Unrecorded losses

There are many Hull casualties which do not appear in Official War records. Sadly, this is not unusual, as details of deaths were compiled hurriedly to inform relatives, and errors were made in the confusion. In an era of hand written records, and lower literacy levels, names could be mis scribed. Heavy accents meant names were mis pronounced. Sometimes men were referred to by initial of nickname. The sheer number of casualties, plus men changing regiments, enlisting in other towns and sometime adopting alias names, would have added to the confusion. Often, discharged Servicemen, out of uniform, or those who died of sickness, accidents, and prisoners, were not deemed as war casualties. Similarly, soldiers shot for desertion or dying from shell shock were not officially recognised. Their deaths however were recorded by local newspapers, or by their families on local church memorials and “Street Shrines”. The Hull Memorial tries to remember these men, so they are not forgotten. Some Hull soldiers not remembered in the official war records include the following:-

Private, Thomas Arthur Cook, MM & Bar, 51472, 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment, died on 18/12/1919, aged 20 and is not included in the CWGC  records. His medal was left to aunt, Mrs Harvey at 18, New Buildings, Great Thornton Street, Hull

Christopher Parker, Amos Spruit and S COOTER, listed on St Mary’s Parish Church memorial, Sculcoates Lane. 

John, William and Arthur LEA, three names recorded on the St John’s Newland, War Memorial, Cottingham Road, Hull. Their Hull connection is unknown

Sgt, Frederick Williams, Border Regiment, recorded as killed in action, in the Hull Times on 12/06/1915. He is listed in St Charles Catholic Church, of 12 Jarratt Street, Hull.

John W Jerderin, F. Brett and S.T.E. Coates, and S. Miller, recorded on the Walker Street memorial.

F.H. Baxter and F. Whitehead, C.H. Kidby and E. Walton, all listed as fallen on the St Matthews Church WW1 Memorial, Boulevard.

Private, William Cooper Feirn, RAMC, from 236, Marlborough Avenue, recorded as killed, on the Methodist Church War Memorial, Princes Avenue, Hull.

Septimus H. Fielding, Sydney Arthur Larter and Abraham Sultan, remembered on Hull’s Technical College Roll of Honour, Park Street, but whose deaths are unrecorded in military records.

Samuel Brocklington, recorded as lost in the St Barnabas Book of Remembrance, Hessle Road.

Joseph Evette, Royal Field Artillery, died of wounds 02/10/1918, whose father lived at 3 Ryde Street.

Private, E Gregory, listed as fallen on the Wilmington Roll of Honour. 

Private, Fred Cheesman, from 118, Dansom Lane, listed as dead, on the Reckitt’s Factory Memorial.

Stoker, Alfred Rene Sawyer, Royal Navy, HMS ‘Powerful’ listed in the Hull Daily Mail as died.

Private, Bob Farrow, from Walcott Street, reported by the Hull Daily Mail, as accidentally killed at sea, on 26/07/1917.

Private, 33420, John Miller, 11th Bn. EYR, killed 29/09/1918. He left his wife Ellen and 4 Children at Scott Street, but is not officially recorded by the CWGC. 

Private, George Maple, Hussars, listed killed in action on 13/05/1915, leaving a widow and children (Hull Daily Mail, 13/05/16). No Commonwealth War Grave records.

Gunner, Joseph Elliot, RHA, recorded in ‘Soldiers Died’ records’ as killed in action on 24/08/1916, but not listed by the Commonwealth War Grave Commission. He had been a Boilerman, and lived with his wife Ellen, in Bean Street, Hull.

Gunner, Richard Henry Hepton, RGA, accidentally killed on 04/08/1916, tampering with a shell. He is remembered on the St Paul’s Street, Roll of Honour.

Private, Sam Thomas, 1st EYR, killed on 31st August 1915. He was aged 20 and lived at 55, Constable Street, Hull. His death was reported in the Hull Daily Mail, but not recorded in the ‘Soldiers Died’ records. 

Lance Corporal, Charles Carter, Royal Fusiliers, is listed in the ‘Soldiers Died’ records, as living in Hull and killed on the 07/03/1916, but he is not recorded by the War Graves Commission.

