Home on leave getting married

Gertrude Mary Cunningham was the daughter of Thomas and Hannah Cunningham (nee Mills) and in 1911 was living with her family at 74 Sheep Fair, Rugeley, working as a domestic servant.

Gertrude was born on the 29^th June 1894 in Rugeley and had an older sister, Edith (born 1886) and two younger brothers Thomas (born 1899, who would become my Auntie’s father in law) and Reginald (born 1909). Her older brother William had been killed in January 1917 whilst serving with the North Staffordshire regiment in France.

Gertrude was aged 22 when she married Thomas McElroy, the son of Bernard and Bridget McElroy between July & September 1917. Thomas was born in 1892 in Bilston, Wolverhampton.

Their first child Lucy was born in 1917 in Rugeley between October and December 1917.

Thomas McElroy was serving as a Private with the 5^th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment. He had been out in France since August 1915. In 1911 he was working as a sheet mills iron worker.

One can only assume that Gertrude and Thomas got married whilst Thomas was home on leave.

Taking the Oath of Allegiance

Solomon Charles Wraight, my Great Uncle, had travelled to America in August 1915, landing at New York on 15th August after a ten day crossing from Liverpool on board the White Star Liner SS New York. After being processed through Immigration at Ellis Island he moved onto Philadelphia where he found work with Wilkins & Co. as a carpenter and joiner. 

Solomon Charles Wraight (Circa 1910)

On the 6^th May 1917, almost two years after emigrating from England, Solomon became a naturalised citizen of America.

He was living at 150 K 12^th Street Philadelphia and his petition for naturalisation to become an American citizen was heard at the US District Court for the district of Maryland, his two witnesses were Anthony B. Dougherty and Gabriel J. Wilson. His petition was successful and he took the oath of allegiance at the same time.

The Oath of allegiance as it currently stands

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Solomon's younger brother Bill had just joined the Royal Navy Air Service and both like their father (also called Solomon) were carpenters and joiners by trade. At that time Bill was stationed at Eastbourne.

Promoted to Corporal

On the 22^nd April 1917 William Alfred Bush, my Great Grand Uncle was promoted to acting Corporal in the 363 Motorised transport Company of the Army Service Corps.

William had been out with the British Expeditionary Force since war broke out in August 1914 and had previously served in the Army Service Corps from 1905-08. Before joining the army in 1905 he had been employed as a boiler maker and in 1911 was a house painter as were a number of his cousins

William was born in Wimbledon in 1879 and the family, his wife Elizabeth and their four children, Lillie, William, Ivy and Dorothy were living at 6 Leyton Road, Wimbledon., having previously lived in Goodenough Street, Wimbledon.

The ASC MT Companies performed a number of functions and some like the 363 company were attached to the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) as Ammunition Columns / Parks. 363 Company, which was formed May 1915 was the Ammunition Column for 18th Brigade RGA. The 18th Brigade later came under V Corps Heavy Artillery.

The heavy guns and howitzers of the RGA, with attendant equipment and ammunition, needed motorised transport to haul them. The MT Companies called Ammunition Parks operated dumps, or stores, of ammunition, with the larger calibres of artillery shells required special mechanical handling equipment.

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Keeping the aircraft flying

On the 21^st March 1917 William “Bill” John Wraight, my Grand Uncle, joined the Royal Navy Air Service aged 18.

He was born on the 24^th February 1899 in Willesden, London one of seven children born to Solomon and Alice Wraight (nee Uden). William’s older brother Solomon Charles Wraight had emigrated from England in 1915 and was now living in Philadelphia USA. His older sister Alice (born 1897) had died in 1911 aged just 14. He had two younger sisters Elsie (born 1903) and Ivy - my Grandmother (born 1904) and two younger brothers Arthur (born 1907) and Frederick (born 1911).

Wraight Family circa 1910 - William is likely to be the taller boy in the photo

1911 the family were living at 14 Eland Road, Lavender Hill, London. Bill’s father Solomon was working as a builder’s joiner / shop foreman.

By 1917 as well as their father, both Bill and his brother Solomon (in America) also worked as a carpenter & joiners.

Bill was 5 foot 9 inches tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a medium complexion and enlisted with the Royal Navy as an ACM2 rating – An Aviation Carpenter’s Mate 2nd Class Petty Officer and was based initially at Crystal Palace and Chingford until the 28th April when he was transferred to Eastbourne.

