Category Archives: Alfred Sutton School War Memorial

Harry Tillen

Alfred Sutton School War Memorial, Jutland, Navy, Park Congregational Church War Memorial

Harry Tillen
Able Seaman Royal Navy H.M.S. “Invincible”

TILLEN H

 Harry Tillen was the son of Kate Allen (formerly Tillen) of 46, Crescent Road. (CWGC register gives spelling as Tillin)  The 1901 census indicates that Kate had married George Stephen Allen, a gasman’s labourer and they lived at 57 Foxhill Road, Reading. Harry was the youngest of Kate’s three children who are recorded as George’s step children. The 1911 census indicates that the family hadmoved to Crescent Road and Harry was working as a grocers errand boy. 

Harry Tillen was lost at sea and his name is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. His name is commemorated on the Alfred Sutton School Memorial  and also commemorated on the Park Church and Institute Memorial.   Harry Tillen was aged 20 years when he died.

 The H.M.S. “Invincible” was among the Battle Cruisers of the Grand Fleet which was reviewed by the King in July 1914.  The Britain Empire ruled the seas and was superior to any other Empire in the number of vessels at its disposal.  Harry Tillen would have been proud to serve as an able seaman in this navy.

 In 1916 with a stalemate on land it became the turn of the navies to try and break the deadlock at sea.  The British Grand Fleet was based in the Firth of Forth, Moray Firth and Scapa Flow;  the German High Seas Fleet at Wilhelmshaven.  On the morning of 31st May 1916 Mary Clarke, a young nursing sister on board the Grand Fleet Hospital Ship Plassy,  watched the cruisers steaming up and with the other nurses “wondered if there is really anything doing this time, there have been so many false alarms.”  She recorded in her diary that “this evening after dinner two or three officers arrived in board with note books etc to find out what accommodation we had got for the wounded, how many cots, how many stretchers etc & later on we got a signal to get full steam going, so as to sail at a moments notice.”  The battle cruisers she had watched in the morning had been setting out for Jutland, a Danish territory, by evening two of them had already been sunk by the German navy. The “anything doing” turned out to be Battle of Jutland, the only major sea battle of the Great War.

H. Smythe

Alfred Sutton School War Memorial, Ypres

H. Smythe
Corporal 8254
4th Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars

 Note: Research has only revealed limited information.  The detail has come from CWGC register. It is possible the family moved to Streatly at the time of registration. However, Ancestry UK searches have revealed nothing with searches defaulting to the name Smith. I suspect the information presented does not refer to the same H. Smythe  as named on Alfred Sutton Memorial. The QOOH were a territorial mounted unit.

 H. Smythe – The son of Frank and Annie Smythe, Northlands Streatley on Thames died 16th October 1914, aged 21 years.  His name is on the La Ferte-sous-Jouare Memorial.

 The Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars were sent to France as a supporting Cavalry Unit in the early days of the war and were part of the British Expeditionary Force. They had the distinction of being the first Territorial (Yeomanry) Force to embark for France as the Cavalry of the Marines Division. The Marines were the baby of Winston Churchill who was First Lord of the Admiralty and his family had been associated with the Hussars for more than a hundred years.

 On 3rd October 1914 the Hussars were the only British force standing between the Germans and the sea, the Marines had been ordered to Antwerp.  The action there resulted in the small Belgium army escaping to fight another day although the town itself fell to the Germans.  After the action the Royal Naval Division was withdrawn and the Q.O.O.H. were recalled to England.  However, the officers of the unit, having enjoyed chasing German cavalry were reluctant to leave and all but mutinied.  The sent representatives to see the Commander-in-Chief Sir john French, pleading to be allowed to stay.  French liked their cheek and explained that whilst he could not absorb them into the official fighting force as they were not part of the official BEF, he would allow them to stay as guards for the HQ in St. Omer.  By the end of October 1914 they found themselves in action at Messines Ridge in the First Battle of Ypres. 

 It would have been in the action at the First Battle of Ypres that H. Smythe would have lost his life.  His body was probably lost or was not able to be identified hence he has no known grave and his name is commemorated on a Memorial to the Missing.

William Smith

Alfred Sutton School War Memorial, Registered War Grave

William Smith
Private 37581
1st  Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment

Division 55

Smith W (AS sch) photo Smith W (AS sch) grave

A William Smith is named on the Alfred Sutton School war memorial. Berkshire and the War revealed the picture above of William Thomas Smith.  The headstone is to W. Smith, of the Royal Berkshire Regiment who was the son of Samuel William and Mary Smith,
of  17, Parnell Street, Reading.  William died March 7th 1917, aged 19.  He is buried at Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, a village not far from the town of Albert.   

The picture above is of a William Thomas Smith,  a different address is given for the parents – 34 Westbourne Terrace. It is possible that the family had moved by the time the gravewasregistered. However, the boy in the picture is 19 years and the caption says died of wounds.  It is possible that they are one and the same person. 

 However, there is also a William Smith in the CWGC register for Reading Cemetery, this man is listed as:

SMITH,  Pte. William, R4/110946.  Army Service Corps. 2nd April, 1916

He is  buried in Division 55, Grave number 10239.   

There are no other details.  This entry serves to highlight some of the difficulties that a researcher has to deal with especially when personal details were omitted from registration forms.