted “in memory” notices in the newspaper on the anniversary of his death.

Jack Hardy CIP 28 Jul 1916, CIP 10 Nov 1916

Frank Hardy, CIP 19 Apr 1918, 28 Jun 1918

Herbert Harvey

Herbert Sidney Harvey was an agricultural labourer. He had married a widow who was 15 years older than himself, and had one stepdaughter. He was a recent arrival in Shelford, and in December 1915 the couple had a son baptized in Shelford. He served in the Second Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. He was killed on 20 July 1916, at the Somme. His wife Ruth was then living in King’s Mill Lane. He was 27 when he died.

Jack Hill

In 1911 Jack Hill, 27, schoolmaster, of Battersea married Lily Squires, a labourer’s daughter. She was cook at the Gaskell residence, Uplands, and came originally from Horningsea. A Jack Hill can be found in the London Regiment, and is listed in the LCC record of war service. I suspect that he taught in London, and joined a local regiment, but appeared on our war memorial because he taught at Shelford School for a while.

George Hodge

George Hodge was almost certainly one of the cohort which joined the Cambridgeshire territorial regiment in April 1914, and would have been 19 at the time. His father William was the farm bailiff (manager) at Maris Farm on High Green, and had lived there since the mid-1890s. George was his fifth child, and worked as a domestic gardener. He was killed on 27 April 1918, aged 23.

In May 1918 Mr and Mrs Hodge heard officially that their son Second Lieutenant GW Hodge of the Lincolnshire Regiment, who had been missing since 27 April, was dead. Mr Hodge had previously served as a sergeant in the Cambridgeshire Regiment. CIP 24 May 1918.

William Housden

William Housden came from a Shelford family: his father was a boot and shoemaker. William became a domestic gardener, working for Colonel Hurrell at Trinity House, just off Cambridge Road, where he became head gardener. He was a very successful gardener who took many prizes at local shows. There he met his wife Edith who was also in service there. The couple married in 1911, and had one child, Gladys. William does not appear in the 1915 Roll of Service, but nevertheless I was told that he joined the Cambridgeshire Regiment and served with Bert Freestone, son of the village baker. Later he was transferred to the Suffolk Regiment. His employer, Col Hurrell had, pre-war, been commanding officer of the Cambridgeshire Regiment, and doubtless would have encouraged William to sign up. In November 1917, he was wounded in the arm, hip and thigh. He was taken to a clearing-station which was shelled. He was blown to pieces and hence had no known grave. He was 33.

James Jeffery (Horace James)

James came from another long-standing Shelford family. His father worked for the Great Eastern Railway as a ticket collector. The family lived at Oakfield Cottages in Hinton Way. James was a farm labourer. He married a Trumpington girl in 1913. It looks as if the family moved to London, as Horace served in the London Regiment (10th Royal Fusiliers), and his wife’s address is given as Lewisham. In fact he served with three different units: briefly with the 6th South Staffordshire Regiment, then the 12th Royal Fusiliers, and then with the 10th.  He joined up in 1916, and served for 16 months in France. He died on 4 November 1918, of “wounds received in the last great battle in which the battalion was engaged”, so very close to the end.

CDN 5 Dec 1918

Gladys Jones

Gladys was one of the daughters of dentist Alfred Jones who lived in The Spinney, a large house just off London Road. Like many of the local upper middle-class women, Gladys was keen to take a part in the war effort. She joined one of the volunteer nursing units called Voluntary Aid Detachments or VADs, working for the Red Cross, which opened a number of hospitals around Cambridgeshire, including one in Great Shelford. She was around 30 at the time, and obviously very competent. She served as the hospital quartermaster, which involved dealing with all the provisioning of the hospital. She served thus for two years, then she went to serve overseas as a VAD, a nursing orderly, at the Dardanelles. She died of malaria at Salonika age 31 years (CIP 31 Aug 1917). 

James Kidman

It hasn’t proved possible to identify James Kidman for sure. There is a William J. Kidman on the Roll of Service. If J stands for James, then this may be him.

Edward Kinsey

The Kinsey family lived in Granta Terrace. Edward’s father worked at the corn mill. Edward himself was a bricklayer, and worked at Barrington Cement Works. He served in the 218th Field Co. of the Royal Engineers. He died on 13th August 1917. He had not been in France very long. He joined the army on May 16 1916 (a conscript?), but it was a year before he was sent to France, on May 30 1917. The account of his death, as told by first his officer, and then his comrade, must have been particularly distressing to his wife and parents. A party of men was returning from working in the trenches. Edward and a second man were hit by a shell. They were killed, and their remains blown into a canal. Though his unit dragged the canal, it was to no avail: his body could not be found.  He was 28 years old and left a wife and two children.

