William Charles Hedges was born at Chipping Campden in 1893 and was baptised at St James Church. He was the son of Fred and Elizabeth A. (Bess) Hedges who were living at Paul’s Pike. He was raised in the town with his brothers and sister, Leonard, Joseph, Harry and Nora (who married Gerry Howell). After leaving school he worked on the Harrowby estate at Aston-sub-edge. He later went to work for the Earl of Harrowby at his estate in Sandon, Staffordshire. Early in 1915 a number of men from the Campden area enlisted into the 10th battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. These included William and his cousin Tom Smith. Eight months later both William and Tom would be dead, killed in their first action in the front line in France.
After a short period of training in England at Longbridge, near Warminster, William entered France on 9th August 1915. The 10th Glosters were to attack the German trenches north of the coal-mining city of Lens near a village called Loos-en-Gohelle. The ground was very flat and the attack would see the first use of poison gas by the British Army. The Battle commenced on 25th September 1915. William and Tom enlisted together, they left the trenches together and would die together. The attack by the 10th Glosters began at 6-30am. It was not successful and the bodies of William and Tom could not be recovered. Their names are now recorded on the Loos Memorial situated at Dud Corner Cemetery on the old German front line near Loos. The memorial records the names of 20,000 officers and men who died in the area and whose graves could not be identified. William’s cousin, Charles Hedges, died at Loos in October 1915 and he also has his name recorded on the memorial.
After the war William’s parents moved to 4 Aston Road, Chipping Campden. Fred and Bess were to put their son’s name forward for inclusion on war memorials at Chipping Campden, Aston-sub-edge, Mickleton and Sandon. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records show that Private 17514 William Charles Hedges, 12 Platoon, C Company, 10th battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was killed in action on Saturday 25th September 1915 aged 22.
Richard “Dick” Hughes was born on 2nd August 1877 at Mickleton. He was the seventh child of James and Sarah Hughes. He was baptised at Mickleton church and he went to school in the village. After leaving school he became a gardener. This would remain his trade throughout his life.
In 1897 he married Lucy Crosswell from Hidcote Bartrim at Mickleton church. They had seven children, although two died very young, and Gladys died in her teens. His son George served in the Royal Navy during the 1914-18 war. George’s brother, Charles, founded “A. C. Hughes and sons” and was to become my grandfather. Dick’s daughter’s married local men and stayed in the area. Lucy May married Alfred Bruce and Alice Ann married George Plested.
Dick moved to Chipping Campden in about 1905 after working in Mickleton and Weston-sub-edge. This was a return to Campden for my branch of the Hughes family. DIck’s grandfather was a Campden man and he married Sarah Beard at St James church in 1828.
When war was declared in 1914 Dick was 37 years of age but he was keen to do his bit. He enlisted into the Devonshire Regiment in December 1915 but after he was found to have flat feet he was classed as medical category C3 and put in the army reserve. He was eventually mobilised and posted to the 13th battalion at Saltash in September 1916 aged 39. The next 2 two years were to be spent in England with various companies of the Labour Corps. Dick was a strong man and his manual skills were put to good use.
Dick was discharged from the army in February 1919 after two years and five months service. As he did not serve overseas in a theatre of war he has no medals to show for his time in the army. He returned to Campden a tired man. He had lost a lot of weight and he looked nothing like to man in the photograph taken at the start of his war service.
Dick spent the rest of his life living and working in Campden. He died on 18th November 1957 aged 80 and he is buried with his wife at St James Churchyard.
William Henry Franklin was a regular soldier when war was declared in 1914. He was one of the first men from Chipping Campden to arrive in France to face the onslaught of the German army. Despite being only 19 years of age he had already served with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment for over four years. Bill, as he was always called, arrived in France on 22nd August 1914 as Private 1674 Bill Franklin, “B” company, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was an “Old Contemptible”.
Bill was to serve continuously on the Western Front for the next three years. In December 1916 he transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and it was with this new unit that he was to be “Mentioned in Despatches” in 1917 for his excellent service at the front.