No doubt Bill's carpentry skills were put to good use, building, repairing and re-fitting aircraft, which was proving vital to the modern war effort in 1917.

Bill’s Uncle Albert Benjamin Uden who was serving with the 4^th Field Mounted Engineers of the Canadian Army was also a carpenter by trade.

Life on the home front

Walter and Rose Matilda Bush (nee Cane) celebrated the birth of their eighth child and fifth daughter Joyce Elizabeth Bush on the 25th January 1917 in Dartford, Kent. Walter was aged 41 and Rose 40.

Walter Bush

Walter (my first cousin four times removed) was born on the 29th October 1875 in Clapham, Surrey, the son of Robert and Sarah Ann Bush (nee Clarke). He married Rose Matilda Cane in 1898 in Windsor.

Joyce had 3 older brothers Walter Morris (born & died 1901 in Harrow), Walter Edwin Frederick Bush (born 1904 in Harrow) and John Thomas Frank Bush (born 1908 in Kent). Her four sisters Doris Minnie Bush (born 1899 in Harrow), Rose Kathleen Bush (born 1902 Harrow), Muriel Annie Bush (born 1913 in Dartford) and Isabelle Margaret Bush (born 1914 in Kent).

In 1911, the family lived at 28 Bexley Lane, Dartford, Kent and Walter was working as a butcher, the same trade as his father.

Walter Bush, who was aged 41 in 1917, had been sent to Crayford to work in the Vickers munitions factory as he was unfit to join the armed services as he had one leg shorter than the other. The family moved into 35 Maiden Lane, Crayford one of the first families to move into the Barnes Cray estate which was built to house workers at the factory.

Walter’s eldest daughter Doris also worked with her father at the munitions factory in 1916/17. Lodging with the Bush family was William Samuel King (known as Billy) who was also unfit to serve at the front and was sent to the same munitions factory to work.

Doris Minnie Bush

The Barnes Cray Estate was built by an organisation connected with Vickers to house a good proportion of the 12,000 people employed by the firm at that time.

The main function of the Vickers Crayford Works in the years of the First World War was the manufacture of the Vickers machine gun, a development of Maxim's invention, and aircraft like the FB5 'Gun-bus'.

Doris Minnie Bush and William King married in 1923.

Reference - Verbal history of Joyce Elizabeth Bush,

From Sheep Fair to Slaughter

William Henry Cunningham was born in 1892 in Rugeley, Staffordshire, the son of Thomas and Hannah Cunningham (nee Mills). William had two sisters Edith (born 1886) and Gertrude (born 1895) and two brothers Thomas (born 1899) and Reginald (born 1909).

William’s younger brother Thomas would become the father in law of my Aunt Dorothy Hollins.

In 1911 William was working in the local colliery below ground as a rope rider and living with the family at 74 Sheep Fair, Rugeley. His father was working above ground at the colliery as a banksman.

 By 1917 his parents moved and were living at 18 Queen Street just a few houses from George, William and Charles Hollins. George despite his time having expired had re-enlisted and in December returned to France serving with the Royal Engineers.

William was serving as a Private with A Company 1^st Battalion the North Staffordshire Regiment and had sailed to France on the 5^th March 1915 along with my Great Uncle Benjamin Hollins.

On 14^th January 1917, after nearly two years in France and Flanders Private William Henry Cunningham aged 26 was killed in action alongside his comrade from D Company Lance Corporal Ernest James Wood from Tooting, London.

Both are buried at the Philosophe British Military Cemetery at Mazingarbe, which lies between Bethune and Lens.

Philosophe Military Cemetry (CWGC)

The loss for the Cunningham family was as you would expect great, as this newspaper article in the Staffordshire Advertiser 12^th Jan 1918 shows

Cunningham – In loving memory of Pte. W. Cunningham (40010), 1^st North Staffordshire Regiment, killed in action Jan 14, 1917. Twelve months have gone and still miss him. Friends may think the wound has healed. But they little know the sadness deep within our hearts concealed – From his loving Father, Mother, Brother and Sisters.

Although it is unclear how William meet his death, the following story published in the Stoke Sentinel By Richard Ault  (Posted: August 29, 2016) highlights the conditions and daily danger for the men of the 1^st Battalion during their time at the Somme in August 1916. William of course was part of A company.

The 1st Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment was a battle hardened unit of fighting men. They had been on the Western Front for two years by the time the Somme offensive was launched.

