Category Archives: Other Regiments

Slade brothers, friends Atrill, Alldridge, Beechwood – Slade

Canadian, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments

The Slade family grave, number 11233; Berkshire Family History Society classification 44L26, commemorates the names of five ‘Dear friends, Killed in Action’.  There were five Slade brothers serving in the army according to a cutting taken from the paper.  In many newspaper reports the family address is given as Brunswick Street, Reading.  It is known that the father also resided at 10, York Place, Reading.

  SLADE FAMILY

 

Alexander Alldridge DCM
CSM 9558 2nd South Lancashire Regiment

ATRILL P ATTRELLCSM CEM

 Alexander Alldridge, was the son of George Joseph and Edith Alldridge, of 9, Wood Street, Earlestown, Lancashire.  He was killed on 13th July 1916 aged 23 and is buried at Bapaume Post Military Cemetery, Albert.  Location I.E.14.

 P. F. Attrill
Serjeant 8329
2nd   Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment

 Percy Attrill   lived at 42, Brunswick Street and 101,   Brunswick Street, Reading.  He was aged   32 when he died on the 3rd July 1916.   He is buried at Lonsdale Cemetery,   Authuile, Somme.  Location VI. V.3

Percy,   who had married into the Slade family, had already served eleven years in the   army when war broke out.  The first   reports about him in ‘The Standard’, appeared in February 1915.  Percy had been wounded in the right arm   during the Battle of Aisne, September 20th 1914.  He was sent for treatment at No.5 Base  hospital and spent one week in hospital in Cambridge.  His injuries resulted in tetanus and for a  time he had lock-jaw, there was also a worry that he would loose the use of   three fingers on his right hand.  However, he obviously recovered because he was posted as missing on  July 3rd 1916.  His wife,   Edith, was seeking information about his whereabouts through out September   1916.  Later the reports also included   A.E. Slade .

 

Albert Edward Slade
Lance Corporal G/25352
16th Battalion Royal Fusiliers

SLADE FAMILY 2 BROS KIA

 Albert   E. Slade  lived at 101,  Brunswick Street, Reading.  He died on   the 23rd July 1916.  He is   buried at Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval, Somme.  Location XXII. H.5.

At the time of the 1911 census the family were recodedasliving at 60, Weldale Street.  Albert was recorded as widower and a printers labourer,specifically a stone cleaner. His brother Ernest was recorded as an engine cleaner for the railways and brother Reginald worked in the tin factory making biscuit tins.  Albert Slade was remembered by his   father, brothers and sisters in ‘In Memoriam’, Reading Standard, 20th   July 1918.

Two years have passed and still to memory dear,
We think of him   and shed a silent tear
Friends may   think the wound is healed
But sorrow   beneath a smile if oft concealed.

S. Slade Lance Corporal
G/25352 16th Battalion   Royal Fusiliers

 S.Slade  lived at Old Didcot.  He died on the 19th April   1918.  He is buried in the St. Sever   Cemetery Extension, Rouen.  Location P.   XI. L. 10B.

Lance  Corporal Slade died as a result of gas poisoning at No.3 Stationary Hospital   France.  He was the youngest of the   Slade brothers.

 

J.F. Beechwood Private 207069 Royal Canadian Regiment

 J.F.Beechwood died on the 9th April 1917.  He is buried in La Chaudiere Military Cemetery, Vimy, Pas de Calais.  Location VII.E.19

 

Charles Francis Simonds

Army, Arras, Commemorated name/s, Marlborough House School, Other Regiments

Charles Francis Simonds
Major 13th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps

 Division 45

Simonds CF photo

Charles Francis Simonds was the eldest son of James and Cecilia Simonds, of Redlands House, Reading. James Simonds was already dead when news came that Charles had been killed in action.  The Simonds family were a well-known banking family in Reading. Although the bank, Messers. J & C Simonds & Co. had already incorporated with Barclay’s & Co. Ltd.  However, the original brass nameplates could still be seen on the door of the Barclay’s bank which is sited opposite the ‘Jacksons’ corner until Barclays vacated the building.