CIP 31 Aug 1917

Bertie Law

Bertie Law worked at Georges’ nursery. The family lived in Old Pound Yard on High Street, a labouring family. His parents were Mr and Mrs James Law. James was a groom/chauffeur, in domestic service. The father was a Shelford man, the mother a Stapleford woman.

He was a private in the 1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment, another one of those who had joined up in April 1914, aged 18, as a territorial. He had returned from training camp and spent 1 ½ days at work before he was called up. He was killed in action on 3rd August 1915. He was serving with Privates Ernest and William Scarr, also Shelford lads (who I think were cousins), and they wrote to his mother on his death (It is a curious fact that soldiers always seemed to write to the soldier’s mother, not to both parents). They described how they were in a trench a little way behind the “fire trench”. Bertie was sitting with his upper body exposed and he took a sniper’s bullet near the heart, died within a few minutes. They describe his funeral: it was conducted by the Brigade chaplain, and after the service the chaplain laid a cross of blue and white flowers on the grave. In due course a cross would be erected there. The lads themselves helped carry him to the grave, and “when we had finished we planted some flowers on it”.

CIP 13 Aug 1915, report and picture

George Martin

George Martin was a rifleman in the 1/2nd (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers), part of the London Regiment, which was a territorial unit. The Martins came from Isleham. Benjamin Martin brought the family to Great Shelford, and for a time ran a grocer’s shop which was on High Green, now demolished and replaced by Kingfisher House. George was born in 1890, and Frederick was two years younger. Both volunteered for the army.

George was killed in action on 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, probably part of the diversionary attack at Gommecourt. He was 28.

Frederick, the youngest son was a lieutenant. The newspaper reported that he was wounded on June 3 1917, and “is now in hospital in London and progressing satisfactorily” (CIP 15 Jun 1917). Another son William was a meat trader, and gained conditional exemption while he brokered a deal which would help national food supplies.

Hubert Nutter

Hubert (he was variously known as Hubert and Herbert) was a surveyor. The family were Londoners, from Finchley, and his father was a wholesale haberdasher. They were quite affluent. In 1911 Hubert lived in Fulbourn with his widowed mother. Subsequently she rented “Ardmore”, no. 17 High Street, in Great Shelford. Hubert volunteered, and served in the Suffolk Regiment. He was stationed for a time at Stowlangtoft, which was probably how he met his wife, who was from Great Barton in Suffolk. They married in December 1916. He was a Captain in the 5th Battalion of the Suffolks. He was killed in action on Saturday, 16 June 1917, aged 33. Later his wife remarried.

Bury Free Press 30 June 1917

Ernest Orriss

Ernest Orriss was another of the volunteers in the Cambridgeshire Regiment. The family came from Hundon, near Haverhill, and father Walter was a shepherd. Sometime after 1911 he moved the family to Shelford. Ernest himself may have gone to live in Lolworth, as a report of his death says that this is where he joined up. He was killed in action on 3 December 1916, age 23. CIP 15 Dec 1916

William Rose

William Rose was a private in the 7th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. The family had long roots in Shelford, but William’s father was born in Whitechapel. He worked as a platelayer on the railway, and had brought his family back to their roots in Shelford.  The family lived in Station Road (now Woollards Lane). William started work as a farm labourer, then became a porter on the Great Eastern Railway at Stratford (sons often followed their fathers onto the railways). A few months before the war, he had returned home on account of  health problems, and at the end of August 1914 he volunteered for the army. He went out to France in February 1915, and was wounded twice, returning home each time to recover. He was killed in action on Thursday, 9th August 1917, aged 24. His company sergeant-major’s letter gave an account of his last hours: he was a Lewis gunner, and he was working under heavy fire. A bullet hit him, and he died.

CIP 14 Sep 1917, Picture CC Jul 19 1916 (when wounded for the second time, at the Somme)

Hugh Rutter

Hugh Rutter is something of a mystery. His father, Augustus Rutter, was a Cambridge accountant living in Tenison Road, then Chesterton Hall Crescent. Hugh was born in 1899, and it is hard to know what his connection with Shelford was. Is it possible he was educated here? He was only old enough to join the war towards the end. Initially he was in the Machine Gun Corps, but he was transferred to the Tank Corps. Tanks at this time were pretty new technology. He was killed in action on Sunday, 14th April 1918, aged 19. He was born in Cambridge, enlisted at Warwick, which makes him even more of a mystery.