Yet, while the less experienced troops of the Pals battalions and the Territorial Force, like the 1st/5th and the 1st/6th North Staffords, were ordered over the top on July 1, 1916; the 1st North Staffords were kept in reserve.

They first took over a section of the British front line on the Somme on August 9, 1916, near Guillemont village, a key position in the German defence system which had resisted all attempts at capture during the early phases of the Battle of the Somme.

Those defences meant the Germans were able to bring down concentrated machine gun and artillery fire onto any unit attempting to take the village.

That was the position facing the 1st North Staffords when they arrived in the lines in August, 1916. Yet their role in the fight for Guillemont would not be an especially dramatic one, their job was not to attack with rifles and Mills Bombs, as they had done many times before. Instead, they were sent out with shovels, to dig another trench.

The front line was in a poor state after weeks of fighting, and the British top brass had realised that to reduce casualties during any attack on Guillemont, the amount of space between the British and German lines must be reduced.

Their job was to dig a new trench, closer to the German lines, meaning the British attackers would have less distance to cross, and the German machine guns less time to do their murderous work.

Although, this time, the 1st North Staffords wouldn't be fighting, that didn't mean that their job was any less dangerous.

That menial task would require them to move 100 yards closer to the enemy, with its wealth of artillery and rapid fire weapons, under cover of darkness, and to dig.

The North Staffords took over the line on August from the 1st/10th (Scottish) Battalion of the Kings (Liverpool Regiment), who had made a costly and failed attack on Guillemont.

As soon as dark fell, members of the North Staffordshire battalion went out into No Man's Land to help carry back men who had been wounded during that attack.

That first night, the North Staffords were supposed to start digging the new trench, but the order came in to postpone the task. One company of men, A Company, was already in 'Teale Trench', ready to start the work. During that night Teale Trench was shelled heavily by the enemy and one soldier, Private Francis Cliffe, from Hilton, was killed – the first man of the 1st North Staffords to be killed on the Somme.

The next night, at 11.45pm, the order was given to start digging. The men of A Company went out to start the job. Only C Company would join them before dawn. The men of B Company arrived late, and D Company did not managed to get started.

It wasn't long before the noise attracted the attention of German observers based at forward listening posts. The message soon got back to the commander of the enemy artillery barrage.

The night was dark and the British worked quickly, knowing their best chance of survival was to dig as quickly as possible. The dark of night made it difficult for the enemy artillery fire to pick them out – yet that did not stop the Germans from trying.

All through the night the North Staffords worked – and all through the night they were shelled by the enemy. Sometimes the bombs would explode harmlessly in the mud. Other times shrapnel would rip into flesh and one of the soldiers would cry out and collapse into the mud.

By the end of the night, the battalion had dug 120 yards of trench. But six men had been killed during the night.

They had not been involved in a single attack or trench raid during this time. This gives some indication of the daily losses experienced by the British army.

William Henry Cunningham is remembered on the Rugeley War Memorial.

Rugeley War Memorial (photo by Allison Smith)

On a slow boat to India

James Othen married Annie Cobbold (my great grand aunt in law) in 1905 in Epsom, Surrey. They had four children Rosey (Born 1905), Mabel (1907), Alfred (born 1909) and Florence (born 1911) and in 1911 were living at 32 Folkland Hill, Dorking, with James working as a labourer.

James had been born in 1880 in Farnham, Surrey the youngest son of Charles and Elizabeth Othen. James had 4 older brothers and two older sisters. Annie Cobbold was the daughter of Alfred and Sarah Cobbold (nee Alston) and had been born in 1886 in Burnham, Essex. After marrying James the family lived in Great Bookham, Surrey where their first three children were born and then 1910/11 they moved to Dorking where Florence was born.

Annie had two older brothers Frederick (born 1874 in Braintree, Essex) and Alfred (born 1884 in Burnham, Essex). Alfred's brother in law John Joseph Graffham had been killed whilst serving in France with the 2nd Battalion The Royal West Surrey Regiment in July 1915

James had enlisted with the 5^th Reserve Battalion “The Queens” Royal West Surrey on the 5^th October 1914 aged 34 years and 6 months and was 5 feet 5 3/4 inches. He was living at 71 Orchard Rise, Dorking, Surrey and was considered physically fit. James was employed as a bricklayer's labourer at that time. 

He had been stationed in England since enlisting but on the 28^th October 1916 James, was at Devonport, embarking with the 1 / 4^th Battalion Royal West Surreys to India.