Arthur John

Private 17331, B Company, 5 Platoon, 1st Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment. Killed in action 25 September 1915. Aged 26. Lived Harold's Bridge. No known grave. Commemorated on Loos Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. See also Parson Drove

Photograph copyright © Nigel Lowe 2017

Private 18577, 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. Killed in action by a mine explosion 22 January 1916. Aged 26. Son of Mrs Susannah Clark, Harrold's Bridge, Gorefield. Buried in Spoilbank Cemetery, Belgium. Plot I. Row B. Grave 11.

George (left) and Matthew (right) Clark

Lance Corporal 8828, 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. Killed in action 20 July 1916. Aged 25. Born King's Ripton, Hunts. Enlisted Wisbech. Son of Mrs. A. Titman, of Gorefield, Wisbech. Buried in CATERPILLAR VALLEY CEMETERY, LONGUEVAL, Somme, France. Plot XIV. Row E. Grave 35.

 

Photograph Courtesy Peter Thatcher from photograph inside Gorefield Church

Private 6672, 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. Killed in action 26 August 1914. (SDGW 9 April 1915). No known grave. Commemorated on La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial, France.

Photograph Courtesy & Copyright © Mick Paul 2014

Serjeant 70374, 17th (Welbeck Rangers) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment). Died of wounds 2 January 1918. Aged 30. Born Sutton St James, Lincolnshire, enlisted Wisbech. Son of George Joseph & Amy Jane Thompson, Hundred Acre Farm, Harrold's Bridge, Gorefield. Formerly 5915, Leicestershire Regiment. Buried in Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Belgium. Plot IX. Row B. Grave 10.

 

Private 3/9447, 11th (Cambridgeshire) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. Killed in action 28 April 1917. Aged 18. Son of late Joseph & Rose Tyndall. No known grave. Commemorated on Arras Memorial, France.

Driver 123599, D Battery, 315th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. Died of wounds 29 April 1917. Aged 35. Son of Jane Woolard, of Gorefield, & the late Joseph Woolard. Buried in Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Plot XVIII. Row B. Grave 6A.

Corporal 1270728, 107 Operational Training Unit, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Transport Command. Killed while flying out of Leicester East, in a Douglas Dakota III, serial number T5436, when the aircraft crashed at Beech Knoll near Stourton, Wiltshire, in poor visibility soon after taking off from Zeals on a transit flight to Leicester East 19 February 1945. Aged 23. Born 28 April 1921. Native of Cambridge. Son of Harry & Gertrude Anderson; husband of Jessie Isabel (nee Tarbin) Anderson, of Cambridge, married July to September Quarter 1942 in Cambridge Registration District, Cambridgeshire. In the 1921 census he was newborn, born Cambridgeshire, son of Gertrude Anderson, great grandson of Matilda Anderson, resident Goredyke Bank, Gorefield, Leverington, Cambridgeshire. In the 1939 Register he was born 28 April 1921, a Farm Worker, married, son of Harry and gertrude Anderson, resident High Road, Gorefield, Wisbech R.D., Cambridgeshire. Buried 26 February 1945 in St Paul Churchyard, Gorefield, Cambridgeshire.

Extract from England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1945:

Ken Anderson and Maurice Bliss were cousins, both in R.A.F. and died within days of each other in entirely separate situations.

Son of Robert Langley and Martha Ellen (nee Neve) Blake, born 10 January 1900 in Congham, baptised 10 March 1900 in Congham. In 1911, Herbert was living in Brington near Huntington, aged 11, born Longham, Norfolk, at school, son of Robert and Martha Blake, his father was a horseman, and appears to have moved around a fair bit. On 23 March 1917, he enlisted at Wisbech to fight in World War 1. He wasn't old enough, but claimed to be 18. He was found out and discharged after three months under Para 392 (ii) King's Regulations. Private TR/9/2910, "F" Company, 25th Training Reserve Battalion. Discharged 8 June 1917 at Parkeston, Harwich, Essex, aged 17 years 4 months, height 5 feet 3 inches, chest 34-36½ inches, fresh complexion, grey eyes, light brown hair, trade Farm Labourer, intended place of residence Horsey Toll Hall Farm, Dryside, Farcet, Huntingdonshire, religion Wesleyan. At the time, he was living with his parents on a farm near Farcet. Herbert Henry Blake married Edna Alice Brown in the October to December Quarter 1922 in the Wisbech Registration District, Cambridgeshire. One son, Reginald Blake, born 1926, died March 1928 in Wisbech. In the 1927 and 1928 Electoral Registers he was resident Walpole St Peter. Herbert Henry Blake lived in Mill Lane, Gorefield in 1939. Herbert Henry Blake died in 1946 in a London Hospital, his death was registered in the April to June Quarter (June) 1946 in the Holborn Registration District, London, aged 46.

Sergeant 1881845, 224 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Died 26 February 1945. Aged 20. Son of George & Melinda Elizabeth Bliss, of Tydd Gote. 224 Squadron were based at Milltown, Scotland, and flew Liberators. No known grave. Commemorated on Runnymead Memorial, Surrey.