CIP 3 May 1918

William Saunders

William’s father, William senior, was a carrier and publican. William was born in the Railway Tavern in 1892. Subsequently they moved to Rose Cottage, no. 58 High Street. After William left school he went into domestic service first in the village, and later in Scotland. When war broke out he joined the King’s Own Scottish Borderers. In due course he was sent to Africa. In July 1918 he went to Nairobi where he was transferred to the African Rifles. On 31 December 1918, well after the end of the war, he died of malaria and influenza, and was buried on 1 January 1919 on his 27th birthday. He was the only son. Unlike so many others, he has a gravestone in Great Shelford, in St Mary’s graveyard. I am not sure if he is buried here or Nairobi. 

Great Shelford Village News, Nov 2001, CIP 10 Jan 1919.

Bertram Scarr

Bertie’s family lived in High Street: his father William was a limeburner. The eldest son Ernest volunteered for the Cambridgeshire Regiment – he would be 19 when war broke out. Bertie was younger – he was 17 in 1914.

He served in the 1st Battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment, and was killed in action on Wednesday, 26th September 1917.

A member of the family told me that:

My grandad Ernie Scarr  (Bertram’s Brother) carried his body back after he fell by his side in the battle of the Somme. My Grandad received the Military medal for his actions in the storming of the Swarbens Redoubt on the Somme.

Award of Ernest’s medal reported CDN 16 Feb 1917.

Ada Sillitoe

The Sillitoes lived in the cottages abutting the Road and Rail, a pub on the corner of Woollards Lane and London Road. Ada’s father, like many of the other families I’ve looked at, was a gardener, and she was one of three daughters. She herself was born in Shelford, and by 1918 she was 18, only just eligible to join up. Clearly Ada wanted to “do her bit” for the war. It wasn’t just the boys who wanted a bit of adventure. She enlisted in the Women’s Royal Air Force. There were various sites around the country where planes were based, and women were much used for the work, doing maintenance, repairs and other work. We don’t know the circumstances of her death, but she died Friday, 8th November 1918.

In Great Shelford church cemetery, there is a CWGC monument to her. This website also shows a tombstone in Keighley cemetery.

http://twgpp.org/information.php?id=3185032

The entry in the death registers shows that the death is registered at Elham, Kent. It is difficult to interpret these varied pieces of information.

Richard Sindall

William Sindall, Richard’s father, ran a Cambridge building firm. He also served on the borough council. The business was a very successful one, one of those that undertook college work. The family had homes both in Cambridge, and at The Elms in Great Shelford (where Elms Avenue now is). Richard and an older brother William were both captains in the Cambridgeshire territorial regiment pre-war. When war was declared, they, like everyone else, were called up. The regiment was sent to France on 14 February 1915. William was injured and invalided home in April 1915. He did not return to the Front. Richard was involved in fighting near Ypres. He died of wounds on 1st July 1915, aged 26. He had been injured by the bursting of a shell, with 15 wounds to his legs and back. His wounding and death were mentioned in H C Few’s diary:

On June 29 1915 Hobbs Farm was shelled with HE and one dropping short in 86 killed 1 and wounded 4 men, including RE Sindall who died a few days later.

See also The Home Front 1.

George Sparrow

George Sparrow’s family lived in 1911 at 11 Granta Terrace, on the Stapleford side of the road (Granta Terrace straddles the boundary). They were a Suffolk family, had moved here within the last few years. His father was a gardener, working at one of the big houses. There were six children. The eldest son, Thomas, was a soldier in the regular army, and is shown on the Roll of Service as serving in the Coldstream Guards. George was 18 in 1911 and worked in a butcher’s shop.

George seems to have been Alfred George, and he served in the 18th Battalion of the Lancashire Regiment. He was killed on 22 October 1917. I don’t know the circumstances of his death.

Edward Spearing

James Spearing was a Cambridge solicitor. Originally from Hampshire, he’d married a Cambridge wife. In 1911 the family lived in Parkside. Edward was the only son. He was born in 1890, and educated at the Perse School. He had taken his degree, then attended Emmanuel College. Like his father he was going into the law, and would presumably have become a partner in the practice. He was a Lieutenant in the 4th Battalion of the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), a territorial regiment. He served from August 1914, and volunteered for foreign service. He embarked for France in 1915. He was wounded once near Fricourt on 30 December 1915 and invalided home, but returned to the front in April 1916. He was killed in action near Delville Wood, while leading his company in an attack on the German trenches, and buried where he fell. This was part of the Somme offensive. He was initially reported missing on September 11 1916, but in October it was confirmed that he had died on that day. His Commanding Officer wrote: “He was commanding the Company and pulling it together awfully well. He was a splendid fellow and had no idea of fear. We will all miss him greatly.” He was 26. At some point his parents took up residence at Troodos, no. 38 Tunwells Lane, which is why he appears on our war memorial.

