Category Archives: Graves

William Marshall

Army, Old Contemptible, Royal Berkshire Regiment

William Marshall  M.M.
Lance Corporal
2nd Batt. Royal Berkshire Regt.
Old Contemptible

 Division 17

Marshall W photo CIMG2190

 

Lance Corporal William Marshall  was considered by his friends to lead a charmed life and had many narrow escapes whilst doing service at the front.  At the battle of Fromelles he was carrying two boxes of bullets when one of them was hit by a bullet.  Writing to his mother in July 1915 he simply talks about the weather.  “We are having very unsettled weather again, and we are in the trenches.  We got wet through going on, and there was another wet night last knight.  It makes everything a mess”.

 At the outbreak of war he was serving in India but went to France towards the end of 1914.  This earned him the right to be called an “Old Contemptible”.

Marshall W + brothers photo

 

He was one of four sons, all of whom served with the forces, of Mr. Joseph and Mrs Mary Marshall of 32. Pitcroft Avenue, Reading. His father and older brother Joseph worked in the biscuit factory and William worked as a butcher before join the regular army. His brother Sidney, aged 19 years, was a machine gunner who was killed in action on Easter Monday  24/4/1916. 

William Marshall was awarded the Military Medal in 1916 for rescuing a machine gun.  He served at the front for most of his time in France although eventually due to a problem  with his foot he was given work behind the lines in Havre. 

In 1917 he married Christobel and they had six daughters and one son. In WWII  son Ted served in the Army and William worked as an ARP warden. His daughter Marion said that her dad never spoke about his war service. When William  died in 1963 aged 72 years he was given a military style funeral by the Old Contemptibles Association. He is buried with his wife and two daughters in the Reading Cemetery.  His grave is unmarked except for the marker of the  “Old Contemptibles”.

Ernest Edward Woods

Army, Arras, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Reading University College

Ernest Edward Woods
Staff Sergeant SS/5255
attached to 37th Division H.Q. Army Service Corps.

 Division 80

Woods EE photo Woods EE grave

Ernest Edward Woods was the son of Thomas and Susannah Woods, of  185, Oxford Road at the time of their son’s death; and 23, Coley Hill, Reading at the time of  CWGC registration.  His name is commemorated on the headstone of  grave number 16890.  He died on 22nd May 1916 and is buried in Doullens Communal Cemetery Extension II.C.18.

 The Standard 29th July 1916 gives details of his career and the details of the illness which killed him.

“ Sergt. Woods enlisted directly the war broke out, prior to which time he was a journalist on the ‘West London Free Press,’ which makes the following comment on his death:- “Woods was a capable and strenuous journalist.  His qualities of sprightly energy, alertness and loyalty won him the sincere regard of our staff.  His death appears all the more tragic because it was so unexpected.  Shortly before he was taken ill he wrote to his mother saying he was quite well and ever so happy.  Further information showed, however, that the preliminary cause of death was a tumour on the brain.  He was an extremely bright and joyous fellow, and had he lived would have had an honourable career in the Army.  Already he had won the confidence of the officers’ and men, and at headquarters it was known that he was marked out for rapid promotion.  For his mother and other relatives the sympathy of all who knew Staff Sergt. Woods goes out.”

          The C.O. wrote: “Woods had been in my confidential clerk for over a year – ever since the formation of the division.  It may be of some satisfaction to you to know that your son did his duty both willingly and well.  He died practically in the front line.”

 Doullens was the H.Q. of the French General Foch in the early part of the war.  From Summer 1915 to March 1916, the town was the junction between the French 10th Army and the British Third Army on the Somme.  The Citadelle, overlooking the town from the south, was a French military hospital, and the railhead was used by both Armies.  In March 1916, the Arras front became British, and the town became home to various Casualty Clearing Stations.  Medical units buried their dead firstly in the French Extension of the Communal Cemetery and later Extension No.2 when casualties form both the Arras and Somme fronts increased.

William Harringay (Henry) Neate

Army, Australian, Commemorated name/s, Dardanelles

William Harringay Neate
Private 1343

5th Battalion Australian Infantry A.I.F.

 Division 6

William Harringay Neate, is recorded as William Henry Neate, on the headstone of the family grave number 6789.  The inscription states that he was “Killed in Action at Anzac” on 19th May 1915 aged 32.

It is believed that his father, also called William, served in the British Army prior to the Great War, he was born in Bradfield, Berkshire and his sister, Sarah, who lived with the family in 1901 was born in Tilehurst, Reading.  William’s mother was Mary A Neate. It has not been possible to discover futher details about William Harringay Neate although in 1901 he was living with his mother and father in Gosport. He was then 19 but no occupation was given.

 The Gallipoli landings took place on the 25th April 1915.  Until 6th May there was persistent heavy fighting with serious losses on both sides.  It became obvious by the 9th May that the troops would need time to reorganise and strengthen their positions.  Among the heat and flies and constant sniper fire the Anzacs dug to improve the depth of gullies and trenches.  For safety periscopes were in constant use.  In many places the front lines were only yards apart and in No-Mans land the decaying bodies of Turkish soldiers rotted in the sun.  The Turkish commanders Essad and Kemel gave up their vision of driving the Anzacs into the sea and planned, instead, to mount a full scale attack.  40,000 Turks were assembled quietly during the 18th May in gullies and valley’s along the front line.  During the 18th the Turkish guns became eerily silent and reports from aircraft informed the allies that Turkish reinforcements were moving across the peninsula.  The attack was set for 3.30a.m. but,  forewarned of an imminent attack because of the light gleaming from fixed bayonets, the Australians themselves began firing at 3a.m.  All along the line the Turks were met with rifle and machine gun fire, many Australians jumping on the parapets to get a better aim.  By noon the attack was called off and Turkish casualties numbered 10,000 including 3,000 dead or grievously wounded in No-Mans land.  The cries of the injured and the stench on the dead was so appalling that on the 20th May an Australian Colonel hoisted a Red Cross flag.  The Turks shot at the flag but shortly after sent out men to apologise and Red Crescents were raised, an Armistice was agreed and in the following days the battlefield was cleared. 

William Henry Neate was killed during the attacks. He is buried at Shrapnel Valley Cemetery, Turkey, Location Plot III. Row C. Grave 15.

Shrapnel Valley (or Shrapnel Gully) runs from the west side of the Lone Pine Plateau, behind Maclagan’s Ridge, south-westwards to the sea near Hell Spit (Queensland Point).  The upper part of Shrapnel Valley was called Monash Gully (after Sir John Monash, then commanding the 4th Australian Infantry Brigade). The main valley obtained its name from the heavy shelling of it by the Turks on the 26th April, 1915. It was an essential road from the beach upwards. Wells were sunk and water obtained from it in small quantities; on the South side of its lower reaches were camps and depots; and gun positions were made near the mouth of it. The cemetery was made mainly during the occupation, but partly after the Armistice by the concentration of isolated graves in the Valley. There are now nearly 700, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over 80 are unidentified and special tablets are erected to commemorate 21 soldiers from Australia and two from the United Kingdom for whom there is evidence of burial in the cemetery. The cemetery covers an area of 2,824 square metres and the South-East side which borders the gully is enclosed by a concrete retaining wall.