 Charles Simonds was educated at Wellington College and Trinity College, Oxford.  He served in the South African war as a member of the Berkshire Mounted Infantry and received the Queen’s Medal with four clasps.   Charles rejoined the Army in September 1914 leaving his work as a businessman and partner in the Simonds bank.  He was gazetted as captain to the Service Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. and received his majority February 1st 1915, he went to the front in July 1915.

 He married Evelyn Hickman, granddaughter of the late Sir Alfred Hickman, in 1907.   They had two sons and had their family home at The Crofts, Spencer’s Wood.  By the time of CWGC registration Evelyn remarried and taking the name of Fuller and moving to Strattonend, Cirencester.   

 Charles Simonds was well known in Reading as a sports man, he rode to hounds with the South Berkshire Hunt and was a member of their committee.  Charles had rowed at Oxford and in his twenties was a member of the Reading Rowing club, serving a period as Captain when the club was particularly successful.

Charles   Simonds had been home on leave only three weeks before his death.  On his return to the front Simonds was  charged with the planning of a trench raid. This was carried out successfully due to his outstanding organisation.  However, during the accompanying  bombardment shells fell on the command dugout, which should have been safe from danger, and Charles Simonds and other key officers were killed   instantly.  A mining party was sent in immediately to dig the place out and eventually after much heavy digging found the bodies which were removed to the unit church hut.

Charles   Simonds was killed on 29th June 1916 aged 38.  He was buried in Berles-au-Bois Churchyard  Extension, Pas de Calais. The unit had been in the village some two months at   the time of Simonds death.  The grave   location is G.5.  He is commemorated on the Simonds family grave number 2297, in the Reading Cemetery. Berkshire   Family History Society classification 45B1.

 

 

Albert E Shore & Arthur William Shore

Abbey Baptist Church, Army, Commemorated name/s, Navy, Other Regiments, Ypres

Albert Shore
Private 7396
1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regt.

Division 80
Extension

Shore AE photo Shore AW photo

Albert Shore was the eldest son of Edward and Alice Shore, of 124, Liverpool Road, Reading.  He is commemorated, with his brother, on a shield on his parents’ grave.  Grave number 17093; The Berkshire Family History Society grave classification is 80B10.    Albert and Arthur died within three weeks of each other in November 1914.

 Albert Shore was recorded in the 1911 census as a general labourer but it is known that he had been a regular soldier, as a Reservist of three years he would have been called up immediately upon the outbreak of war.  He probably experienced the early battles of the war at Mons, the retreat from Mons, the Marne, the Aisne and the First Battle for Ypres. During the first week of November, the battalion, fought around Inverness Copse, Sanctuary Wood and Railway Wood.  On the 6th November they advanced the front line towards Zwartellen.  On the 7th November they came under heavy fire from the east of the village.  Albert Shore was killed in action on 7th November 1914.

 The war historian of the regiment recorded that many men were forced to lie out in the open all day, unable to get back to their line.  43 men were killed, 47 wounded and 8 missing.  At roll call only 3 officers and 213 men were present.  The previous month there had been 25 officers and 970 men.  The body of Albert Shore was never found and his name was accordingly recorded on the Ypres Memorial to the Missing the Menin Gate he is commemorated on Panel 22 and 34.

 Albert was initially been recorded as missing and it was not until December that two men reported to an Infantry Record Officer, Corporal Ryder, that Shore had been shot and they believed him dead.  The report was confirmed and reported on April 17th 1915.   We are told in the Standard report that he had been a Reservist for three years and before the war had worked as a warehouseman at Messers Kingham’s, Kings Road.  He left a widow and a child of three.  It isbelieved that his wife’s name was Poly Birdand that they married in 1911.

Arthur William Shore
Able Seaman 239119  
HMS “Bulwark”

Arthur Shore was the brother of Albert. He was lost at sea on the 26 November 1914. His name is commemorated upon the Portmouth Naval Memorial. He was 25 years old. On this day the Bulwark sank off Sheerness after an explosion that killed almost all the 700 ratings and the officers on board. Several sites on the internet give details of the disaster and the coroners report of ‘Accidental Death’.