PANCUTT, Arthur 

Private 2909,

4th Suffolk Regiment

Died of wounds 15  NOVEMBER 1915.

Arthur Pancutt’s birth was registered in the September quarter of 1897 in the registration district of Hampstead. Arthur’s mother was Alice Emma nee Clarke  and she was also born in Hampstead. His father was probably Arthur Pancutt also from Hampstead and the couple had married in the June of 1897. This is the only marriage that fits the bill during this time and a  “public member tree” on “Ancestry “ has the couple listed on it. Another child was born in 1898, namely Albert. The children’s father does not appear on any census form with their mother. He may well have abandoned his wife and children after the birth of the second child.

By 1901 Alice and her two boys are together in the Hampstead Union Workhouse. Alice is 22 and her young children are aged four and three respectively. They may have been separated from their mother as the children were often housed in a separate part of the workhouse to the adults. Alice is still describing herself as being married but there is no sign of her husband and no death record could be found at this time. Alice must have been truly desperate to keep her family together and the Workhouse was the last resort when all else had failed.

By 1911 the two boys are resident in Beechholme. Arthur's admission date to Beechholme is unkown. Alice is living as a housekeeper in Ravenshaw Court, Hampstead. She is housekeeper to Alfred Chapman who has two sons roughly the same age as Alice’s boys. Both adults are described as being married but Alfred Chapman’s wife had died in 1901. The couple would eventually marry in 1918.

From “ Soldiers Died in the Great War” Arthur enlisted in Ipswich Suffolk. His brother Albert was living in Ipswich according to his (Albert’s) pension records. There are no surviving service records for Arthur and it has proved difficult  trying to piece together what happened to him.

The 4th Suffolk Regiment were a territorial force and in August 1914 the regiment was at Portman Road, Ipswich as part of the Norfolk and Suffolk Brigade, East Anglian Division. Having left the division they landed at Le Havre on 9 November 1914. They came under command of the Jullunder Brigade of 3rd Lahore Division. This was part of the Indian Expeditionary Force sent to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force fighting in France.

The Jullunder Brigade under General Operations Commander Major General P.M. Carnegy C.B. consisted of the 1st Manchesters, 4th Suffolks, 15th Ludhiana Sikhs, 47th Sikhs and the 59th Scinde Rifles.

From Arthur’s medal index card his date of entry was 28 February 1915 so he would have been part of reinforcements sent out to the Western Front after initial losses. At the bottom of the medal index card is the address 63, Fleet Road, Mansfield Rd, Hampstead, NW3. This address was where his mother was living and would have been where Arthur’s medals and personal effects were sent.

The 4th Suffolk regiment took part in the Battle of Loos in 1915. The chosen site for the attack was unsuitable being very flat, lacking in cover and constantly under surveillance from German observation posts dug into the slag heaps of waste from coal mines. However it was politically convenient as being just a few miles north of the Souchez Valley and so close to the boundary between the French and British Armies.

Compared with the small scale British efforts of spring 1915 this attack of six divisions was a mighty offensive indeed and was referred to at the time as “The Big Push”. It lasted from 25 September to 18 October.Afterwards there was a lot of mopping up in the area and the following is a small extract from the war diary :-

25^th October 1915.

“ Battalion brought back to reserve trenches (LANCASHIRE TRENCH) close to VERMELLES”

26^th October

“ Battalion in same position. Working parties supplied to Royal Engineers”

27^th October

“Battalion moved back to front line”

28^th October

“ Enemy active with artillery and trench mortar. Our artillery replied and silenced them. Burial parties sent out”

Because there are no mentions of casualties up to and including the 15 November, it is possible that Arthur was wounded on 28 October. The Commonwealth War Graves site lists another soldier from the same regiment being killed on this day.

Cabaret Rouge cemetery is in the village of Souchez which is 3.5 kilometres north of Arras on the main road to Bethune.

Cabaret Rouge was a small red-bricked, red-tiled café that stood close to this site in the early days of the war. The café was destroyed by shell fire in March 1915 but it gave its unusual name to this sector and to a communication trench that led troops up to the front line.

Commonwealth soldiers began burying their fallen comrades here in March 1916. It was greatly enlarged in the years after the war when as many as 7,000 graves were concentrated here from over 100 other cemeteries in the area. For much of the twentieth century Cabaret Rouge served as one of a small number of open cemeteries at which the remains of fallen servicemen newly discovered in the region were buried.