The Third Battle of Ypres (also known as The Battle of Passchendaele) began in July 1917 and it was during the fighting of this prolonged battle that Bill was to receive a gunshot wound to his chest that would eventually lead to his discharge from the army. Bill was wounded on 4th October 1917 and was evacuated to hospital at Rouen in France. Luckily for Bill this was a “Blighty Wound”. After lengthy spells in hospital in England he was eventually discharged from the army as “no longer fit for active service” in September 1918.
Bill was the son of William Henry and Ellen Franklin. His father was also a regular soldier with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. In 1899 he was sent to South Africa to serve in the Boer War. He had only been there for a few weeks when he caught dysentery and died in February 1900. Bill was only five at the time and he was living with his mother in an army home in Liverpool. Bill was to spend the next nine years of his life at an orphanage in Toxteth, Liverpool. His mother would soon meet Thomas Cross who would become her second husband. Thomas would serve in the Somerset Light Infantry during the 1914-18 war. Their son Frederick Cross was killed in action in Normandy in 1944.
At the age of 15 years and 361 days Bill enlisted into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a drummer boy (musician) in September 1910. The next four years were to be spent serving in Great Britain. Bill’s conduct as a boy at the orphanage and as a young man in the army was always recorded as “very good” but he did receive two separate punishments of five days confined to barracks for “smoking while on boy service” and having a “dirty bugle on parade”.
After his discharge from the army Bill returned to Chipping Campden where he married Lucy Elizabeth Warren at St Catharine’s Church in 1921. The rest of his life was spent living and working in the town where he was a postman and then a barber. During the 1914-18 war Bill had been badly affected by mustard gas on his left arm/hand. This made working as a barber hard but Bill was not one to let these things stop him. He was always a very hard working, determined man.
Bill died on 16th November 1963 aged 69. His wife died eight years later in 1971. They are buried together at St Catharine’s Catholic Churchyard in Chipping Campden.
In total 76 men are recorded on at least one memorial in the Chipping Campden. The memorial in St. Catharine’s Church records the names of seventeen men. Five of these men do not have their names recorded anywhere else in the town. One of these is Geoffrey Lynch-Staunton. He was not born in the town, he did not go to school in the town and he never lived in the town, so who was he and why is his name recorded on the memorial?
Geoffrey was born at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on 17th July 1896, the first child and son of George Staunton Lynch-Staunton and his wife, Adelaide (nee Dewar). He attended Downside School at Stratton-on-the-Fosse, near Bath before being admitted to Merton College, Oxford. It was while he was being educated in England that he used to visit his great uncle, Colonel Richard Lynch-Staunton, in Chipping Campden. Richard and his wife, Maria Agnes Margaret Lynch-Staunton, lived at The Court House. Several vacations were spent in the town and he attended St. Catharine’s Church with his uncle and aunt. His mother and father were at home in Canada.
In early 1915 Geoffrey returned to Canada and was studying at Osgood Hall law school in Toronto. His studies were cut short when, like many of his fellow students, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force to serve in the Great War. He arrived in France as a Lieutenant in June 1915. In December 1915 he applied to join the British Army and on 1st July 1916 he was transferred to the 13th Hussars. The Hussars arrived in Mesopotamia (Iraq) in January 1917 as part of the 7th Cavalry Brigade.
Geoffrey died on 5th March 1917 during his first engagement with the enemy; he was twenty years old. He fell at Lajj, on the River Tigris in a cavalry charge against entrenched Turks. It is said that he rode down into the Turk trench and walked his horse along it over the Turks. They took him prisoner, but his body was found the next day. They had dressed his wounds but decided that he would be a hindrance to carry along, so murdered him and took everything off him.
He was originally buried near Lajj but his grave was lost in later battles. His name is now recorded on the Basra Memorial in Iraq.
Geoffrey’s next of kin on his British Army service papers is recorded as Colonel Richard Lynch-Staunton, as his parents were still in Canada. It was Richard that acted on their behalf following Geoffrey’s death.
Colonel Richard Lynch-Staunton and his wife are both buried in St Catharine’s Churchyard in Chipping Campden. They both died in the 1920’s and have memorial stained glass windows in the Catholic Church. Their grave is in a very bad state of repair and it does not appear to have been visited by relatives for a very long time. It is interesting to note that Richard’s daughter, Frances Juanita “Dorothy” Lynch-Staunton married Paul Woodroffe, the stained glass artist, in 1907. They had four children. Richard also had a son called Bertram who became a priest.
