JARNELL, Samuel (shown as Jamell on Roll of Honour and Jarrett on 1911 census)

4^th Royal Munster Fusiliers

Drummer 79213.

SURVIVED (discharged as medically unfit)

Amend the last two sentences of his story to read :- Samuel married Beatrice Kirkman in 1916 in the Chorlton district of Lancashire. The couple had three children. The 1939 register records their address as 20, Ratcliffe Street in Manchester. Samuel's occupation was given as a handyman at a motor retailer.
Samuel died in 1958 in Manchester.

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Samuel Jarnell was born on 10 July 1889 to Samuel Jarnell and Martha, maiden name unknown. His father had been employed as a labourer but had died in the first quarter of 1889.

In 1891 the family are living at 30, Cornwall Place, Lambeth. Martha is a widow and has three boys including Samuel who is the youngest. Two children had died in infancy.

Samuel's mother died in 1897 and he was admitted to Beechholme on the 16th of July that year. The Poor Law records show that he was an orphan and that he was adopted. An older brother, George of Wheatstone Road, was given as his next of kin.

The 1901 census shows him as being a scholar in Beechholme

Research by Rachel and Jim Stapleton

SOURCES :- Ancestry

Last updated 8 Feb 2017

JOHNS, Albert Francis

Private 2384 

2^nd City of London (Royal Fusiliers)

 Killed in Action  31 March 1915

Aged 23.

Albert Francis Johns was born in 1892 according to the Poor Law records. No day or month is given.

The Poor Law records show Albert's admission to Beechholme on the 29th of April 1898 and state that his father Francis was resident at Mary Place while his mother Martha was incarcerated in Hanwell Asylum. Albert was discharged from the school to service on the 6th of October 1906.

A follow up report in 1908 states " This lad who was with Mr. Willis of 59, Church Street, Harwich was sent back to the school and from there was discharged to the care of his aunt by an order from the clerk to the guardians, but they were not aware of either the aunt's name, or address. His name has been taken off our books."

On the 1911 census it is likely that he is lodging with a family called Cameron in Hammersmith. The likely reason behind this is because one of the sons, Percy Cameron was in Beechholme at the same time as Albert.  Albert’s occupation is given as a counting house clerk and he is aged nineteen.

Albert enlisted in Hammersmith and his army number of 2384 indicates an enlistment between August and September 1914.

The 2nd London Regiment were formed in 1908. It was part of the 1st London Division and was guarding railway lines near Southampton when war broke out in 1914. Like the other Royal Fusilier battalions of the London regiment it was posted to the Malta Garrison in September 1914 and was now the 1st/2nd battalion. The battalion subsequently went to the Western Front via Marseilles in January 1915 and joined the 17th Brigade 6thDivision. This was a regular army division and was at this time at the line East of Armentieres. The 1st/2nd London remained here until June 1915.

Albert has no surviving service records but unusually he is actually named in the battalion war diary. An extract of which follows :-

28/3/15 ARMENTIERES

“ A Company relieved D Company in forward trenches at 7 pm. B Company relieved C Company in the Breast Works at 8 pm. A and B Companies are now going in for 6 days in accordance with practice adopted by the battalions of 17^th Brigade”

29/3/15

“ A and B Companies in trenches.. Uneventful “

30/3/15.

“ A and B Companies in trenches . Considerable fire kept up during the 24 hours by A Company who sustained the following casualties 2257 Private J.G. Bone severely wounded

1873 Private M Gibbins severely wounded

1244 private W Simpson wounded

1347 Lance Corporal J Bulter wounded

2384 Private A. F. Johns killed. “

As can be seen the war diary gives a date of death for Albert of the 30th of March 1915 rather than the 31^st as given by the Commonwealth War Graves citation.

Sole legatee - fiancee, Miss Hilda Louise Meloy.

GRAVE REF :- FERME BUTERNE MILITARY CEMETERY, HOUPLINES. B.9

Ferme Buterne Military Cemetery Houplines is situated 1 kilometre south east of the village of Houplines which is 2 kilometres east of the centre of Armentieres and 2 kilometres north of La Chapelle D’Armentieres. The cemetery was used from January to October 1915, chiefly by the 6th Division. It contains 129 burials, 2 of which are unidentified.

JONES Thomas 

Trumpeter 6821

18^th Hussars ( Queen Mary's Own)

 Died of wounds 24 May 1915.

