In Memoriam - A tribute to five fallen soldiers on Armistice Day/Veterans Day

Lest We Forget

I, like many others, have been deeply moved by the commemorative display of 888,246 poppies at the Tower of London. Each one represents a British or colonial soldier who fell in the First World War. Today, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month will mark 96 years since the armistice, after four long years of fighting, the collapse of the Russian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and German empires, and the deaths of over 37 million people.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

(For the Fallen - Laurence Binyon)

And today I took the opportunity, during the two-minute silence, to think of five fallen soldiers in particular whose stories have captivated, intrigued and/or touched me in some way.

Sgt/Warrant Officer Thomas Harper Bond (1886-1920)

My great grandfather Thomas, photographed in February 1915 while training in Conway, Wales

                                                             

First and foremost, my great-grandfather, Thomas Harper Bond. Thomas was born in Stretford and lived in Salford for most of his short life. He first joined the Army when he was 16, and served for eight years with the Manchester Regiment, until about 1910. He was recalled in February 1915, just six months after he had got married. His unit went to France later that year, where he experienced horrific trench warfare, including the Battle of the Somme where his battalion lost half its strength on just the first day. He was discharged in early 1917 with valvular disease of the heart, a condition likely caused by a bacterial infection (rheumatic fever) contracted in the trenches. Sadly, he never fully recovered and died in 1920 at the age of 34, leaving a widow with a three-year-old son to bring up on her own.

Commonweath War Graves Commission entry: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/75450574/BOND,%20THOMAS%20HARPER


Gunner Henry John Kingham (1883-1914)

Grave of Henry John Kingham at Oxford Road Cemetery, Ypres

The great-grandfather of my friend, Vicky. A horsekeeper by profession, Henry was one of the earliest recruits. He was sent call-up papers on 5 August 1914, just one day after Britain entered the "Great" War. It is likely that Henry's battalion, The Royal Horse Artillery, needed his expertise with horses. Tragedy struck just a week after Henry arrived in Flanders. On 30 October 1914, during the withdrawal from Zandvoorde, his unit came under heavy fire. Henry was last seen holding the Battery staff horses before they were killed by a shell. Henry was married with four young children and his wife, Charlotte, was pregnant with their fifth baby at the time. Charlotte desperately tried to find out what had happened to him, but it took the authorities until January 1915 to tell her that he was presumed dead. Shockingly, it was another six years before his body was finally recovered and buried in Oxford Road Cemetery in Ypres.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/439290/KINGHAM,%20HENRY%20JOHN


Captain Basil Howard Spear-Morgan (1892-1919)

The grave of Basil Howard Spear-Morgan, East Finchley Cemetery, London

                                                   

Basil (or 'Howard' as he was known) was a chartered accountant by profession, and first enlisted in October 1914 as a Private in the "King's Royal Rifle Corps" regiment. He rapidly rose through the ranks and by January 1915 had become a Sergeant. At this point, he was given a commission and promoted to officer class. Later that year, he joined the Border Regiment and was posted to Gallipoli to take part in the (disastrous) campaign against the Ottoman Empire. By November 1915, his war record indicates that he had become a "Second Lieutenant". This also coincided with him being hospitalized. Five weeks later, he was sent back to the UK, having caught paratyphoid, enteric fever and gonorrhea! In spite all he had been through, Basil returned to his battalion at Monchy-le-Preux for the Battle of Arras in 1917. It was here that he was seriously wounded in the head!

This left him with life-threatening injuries, but he was still able to make some form of progress. Despite having fits (possibly epilepsy), he was actually able to write fairly lucidly. He was given convalescent leave and entered a private nursing home in St Helier on the Channel Island of Jersey. Alas, a full recovery was not to be and he died on September 16, 1919 at the age of just 27. His entire estate amounting to £1751 went to his devastated mother. He is buried at East Finchley Cemetery, London.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/387704/SPEAR%20MORGAN,%20BASIL%20HOWARD

Major Valentine Fleming (1882-1917)

Major Valentine Fleming, MP for Henley and father of 007 author, Ian

Contrary to popular belief, the First World War was indiscriminate - killing people of all classes and backgrounds. One notable casualty was Major Valentine Fleming, the Member of Parliament for Henley, and the father of 007 author, Ian. In addition to his status as an MP, Valentine also came from an extremely wealthy background as the son of the Scottish banker Robert Fleming. He joined the "C" Squadron of the "Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars" in 1914, eventually rising to the rank of Major. He witnessed the horrors of the war first hand, describing in a letter to a close friend, "...a broad belt [of land], ten miles or so in width, stretching from the Channel to the German frontier near Basle, which is positively littered with the bodies of men…in which farms, villages, and cottages are shapeless heaps of blackened masonry; in which fields, roads and trees are pitted and torn and twisted by [artillery] shells...". Valentine was killed by a German bombing in the Gillemont Farm area, Picardy, France on 20 May 1917 and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Order. His said close friend, Winston Churchill, wrote his eulogy.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/337500/FLEMING,%20VALENTINE

Rifleman John Marsden (1896-1917)

                                                       

The will of Rifleman John Marsden, c/o Paul Charlesworth on Facebook

John (aka Jack) was the younger son of William and Mary Marsden of Birkdale and was born in 1896. However, his mother died around the same time and from the census records, it appears that Jack was raised in Scarisbrick by his aunt and uncle, Eleanor and Evan Heaton. He later lived at Aughton, where in 1915, he married Marjorie Hesketh at Christ Church. Their son, William Henry Marsden, was born the following year. Jack joined the 1st/6th Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment and was killed in action on 20 September 1917, at the age of just 21. Sadly, Jack has no known grave and is commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium. His brother, Thomas Marsden, and his cousin, Joseph Culshaw were also killed in 1917. 

Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1634491/MARSDEN,%20JOHN

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With thanks to Paul Charlesworth for his work on my great grandfather's story and that of Rifleman John Marsden. Paul's Facebook page "Scarisbrick Roll of Honour" can be viewed here.

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