In August 2005 I was offered a diary written in 1916 by Victor Lynch-Staunton. Victor was the younger brother of Geoffrey and was still at school when he wrote the diary. The diary records the military career of Geoffrey’s and also how Victor saw the war progressing. It was at this time that I searched a Canadian directory enquiries website and found the addresses of several Lynch-Staunton’s still living in Canada. I wrote to four of the addresses. All of the people I wrote to were related to Geoffrey. I even had a reply from Victor’s son, John, who was amazed to hear that I had his father’s diary. After exchanging several e-mails I decided to let him have the original diary. In return he sent me a fascinating article that he had written about Geoffrey. This article proved extremely helpful in writing this article.
There will be many people in Chipping Campden who will feel that Geoffrey is not a Campden man and that his name should not appear on any memorial in the town. He may have only been a visitor but he was a regular visitor and he was greatly loved by his uncle and many of the congregation of the Catholic Church would have known him well by 1917.
Sources
1. “2nd Lt. Geoffrey Lynch-Staunton” by John Lynch-Staunton
2. “The 13th Hussars in The Great War” by Mortimer Durand
Inside the main hall of Chipping Campden School is located a memorial to twelve former pupils of the Grammar School who lost their lives during the 1914-18 war. Six of these names are of Chipping Campden boys who also appear on other war memorials in the town. Five of the other boys came from Blockley, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Evesham and Mickleton. The final name to appear on the memorial is recorded as “John Midgley”. This young man has proved to be extremely difficult to trace. The biggest clue to his identity came when a friend showed me a picture of five Grammar School boys. On the back was written “Jack Midgley is sitting on the left. Drewett and Reid are also on the photograph”.
In 1913 Mr. W. Matthew Cox became headmaster of the Grammar School. He had been headmaster of The Blue School in Wells, Somerset. It is recorded that he brought some Blue School pupils with him when he came. These boys were to stay in Chipping Campden during term time. Was Jack Midgley one of those boys?
A search of The Commonwealth War Graves website has shown that there are several men with the name Jack Midgley who gave their lives during the war.
The photograph in this article shows Jack sitting on the left hand side. It was probably taken in 1913. Can anyone help provide more details of Jack? Where was he from? Did he have any brothers and sisters? Does anyone recognise the other boys in the photograph? Is this photograph taken at the back of the Grammar School when it was located in the High Street?
For several years the war memorial (a bronze plaque) was located on the wall of the Grammar School in the High Street. It was relocated to its present position when the old Grammar School closed. How many of us have sat in assembly day after day, or eaten meals in the school hall without ever noticing this war memorial. Located next to it on the hall wall are memorials to the pupils of the Grammar School who were killed in the Boer War and the Second World War.
Charles Foster Brotheridge was born in Chipping Campden in 1868 and he was to spend all but 8 months of his life living and working in the town. These 8 months were when he joined the Royal Engineers as a Sapper in April 1918. He was aged 50 at the time but his expertise as a steam traction engine driver would prove extremely valuable in his country’s time of need as he was posted to the “Road and Quarry Troops Depot”.
On his attestation papers he is recorded as having brown hair and after his medical examination he was informed that he would not be placed in a medical category higher than B1 at any point during his service. It was probably due to this fact that he never served outside England during his time with the Royal Engineers.
When the war ended he was at Aldershot and his final discharge came in December 1918. He immediately returned to Chipping Campden to be with his wife Keziah, who he had married in 1892. At the time of his enlistment into the Royal Engineers he was already the father of 5 daughters (May, Florence, Gladys, Doris and Edith who was to become my grandmother) and 3 sons (Percy, Fred and Jack).
Charles was the second son of Charles and Elizabeth Brotheridge and he had 12 other brothers and sisters. The family lived in Park Road (Watery Lane) and it appears that Charles Foster learnt how to drive a steam traction engine from his father. The family were experts with engines and steam engines. They travelled the area with steam ploughing tackle to work on the land.
