Category Archives: Battlefield Areas

Richard Slyfield and brothers

Army, Other Regiments, Registered War Grave, RFC / RAF, Ypres

Richard Slyfield
298502 Air Mechanic II.
2nd F.T.S. (Duxford)

Division 65 Extension

Richard Slyfield  lived at 32 Whitley Street, Reading.  He was the son of Mrs. Althea Slyfield and the late John Slyfield. The 1911 census indicates that Althea is the head of the family and that she has five sons. The oldest is George 22, John aged 18, Robert 15, James 13 and Richard the youngest aged 10. The three older brothers are working at the biscuit factory, as a butcher’s assistant and as a milkman respectively. The younger boys are still in school.

Richard died on the 21st January 1921.  A picture and account of his funeral was published on February 5th 1921 in the Standard. Pg. 8  He is buried in the cemetery and has a CWGC headstone, grave number 13742.  He was aged 19.  The author has found no other details relating to his death.

However, a R. Slyfied (assumed to be brother Robert) , a Signaller of the same address is recorded in “Berkshire and the War”  as being awarded a Military Medal for bravery.   He was at the time with another Signaller, William Ayres, also from Reading who was later commemorated on the War Memorial plaque of the Alfred Sutton School.

The medal was awarded for “mending a telephone line at great risk”, when in action near Contalmaison 11th -14th July 1916.  The London Gazette 1/9/1916 records the citation “for good work and bravery”.  The work of a signaller was  dangerous and vital. Communications when in the front line were often broken and the signaller had the job of effecting repairs under the most trying of circumstances.

Private 27003 James Slyfield 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regt., the brother of Richard Slyfield, died on the 31st July 1917, the opening day of the Third Battle of Ypres, on a battlefield that had turned to a sea of mud a result of the combined effects of heavy rain and bombardment by shells.  James  Slyfield has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres Memorial to the Missing, Menin Gate, Panel 53.  Like Richard he was 19 years old when he died.

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’.