Ken Anderson and Maurice Bliss were cousins, both in R.A.F. and died within days of each other in entirely separate situations.

Sergeant 5824941, 1st Battalion, Green Howards (Yorkshire Regiment). Died of wounds 28 April 1940. Agd 30. Son of William and Elizabeth Denniss; husband of Doris Denniss, of St. Budeaux, Plymouth. Mentioned in Despatches (MiD). Buried in Nord-Sel Churchyard, Norway. Row 4. Grave B.

Extract supplied by Peter Thatcher:

AANDALSNES April 27 3 Other Ranks, Privates WILLIAMS, HAMMOND and CHARLTON were missing.
Captain LIDWILL's party were retiring along the road when suddenly they were machine gunned by an armoured car: it was difficult to get off the road and only 5 men succeeded in doing so. They were Sergeant DENNISS, Corporal HORNER, Private SMITH and 2 others, names unknown. It was now that Captain LIDWILL was wounded. Sergeant DENNISS was also wounded and nothing further was seen of Private SMITH. Corporal HORNER was the only one to return of this party.

Petty Officer Stoker C/KX 79289, HMS Avenger, Royal Navy. Died 15 November 42. Aged 32. Husband of Elizabeth Kathleen Fovargue, of Gorefield. No known grave. Commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent. Panel 60, Column 3.

Alfred Fovargue with his bride Kathleen Smith

Private. Probably: Herbert HAWKINS, Guardsman 2615954, 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, who died on Tuesday 21 May 1940. Aged 21. Born and resident Cambridgeshire. No known grave. Commemorated on Dunkirk Memorial, Nord, France.

Lance Sergeant 5933598, 2nd Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment. Captured at the fall of Singapore 15 February 1942, died at sea as a Japanese Prisoner of War aboard the Hofuku Maru when the ship was sunk by planes from an American Aircraft Carrier 80 miles north of Corregidor, Philippines, 21 September 1944. Aged 25. Born 21 January 1921Suffolk, resident Cambridgeshire. Son of Sidney and Ethel Preston; husband of Edith Preston (nee Calver), of Garston, Watford, Hertfordshire, married October to December Quarter 1942 in Wisbech Registration District . He was a Printer/Compositor living in Gorefield. In the 1921 census he was aged 2, born Bungay, Suffolk, visiting with his parents, Sydney C H and Ethel E Preston, at 3, Park Street, Walsoken, Cambridgeshire. No known grave. Commemorated on SINGAPORE MEMORIAL, Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore. See also Wisbech 1939-1945 and Queens School, Wisbech

PRESTON William Charles Harry of Fitton End Gorefield Wisbech Cambridgeshire died on or since 21 September 1944 on war service Probate Peterborough 22 July to Walter Calver agricultural worke. Effects £302 11s. 2d.

A Gorefield woman has received the sad news that her husband, missing in the Far East since Sept. 21st, 1944, must be presumed to have died on that date.

He is L/Sgt. William Charles Harry Preston, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. S. Preston, of 5, Raymond-street, Wisbech, and whose wife, formerly Miss Edith Calver, lives at Fitton-end, Gorefield.

L/Sgt. Preston joined the Territorials in May, 1939, and was called up for service at the beginning of the war. He went to the Far East with the 2nd Battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment and was taken prisoner at Singapore. He was travelling from Thailand to Japan in a Japanese transport at the time of his death.

It was on Aug. 28th. 1945, that his wife and parents received the first notification that he was missing. At Christmas, 1944, they had received from him two cards written in August, 1944, about a month before his death.

L /Sgt. Preston, who at the time of his death was 25 years of age, was, before the war, employed by Messrs. Balding and Mansell, of Wisbech. He was married in December, 1941. A keen footballer, he was a member of the Park Works Club.

Photograph Copyright © Peter Thatcher 2018

Lance Corporal 2343023, Royal Corps of Signals. Died from injuries after being taken to hospital after a road accient in the United Kingdom 20 November 1943. Aged 27. Born 31 July 1916, and resident, Cambridgeshire. Son of Robert and Florence Elizabeth Symonds, of Wisbech; husband of Joan Ellen Symonds (nee Wales), of Gorefield, married April to June Quarter 1942 in Whittlesey Registration District, Cambridgeshire. In the 1921 census he was aged 4, born Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, son of Robert and Florence Elizabeth Symonds, resident 9, Stence Row, Wisbech, Wisbech St Peter, Cambridgeshire. In the 1939 Register he was born 31 July 1916, a Lorry Driver, single, son of Robert and Florence E Symonds, resident 154 Norwich Road, Wisbech, Wisbech M.B., Cambridgeshire.Buried 26 November 1943 in GOREFIELD (ST. PAUL) CHURCHYARD, Cambridgeshire. See also Wisbech

Symonds A.R. and his bride Joan Wales

Driver T/137529, Royal Army Service Corps. Died of Tuberculosis 28 June 1947. Son of Bertram & Florence May Wales, of Gorefield; husband of Joan Ellen Wales, of Gorefield. Buried in Congregational Churchyard, Gorefield, Cambridgeshire.