Edith Brotheridge married Charles Hughes and they had 4 children including my father Norman. The photograph in this article has been in the family album for many years but it was only when I found my great grandfather’s service records at The National Archives in London that anyone knew exactly what he did during The Great War.
Charles died on 19th January 1953 aged 85 and he is buried with his wife at St James Churchyard in Chipping Campden.
Gordon Ellis was born in Chipping Campden on 7th November 1894. He was the third, and final, son of Harry George and Ellen Ellis. His mother was to die on the 4th October 1895 aged 33. Gordon’s baptism took place at St James’ Church on 14th April 1895.
Gordon and his 2 elder brothers, Roland and Harry, attended school in Chipping Campden and the family address was recorded as Lower High Street in the school’s admissions registers. This was where his parents ran their fishmongers and basket making business. After leaving school Gordon would join his father and stepmother in the fishmongers shop. In 1909 Gordon joined the Boys Brigade which had been started by his father. Two years later, aged 17, he joined the local territorial unit, “H” Company, 5th Gloucestershire Regiment.
In June 1913 Gordon had the opportunity to emigrate to Canada. When Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914 Gordon was one of the first to enlist, joining the Canadian Army on 17th September 1914 at Valcartier as a private with the army number 13734. His attestation papers record him as being 6 foot tall, with black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. Josephine Griffiths states that he was “a fine looking lad” in her Book of Remembrance.
After a short period of training Gordon was posted to 5th battalion (Saskatchewan Regiment) Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) for overseas service. He arrived in England after a long sea journey with the first Canadian contingent for their final training on Salisbury Plain. It was while he was in England that he was able to meet up with friends and family for one last time. The photograph in this article shows Gordon with his 2 sisters, Dora and Mabel, and Dora’s husband Tom Summers.
Gordon arrived in France in February 1915 and he immediately transferred to a machine gun section. After only 3 months in France Gordon was to be killed in action during “The Battle of Festubert” (15th to 25th May 1915) while manning his machine gun.
Gordon died on 24th May 1915 aged 20. His body was not found at the end of the war and his name is recorded on the Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge in France. The memorial stands on Hill 145 and it records the names of 11,285 Canadians who died in France during the 1914-18 war and who have no known grave.
Gordon was the only member of the Ellis family to be killed in the war. Three of his brothers also served but they all returned safely. Harry was a sergeant in the Devonshire Regiment, Arthur was a very young Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps and Roland was a private in the Canadian Army. Harry saw service in Mesopotamia and Roland was in France. The war ended before Arthur could see action.
Although Gordon never married his memory lives on in Chipping Campden. His name is recorded on the memorials in the High Street and in St James Church.
George was born at Chipping Campden on 17th April 1899. He was the son of Ezra John and Jane Plested who married at St. James’ Church in Campden on 23rd August 1890. John was a stonemason by trade and the family were living in Watery Lane (now Park Road) in 1901. John and Jane had 9 children: George, Tom, Maud, Ethel, Mary, Alfred (“Tim”), Wilfred (“Bill”), Harry and Edgar. All the children were baptised at St James’ Church. George and Tom both attended Chipping Campden Mixed Infants School and were regular members of The Boys Brigade which had been founded by Harry George Ellis.
When war was declared in August 1914 George was only 15 and he was working as a farm labourer on Westington Hill. In 1915 George’s elder brother, Tom, enlisted as a private in the Gloucestershire Regiment. In 1916 Tom arrived in France and then transferred to the Machine Gun Corps. The Battle of The Somme started on 1st July 1916 and Tom was involved in the capture of La Boisselle. On 4th July 1916 Tom was killed in action by the explosion of a shell while manning his machine gun. He was killed instantly and apparently Norman Bennett saw his body the next day and said that there was not a mark on it.
Despite being only 17 years and 9 months George made his way to Cirencester in January 1917 to enlist in the army. On his attestation papers he is recorded as being 5 foot 8 inches tall and “Church of England”. He was made to wait until his 18th birthday before being called up for active service at Bristol on 16th May 1917. He was posted to 47th Training battalion of the Essex Regiment as Private 46065. The next 11 months were spent training in England.