Thomas Jones was born around 1891 in the Kensington/Chelsea registration district. He was admitted to Beechholme on the 13th of July 1895 and Poor Law records state that his next of kin was his mother Elizabeth of St Marloes Road.

On the 1901 census at the age of ten he is still resident in Beechholme and designated as a pauper scholar. There are other children on this census in Beechholme with the surname Jones, but as it is such a common surname it has been impossible to connect any of them. Thomas was discharged from the school on the 6th of September 1906. A follow up visit stated that he was with the 18th Hussars at Curragh camp in Ireland. His character was good and he was a solo baritone performer.

Thomas’ medal index card indicates a date of entry of the 15 August 1914 so he would have been one of the first soldiers to cross the sea and to fight on the Western Front.

In August 1914 the regiment was based at Tidworth, Wiltshire as part of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade in the Cavalry Division and they moved to France and landed at Boulogne on 16 August 1914. The regiment was involved in the battle of Mons in 1914 and the subsequent retreat, the Battles of Le Cateau, Marne, Aisne, La Bassee, Messines and Armentieres.

In 1915 the regiment took part in the 2nd Battle of Ypres which comprised four stages which were the Battles of Gravenstafel, St Julien, Frezenberg and Beelewaarde.

The 2nd Battle of Ypres comprised the only major attack launched by the German Forces on the Western Front in 1915. Begun in April and used primarily as a means of diverting Allied attention away from the Eastern Front, and as a means of testing the use of chlorine gas, it eventually concluded in failure in May of 1915.

An extract  from the war diary follows :-

12/5/15 VLAMERTINGHE

“ In reserve till evening. All led horses sent back to permanent billets at BERTHEN. The regiment proceeded to WIELTJE and took over about 300 yards of the left of a line of trenches reaching from 500 yards E of WIELTJE (3 miles NE of YPRES) to the left to the YPRES-VERLEMENHOEK ROAD on the right. All quiet.”

13/5/15 WIELTJE In Trenches.

“ At 3.30 am the enemy opened a very heavy shell fire on the front trenches held by the 2^nd Infantry Brigade, that position held by the 18^th Hussars being particularly battered. Considerable lengths of trenches on the left of the 18^th Hussars line were demolished by cross fire from heavy howitzers. Casualties became very heavy. All communication was cut by the levelling of trenches and the incessant fire of guns and machine guns. The part of the Right Squadron under Captain O’Kelly after considerable loss were withdrawn by its commander to a ditch about 150 yards in rear of the fighting line which he had been informed gave better cover, but not liking something returned at 6.30 am to the firing line. The other part, B Squadron under Lieutenant Lane suffered severely and out of 3 officers-1 was killed and 2 wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Burnett being in charge of the Brigade was killed as he was going along the trench to encourage his men. The right trenches of C Squadron were blown to pieces.

During the remainder of the day the remnants of the regiment held the still intact parts of the parapets aided by a machine gun of the Essex regiment.

The bombardment of the 18^th Hussars trenches was of such an intensity that a black pall hung over them for long periods from 3.30 am until about 10 am when heavy intermittent shelling continued till dark. The noise was deafening and the place a veritable inferno.

The regiment retired at 9 pm to the support trenches having been relieved by the 4^th Dragoon Guards and at midnight the whole Brigade was relieved by Infantry and withdrew to the support line close to the CHATEAU OF POTIJZE and just N of the same.”

“ The following were the casualties- Officers 2 Killed, 6 wounded. Other Ranks 19 killed, 103 wounded, 24 missing.”

The only other report of casualties before the 25^th of May 1915 was the following entry in the war diary :-

19/5/15 YPRES MENIN ROAD. In trenches.

“ Intermittent shelling. 5 men of digging party wounded by high explosive shrapnel”

It is reasonable to assume that one or the other of the two dates mentioned above was when Thomas was wounded. He may well have been buried and the grave marked but then later became lost with further shelling and bombardments.

His sole legatee was Miss Gertrude Leak.

GRAVE REF:-  YPRES (MENIN GATE ) MEMORIAL PANEL 5.

The Menin Gate is one of four memorials to the missing in Flanders, Belgium which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient.

Panel numbers quoted at the end of each entry relate to the panels dedicated to the regiment with which the casualty served.

The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds and thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields.

                                                  The Menin Gate 1917.

                                                   Menin Gate before the war.