Another Rugeley Recruit arrives in France

On the 22^nd June 1915, James Fisher, aged 27, of the 1/6^th North Staffordshire Regiment arrived in France.

James Fisher 1/6th North Staffords

James Fisher was born in 1887 in Rugeley, Staffordshire. The eldest of ten children, in 1911 he was living with his parents James and Mary Anne Fisher (nee Glaze) and his 5 brothers, Albert, John, George, William and Frederick and 4 sisters, Eliza, Sarah, Elsie and Harriet at 40 Brereton Road, Rugeley. James along with his brother Albert and father were working as coal miners.

James had married Harriet Hollins (my 2^nd cousin twice removed) the daughter of William and Sarah Ann Hollins (nee Wood) between January and March 1914 and their son also called James was born later on in 1914. 

In 1911 the Hollins family was living at 64 Queen Street, Rugeley. Harriet was seven years older than James and in 1911 was working as a Tin Box Grainer. Her father William was a labourer in the local Phoenix Tanyard.

His brother Albert had been discharged from the 1/6th North Staffords on the 18th January 1915 

The 1/6^th North Staffords, since arriving in France in March 1915, had settled into a rotational routine of 4 to 5 days in the trenches followed by 4 to 5 days resting in camp before returning back to the front lines. Each period in the trenches had seen the regiment suffer casualties, it’s recent tour had been no different on the 19^th June the 1/6^th lost one officer Killed and one wounded, 3 other ranks killed, one died of wounds and five more wounded. 

On the 22^nd June the 1/6^th North Staffords were at “Aldershot” Camp, with showery weather. On the 25^th June the battalion marched with the rest of the brigade to Hutments One mile North East of Ouderdom, Belguim.

5 Cousins at War

On the 27th October 1915, Maurice Edwin Bush (my 1^st Cousin 3 times removed) aged 23, enlisted with the Royal Flying Corps as an armourer / mechanic (85 Squadron?).

Maurice was born in 1892 in Paddington, Middlesex. He was the son of Alfred and Caroline Bush (nee Searle) and had 3 older sisters Ethel (born in 1880), Mabel (born in 1883) and Daisy (born in 1885). 

In 1911 the family were living at 119a Allfarthing Lane, Wandsworth. Maurice was employed as a clerk with the Bombay Gas Company, Mabel and Daisy were both working as shop assistants, Ethel had married Alfred Fox in 1907 and were living in Kingswood Road, Clapham Park. Maurice’s father Alfred was a Jewellers assistant.

Maurice joined his cousins in answering his Country's call. Charles Henry Bush and Alfred Charles MorrisBush were both serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps, Alfred having just been posted to Egypt. Another cousin Frederick Charles Bush had just joined the Navy and another cousin William Alfred Bush was serving in France with the Army Service Corps.

Maurice’s cousin Edwin Maurice Bush had recently married Rosetta Turner and were now celebrating the birth of their first child Edwin PJ Bush (born between April – June 1915). 

We did what was asked of us.

Corporal John Joseph Graffham of the 2^nd Battalion The Queens, Royal West Surrey Regiment had been serving on the Western front since arriving with the rest of his regiment from South Africa on the 4^th October 1914 and had been in the thick of the some of the heaviest fighting of the War. The night of the 15^th and 16^th May was no exception.

Battalion War Diary for 15th / 16th May 1915

During the night of the 15^th & 16^th May there were several showers of rain. At 2.30am there was an issue of rhum. At 2.45am the bombardment of enemy’s trenches & wire commenced & continued till 3.15am.

At 3.15am precisely the leading platoons of A coy scaled the ladders and rushed towards the German trenches to their front. It was now just daylight. As soon as our men showed their heads above our parapet the enemy opened intense rifle fire and seemed in no way affected by the artillery bombardment.

The Queens successfully took the first trench and two more trench lines before reaching their objective the communications trench at around 6am but were heavily counter attacked and eventually had to withdraw to the first captured German Trench by 7.30pm

The battalion war diary lists 435 casualties, 11 officers killed and 8 wounded and 147 other ranks killed, 237 wounded, 42 missing, 6 died of wounds, 2 missing believed killed and 1 wounded and missing.

The diary entry concludes

The battalion had done what was asked of it but at great cost.

One can only imagine what my Great Grand Uncle in Law went through that night and had already gone through since October the previous year. But despite the heavy number of casualties John Graffham survived to fight another day.

Tony

Joining up from Hackney

On the 1^st May 1915 Alfred Walter Read Lewis (my Great Grandfather in law) enlisted with the Army Service Corps at Holloway, North London.

He was 28 years old, 5 foot 6 inches tall, with blue eyes and dark hair and a tattoo on his left forearm. He lived at 3 Kelvin Road, Highbury Park, North London with his wife May (nee Alice May Adams) and their 3 children Doris Mary (aged 4), Alfred Weymouth (aged 3) and Jessie Lily who was only 1 month old.

Alfred was born on the 21^st November 1889 in Spitalfields, Whitechapel. One of ten children, he had six sisters and three brothers. His parents were Harry Bertram and Emily Rebecca Lewis (nee Read) and Alfred like his father was a butcher by trade. The family had moved from Spitalfields to Hackney in 1901, but Alfred was away at the Ardwick Green Industrial School, Ardwick, South Manchester.

By 1911, the Lewis family were living at 91, Windus Road, Stamford Hill. Hackney but on the night of the census Alfred was listed as a visitor with Weymouth & Elizabeth Adams and family, including his future wife Alice May Adams at 129, Packington St, Islington. Alfred married Alice, a dress maker on the 10^th October 1911 at Islington Register Office.