George embarked at Dover on 5th April 1918 aged nearly 19. He arrived at Calais later that day and eventually joined his unit, 2nd battalion, Essex Regiment, on 9th April 1918. This was a difficult time for the British army as the German’s had launched a major attack on 21st March 1918 and had captured a large amount of ground. British casualties were high. The situation was “touch and go” at times but the summer of 1918 saw the situation stabilised.
Throughout the latter part of August 1918 the 2nd battalion Essex Regiment (12th Brigade, 4th Division) had been involved in pushing the Germans back to the Drocourt-Queant Line (“Wotanstellung”). This trench was part of the Hindenburg Line and is located halfway between Arras and Cambrai. On the night of 1st September 1918 the 2nd Essex pushed on taking more German trenches with little difficulty but they were then halted by withering machine gun fire which kept them pinned down for several hours. It was probably a bullet from one of these German machine guns that hit George in the arm.
The war in France ended for George on 2nd September 1918 when he received this gun shot wound in his right arm. This was to prove a “Blighty” wound as after 6 days in hospital at Etaples he was returned to England on a ship called “Stad Antwerpen”. 3 months were spent at Barnet War Hospital before he was granted a furlough to recover at Westington Hill Farm in Chipping Campden. The war ended while he was in Barnet War Hospital.
On 16th December 1918 George was ready to return to duty and he was posted to 3rd battalion, Essex Regiment. The next 4 months were spent in England before he was sent to the dispersal centre at Fovant for his final demobilisation on 9th May 1919.
George had served overseas in France for 5 months and was awarded 2 campaign medals: The British War Medal and The Victory Medal. These medals are still with one of his daughters.
After the war George married Alice Ann Hughes (daughter of Richard and Lucy Hughes) at St. James’ Church, Chipping Campden on 2nd January 1924. They had 6 children: Norman, Jane, Ann, Mary, John and Jennifer. The family home became “The Marleys”, Aston Road, Chipping Campden. This house is still occupied by one of his daughters today.
Up until he retired George became a very skilled builder and stonemason. The only interruption to this came during the Second World War when he again served his country as an Air Raid Warden.
George died on 11th November 1985 aged 86 and is buried at St. James’ Churchyard in Campden. His wife, Alice, had died 3 years earlier aged 80.
George Hughes enlisted into the Royal Navy at Devonport on 22nd December 1916 as Boy Second Class J64065. This was the start of 16 years service in the Royal Navy. He eventually came out of the navy as an Able Seaman in 1932.
During the 1914-18 war he served on HMS Impregnable, HMS Furious and HMS Victory. He was awarded 2 campaign medals, the “British War Medal” and the “Victory Medal”, for his war service. Until 2001 it was thought that his medals were lost but they turned up at “Q&C Militaria” in Cheltenham and I was able to purchase them.
George’s navy service papers are available for inspection at The National Archives in London (ADM 188-775). At his medical examination the doctor stated that he was 5 foot 4 inches tall and had brown hair. A scar from an operation was found on his left groin.
George was the first member of the Campden Hughes family to serve in the Royal Navy. Dennis Hughes and Bernard Hughes (George’s nephews) served in the Navy during the Second World War.
George was born at Mickleton on 14th August 1900. He was the eldest son of Richard and Lucy Hughes. He was baptised as Richard George Hughes on 9th September 1900 at Mickleton Church, but he was always known as George. The Mickleton School admissions registers state that he started school there in February 1905. After leaving school he worked with his father as a gardener before joining the navy. Later in his life he worked as a painter and decorator after leaving the navy. He married 3 times and had 3 children: Lawrence, Rita and Doreen. All 3 children were from George’s first marriage.
When war was declared in 1939 George joined the Home Guard with his brother Charles.
George married his third wife at St. James’ Church in Chipping Camden in 1958. It was at this point that he moved to Ebrington where he would spend the remaining years of his life. He retired from work in August 1965 and then died aged 65, in January 1966. He is buried, without a headstone, in St. Eadburgha’s Churchyard in Ebrington.
I was born in January 1965 and have no memory of George but I am very proud of his 16 years service in the Royal Navy. The photograph above was taken after the end of the 1914-18 war as he is wearing his medal ribbons.