CIP 6 Oct 1916, www.roll-of-honour.com for the Perse School

David Titchmarsh

The Titchmarsh family came to Great Shelford from Hemingford Grey when David was 9. David senior was a labourer at the flour mill. Young David was the youngest of three boys. He was brought up in one of the cottages on Woollards Lane, where the chemists shop now stands, and was educated at the British School. After leaving he was employed as a hurdle-maker. I was surprised to see that hurdles were made locally – it seems very old-fashioned, but of course they had many agricultural uses, as well as making decorative fencing for the growing number of upper-middle class households in the village who liked a nice garden (hence also the number of men employed as domestic gardeners).

David was one of the group of men who signed up for the Cambridgeshire Regiment before the war, and embarked for France on 14 February 1915. According to the family, he died when, after returning from leave, gas intended for the Germans blew back over our own lines. This was on 31 July 1917. He would be about 24. His brother William, who was 24 and a milkman, joined Kitchener’s Army in September 1914, signing up at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. He served in the 11th battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. He survived.

Great Shelford Village News, Dec. 2001

Edmund Williams

Edmund’s father, George “Nanny” Williams, ran a grocer’s and draper’s shop on Woollards Lane (then called Station Road). The shop is now a chinese restaurant. Throughout the war, Edmund’s sister (who was a governess) was engaged to conscientious objector Edgar Turner, and married him after the war. Edmund helped with the family business. It appears that Edmund served first in the Bedfordshire Regiment, then the 9th Battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. He was part of the Somme offensive, and he was killed in action on 14th July 1916, aged 25.

**Charles Winder** Village hall memorial only

Possible identification. Smith Winders was a railway labourer, living in Histon in 1911 and also at the time of his son’s death. My supposition is that he might have been transferred to Shelford to work (railwaymen tended to move around over the course of their careers). Charles was 11 in 1911.

Ernest W Wright

Widowed Mrs Wright lived at Ashwell Cottage off High Street (no. 54), in the same terrace as the Saunders family above. Her husband had been an agricultural labourer. Ernest was the youngest boy, and, in 1911, aged 16, he was an errand boy. He volunteered for Kitchener’s Army, as did his elder brother John, and they served in the 11th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. Ernest was killed in action on 8 June 1917. His death was announced in the Official List (CDN 7 July 1917).

Notes

Kitchener’s Army.

Kitchener became Minister for War on the day that war was declared, and immediately began a recruiting campaign, creating what was called Kitchener’s Army. Additional battalions were raised in existing regiments such as the Suffolk Regiment, where you will see Shelford men in the 7th and 11th Regiments.

The men were required to agree to new "general service" terms of three years or the duration of the war (whichever was longer) and to being sent to serve anywhere the army needed them.

Sources

Several attempts have been made to fill in some detail about the men who appear on Great Shelford war memorial, notably Phil Curme's research which appears on the British Legion's Roll of Honour website http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Cambridgeshire/GreatShelford.html, and an article which appears in Great Shelford Village News, November 2001.

The Roll of Service makes a very good starting point in confirming identification, as it gives most (though not, I believe, all) the names of those who were in service in July 1915, together with their units.

Recent developments in the family history world have made the research much easier. The 1911 census is available online, and is close enough to the war to help identify families who previously did not appear to have any link with the village. The availability, and facility for searching newspapers of the war period, available on the Findmypast website has made it possible to find casualty reports and pictures, and confirm tentative identifications. Currently the Cambridge Independent Press is available, but for those with determination, the Cambridge Chronicle can be searched at the Cambridgeshire Collection on microfilm, and may yield more information still.

I have made contact with a few families whose relatives' names appear on the war memorial, and they have contributed family testimony.

I have compared and contrasted all these sources, and am pretty confident that my identification of the men is correct.

I hope it will be clear by now that, while some of the families were thoroughly grounded in Great Shelford, and had been for a long time, others were merely transitory residents. But whichever they were, they were all bound together by the great cataclysm which befell the country - the 1914 to 1918 war.

v1 © Helen Harwood, uploaded February 2025