Soldiers Effects records held by Ancestry state that Arthur died of wounds in the field.
His sole legatee was his mother.

GRAVE REF :- CABARET ROUGE BRITISH CEMETERY, SOUCHEZ XVII.C.9 

Research by Rachel and Jim Stapleton

SOURCES :- Ancestry, Find My Past, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, The Long Long Trail,  Wikepedia,

                     Grave photo courtesy of the CWGC,  War Diary WO/95/2208

Last updated: 26 Feb 2017

PAYNE, William

Private 4212,

9^th Lancers (Queens Own)

Killed in Action 3^rd November 1914.

William Payne was born around 1892 in Chelsea according to the census returns. He was admitted to Beechholme on the 29th of October 1899 from the Workhouse. Poor Law records state that his next of kin was an aunt- Mrs. Reynolds of 45, Lots Road. William's mother Louisa's whereabouts were unknown and his father was said to be dead.

On the 1901 census he is a resident of Beechholme and his age is given as nine. There is another child called James Payne on this census also  in Beechholme and he may have been William's brother.

Ten years later and William is employed as an assistant bootmaker, a trade he probably learned while at Beechholme, and is boarding with a family called Gilbert in  Burford Street, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. He is nineteen years old.

On his medal index card his next of kin is given as Miss A.V.Huttlestone of Sheffield. She may be a girlfriend or fiancee as she was born in Hoddesdon and the family lived in Burford Street the same road where William was boarding.

William enlisted in London and his date of entry was 15 August 1914.

The 9th Lancers were originally formed during the Jacobean Risings of 1715.They were based at Tidworth in early August of 1914 and went to France as part of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade landing at Boulogne on 16 August 1914 at 4pm. They only operated in this capacity during 1914 and for the remainder of the war they operated as infantry in the trenches due to widespread use of machine guns and shelling, and also the advent of the tank.

William would have taken part in the early battles of 1914 on the Western Front including those at Mons, Le Cateau, Ploegsteert and Messines.

Here follows an extract from the 9th Lancers  war diary :-

November 1^st 1914. N. WULVERGHEN.

“Messines being evacuated, the 2^nd Cavalry Brigade took up a line of trenches one mile W of MESSINES. Relieved by 1^st Cavalry Brigade at dusk, went into billets between NEUVE EGLISE and WOLVERGHEN 8 pm.”

November 2^nd.

“ Stood to at 5 am. Moved up to high ground ½ mile E of KEMMEL where the regiment dug themselves trenches. The French were due to attack WYTCHAETE and MESSINES in the afternoon, but the attack fizzled out and we received orders to relieve the 1^st Cavalry Brigade in front of MESSINEs. We re-occupied our old trenches on the left of the MESSINES-NEUVE EGLISE ROAD. Quiet night”

November 3^rd. DRANOUTRE

“Coal boxes” all day in the trenches-only one hit the trench and killed 1 Officer and 3 men.”

“Coal boxes or “Jack Johnson’s” were the nicknames for a High Explosive German shell fired from a 5.9 Howitzer which emitted a heavy black smoke.

William would have been entitled to the 1914 Star and the British War and Victory Medals. His sole legatee was Adelaide Victoria Huttlestone..

GRAVE REF:- YPRES MENIN GATE MEMORIAL PANEL 5.

The location of the Menin Gate memorial to the missing is situated at the eastern exit of Ypres and was considered a fitting place for one of the memorials to the missing of the Great War.

It was designed by Sir Reginald Bloomfield and bears the names of 54, 389 men who fell in the Ypres Salient before the 16^th of August 1917, and who have no known grave. Every evening at 20.00 hours The Last Post is played at the memorial and it has been played every night since 1927, the only exception being for a period during the 2^nd World War when Ypres was occupied by German forces.

PERRYMAN, William Frederick

PRIVATE 10351, 1^st Royal Scots Fusiliers

 Killed in action 16^th June 1915

Age 19.

Son of Mrs K. Perryman of 149, Finborough Rd Kensington and the Late Mr. Perryman.

 William Frederick Perryman's birth was registered in the January quarter of 1896 in Kensington. He was the third child born to Herbert and Kate nee Annells. Herbert was employed as a coachman and he was from Kensington. Kate had been born in Hampshire.