Alfred was tested by the Army Service Corps Butchery section and proved himself to be a fair butcher, but was not tested at slaughtering, he was assigned as a butcher to A company of the Army Service Corps Depot.

Posted to Egypt

On the 28th April 1915, 100 years ago today, my first cousin three times removed, Alfred Charles Morris Bush arrived at Alexandria, Egypt. Aged 38 he was the Company Sergeant Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and was attached to the 1/4^th London Mounted Brigade.

Alfred was born in Wimbledon, Surrey in about 1876 and was one of five children born to Charles and Caroline Bush (nee Wigman). His older sister Louisa had married William King in 1893, he also had a younger sister Nellie and two younger brothers Charles and William. His brother, Charles was also serving in the RAMC and had just returned from France having been posted in December to New Hampsted Military Hospital from No.9 General Hospital in Rouen.

His father Charles Henry Bush had died in 1882 aged just 34 when Alfred was six. In 1888 his mother Caroline had re-married to William Clack, a scavenger with Wimbledon Borough Council and they had a further seven children and lived in the Bush family home at 11 Ashbourne Road, Wimbledon.

Alfred and his brother Charles both served in the RAMC in the Boer War and Alfred remained in the Army. In 1911 he was living in the Headquarters of the London Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance in Farringdon Road, London. With him were his wife Ellen, who he had married in 1905 and his two children Amy (born 1909) and George (born 1910).

Upon arrival in Egypt, Company Sergeant Major Alfred Bush and the 1/4th london Mounted Brigade was posted to the Suez Canal defences, near Ismailia.

Also on the move and now just one day out from arriving in England were the 4^th Field Company, Canadian Engineers, in which my Great Grand Uncle, Albert Benjamin Uden, had enlisted in, had left Halifax, Nova Scotia on the 18th April 1915 bound for England on board the HMT Northland. The voyage took 11 days in total, The 4th field Company was under the command of Major G.A. Inksetter. 

At the time of writing the personel records for this company have not been fully digitized so it is possible that Albert Uden did not travel to England, the research goes on...

Enlisting in the Navy

On April 12^th 1915 Frederick Charles Bush joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker and started his training at Pembroke II the Royal Navy Shore Station in Sheppey, Kent.

He was 18 years and 4 months old and just 5 foot 2 1/2 inches tall with brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion and had previously been working as a warehouseman.

Frederick Charles Bush (My first cousin three times removed) was born on the 7^th December 1896 in Wimbledon, Surrey. The third son of Edwin and Ada Bush (Nee Searle) growing up in the family home at 8 Leyton Road, South Wimbledon. His mother passed away in 1910 aged just 38 years old, with Frederick only 14 years old and by 1911 the family were living at 41a Cowper Road, Wimbledon. However Frederick was at the Holme Court Industrial School for Boys, Twickenham Rd, Isleworth, which was a certified truant industrial school.

Frederick had two older brothers Edwin (born 1893) and Alfred (born 1895) and three younger brothers Arthur (born 1900), Albert (born 1903) and George (born 1908). Two other brothers, Horace and John had died in infancy. His eldest brother, Edwin, had recently married Rosetta Turner.

Frederick’s father Edwin had served in the Royal Navy from 1884 to 1892.

The North Staffords arrive in France

On the 5^th March 1915 My Grand Uncle Benjamin Hollins arrived in France with the 1/6^th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment.

Benjamin Hollins

Benjamin Hollins was born in 1887 in Rugeley, Staffordshire. He was the eldest son of Benjamin and Ann Hollins (nee Hodson). Benjamin had an elder sister Mary Ann and 3 younger brothers James, Edward and Arthur (my Grandfather).

Benjamin was married to Hilda Pedley in 1908 at St. John the Baptist in Armitage and they had two young sons Benjamin was four and Henry two. A daughter Mabel had died as an infant in 1911. Hilda was from Penkhull, Stoke and was the daughter of Henry and Emma Pedley.

In 1911 they were living with the Pedley family at 2 Ricardia Terrace, Armitage and Benjamin was working as a plumber.

The 1/6^th battalion had arrived in Southampton from Saffron Walden on the 1^st March. C and D companies embarked on the 2^nd on-board the S.S. Balmoral for Le Harve. Headquarters and A & B companies embarked on the 4^th on-board S.S. Empress Queen arriving at Le Harve on the 5^th March 1915, 100 years ago today.

Arriving with him was his brother James Harry Hollins, William Henry Cunningham, George Hollins

James Hollins, Benjamin's younger brother was born in Rugeley in 1891. The 1911 census shows him living with his parents and siblings at 27 Bow Street in Rugeley. he was working as a horse driver in the local colliery. His brother Edward Hollins also worked in the mine (it is likely that he too arrived in France at the same time, but this is not confirmed) as did his father Benjamin.

William Henry Cunningham, (My Auntie's Uncle in law) was born in Rugeley in 1892 and was the oldest son of Thomas and Hannah Cunningham (nee Mills). In 1911 he was living with his parents at 74 Sheep Fair, Rugeley and was working as colliery rope rider below ground, his father also worked at the mine as a bankman above ground.

Benjamin Hollins 2nd cousin, George Hollins was mentioned in a later newspaper report as being "out with the Territorials in March 1915" (Lichfield Mercury 6th Sept 1918) so again it would seem likely he embarked with the rest of the North Stafford's. George was the son of William and Sarah Ann Hollins (nee Wood) and brother in law to Frederick Williscroft and James Fisher. He was born in 1886 in Rugeley and married Emily Mary Hiley in 1907 at St. John the baptist Church in Armitage. By 1915 they had two children George born in 1908 and Sarah in 1911 both born in Rugeley.