The couple had five children, three boys, all destined to serve in the war, and two girls.The youngest child, Mabel died in infancy.

Herbert died in the January quarter of 1901 and Kate was left with four children under 9 and another one on the way.

The 1901 census taken on the night of the 31^st March shows William at the age of five years in the Kensington and Chelsea Board School in King Street along with his older brother Herbert. Their mother Kate is living in Abingdon Villas in Kensington with her other son Sydney. This accommodation was shared with two other families. The sister is in an orphans home for girls in Wolverhampton. William was transferred to Beechholme on the 9th of October 1901. His mother Kate is shown as his next of kin in the Poor Law records.

William cannot be traced on the 1911 census. His mother is living in Kensington with the other two brothers, one of whom, Herbert is described as being a soldier.

The 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers were a regular battalion and as such were based at Gosport in August 1914. They were part of the 9th Brigade

3rd Division.They landed at Le Havre on 14 August 1914 and took part in all the major early battles.

William enlisted in Hounslow and entered France on 27 April 1915, tragically he would be dead less than two months later.

Little is known about the Battle of Bellewaade which took place on 16 June 1915. The battlefield  was approximately ½ mile square, where over 1000 would die within a twelve hour period and many others would be wounded or captured.

At the close of the Battle of Ypres, the German trenches between the Messine Road and the Ypres- Roules railway formed a salient.

Behind the front lines lay the Bellewaade Ridge and the lake, the former giving the enemy good observation over the British lines. Hooge, at the southern end of this salient lay battered and ruined between the opposing lines, while just south of the Ypres -Roules railway the eastern edges of Railway Wood were held by the enemy, and the western edges by British troops of the 3^rd division.

Early in June it was decided  to attack the salient and if possible gain possession of the ridge, the attack was to be carried out by the 9th brigade of the 3rddivision. The attacking troops for the 1st phase of the attack were from right to left-the 4th Royal Fusiliers, the 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers and the       1st Northumberlands.

As soon as the German front was taken, the Royal Fusiliers were to bomb down the trench from Y16 to Y17 while the Royal Scots in conjunction with the Northumberlands were to seize the hostile German trench lying between Y13 and Y15. As soon as the first objective had been gained the guns were to bombard the second objective of the road from the house 100 yards south of Y17 through Y17 to Ballewaade Farm. Thence on to the third objective, the S.W corner of Ballewaarde Lake.

An extract from the battalion war diary:-

15/6/15 Midnight. Bellewaade.

“ The battalion was in position in assembly trenches”

16/6/15 2.50 am

“A bombardment commenced and Royal Scots Fusiliers trenches slightly damaged by this fire ”

4.15am. “Bombardment ceased and RSF advanced on left. B Coy reached their objectives under shell and rifle fire and captured and consolidated first line of trenches. On the right A Coy reached their objectives with practically no loss”

4.45 am. “ After pushing on, Y15 communication trench was seized and the trench S.W of pond at Bellewaade Farm. Preparations were made to advance to the final objective. But the farm was so heavily shelled by our own artillery that further advance was impossible.

Captain Whigham pushed on with 30 RSF and 20 Liverpool Scottish and seized German trench and held this until 6.30 am.While being unsupported he had to retire along same line to original trench S.W. of farm and remained there until 3pm.”

12 noon. “Reinforcements were sent and the line Y13-Y14 was held until the battalion was relieved.

The German infantry offered the most feeble resistance at the beginning. Continuous shell fire went on all day from both sides.”

5pm.Second bombardment took place and here most of the losses were incurred.”

Casualties of other ranks during battle :-

36 killed, 199 wounded and 202 missing.

William had probably been killed by shellfire and his body was never found and identified.

GRAVE REF :-Ypres Menin Gate Memorial Panels 19 & 33.

William's legatees were his, mother, his sister Emily and his brother Herbert.

A postscript. From William’s younger brother Sydney’s service records their mother writes a pleading letter to ask that Sydney be kept from the front line or sent home as he enlisted under age unbeknown to her. She states that she has already lost one son and that her other son Herbert is a prisoner of war. Both brothers managed to survive the war.

PLUMMER, W

1^st LINCS

To date we have been unable to identify this man.

If you have any information, please do contact us.