William Johnson, of the East Yorkshire Regiment reported killed on 02/08/1918, aged 28, in the Hull Daily Mail (12/08/1918). His mother lived at 2, Bishop Avenue, Division Road, Hull. His death is not recorded in official casualties.

Similarly, Private, William Billamy, from 8, Queen Street Hull, killed in action on 04/08/1917. (HDM 04/08/1917) 

Private, Walter Leonard Welton, 40308, Northhumberland Fusiliers 16th Bn., killed in action, on 02/12/1917, aged 27, and buried at Zonnebeke, is strangley not recorded on the CWGC records. He was the son of John and Alice Welton, who lived at 163 Woodcock Street. His name appears on the war Memorial, at St John the Baptist Church, Hull. His picture appears here, so that Walter Leonard Welton is not forgotten.

 

Lance Corporal, William Elam Oxley, EYR, from 64, Havelock Street, was listed as died in the Hull Daily Mail, but remains untraced.

Private, Charles Athur Lockton, Northumberland Fusilers, discharged from the army, as ‘mentally unfit’ on the 24/04/1918, and died in an asylum on the 13/11/1918. He is not recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, but was remembered by his wife Clara, at 14 William Street, Hull, on the Walker Street memorial. Similarly, Private, Charles Henry Wilson, 1382, EYR, discharged with heart failure in 1916, died at 104, Dansom Lane, aged 33. 

Private, William Trow Partridge, 3rd Bn. EYR, enlisted 14/9/1914, and discharged as ‘unfit’ on the 27/07/1916. His mother lived at 166, Victoria Avenue, Hull.

Private, Lawrence Willerton Parker, NFUS, killed in action on 11/04/1918. Lived at 39, Sculcoates Lane (HDM 23/05/1917. 

Gunner, Charles Revill,  241851, RFA, discharged as ‘unfit’ on 17/11/1919, and died soon after.

Driver, Leonard Wright, RFA, from 79, Chiltern Street, discharged on 15/02/1915. 

Private, Thomas William Bainbridge, RAMC, died 29/12/1917. aged 22. He lived at 12, Crown Place, Wassand St, and is remembered at St Matthews Church. Boulevard.

Private, George Albert Wood, died of wounds on 23/09/1916, aged 23. He lived at 35, Havelock Street. His death is reported with a photo in the HDM 27/09/1916.

Private, Bertram Percy Wood, 201663, 1/4th Bn, EYR, from 18, Frinsbury Grove, is listed as fallen on the Hull Technical College Memorial.

Private, Fred Higginbottom, 3rd Bn. Coldstream Guards, killed on 15/09/1917, aged 23. He was the son of James and Elizabeth, at 6, Newton Street. His death was reported in the Hull Daily Mail on the 18/10/1918. He is unrecorded in official deaths.

Private, Leonard Anthony Powers, 10th West Yorkshire Regiment, killed on 01/07/1916, aged 18, was the son of Margaret Powers, at 100, Buckingham Street, Hull.

Private, Jack Beautement, Durham Light Infantry, from 44, Lambert Street, killed on 28/05/1918, aged 19;

Sapper, John Ogle, RE’s, died on the 12/06/1915, was  from Leeds, but worked as a salesman in Hull.

Private, O’Donough, Royal Irish Fusiliers, died in Salonika, aged 52. He had served for 34 years & lived at 55, Alexandra Street, Hull. (Photo in the HDM 10/11/1916).

Private, Bertram Stafford, 1325, 1/4th Bn, EYR, died in Belgium on the 08/07/1915, aged 26. His sister Alice lived at 70 Holdrness Road. He is remembered on the ‘Hull Heroes’ website.

Private, Fred Spooner, 16146, EYR, killed 26/03/1918 aged 36. Son of Sarah – 14, Victoria Terrace, Staniforth Place. No CWGC records.

Air Mechanic, Edward William Barnes, RFC, died on 1st May 1917, aged 21. He lived at 45, Belvoir Street, Hull and was listed ‘missing’ in the Hull Daily Mail on 21/05/1917. 

James Mason from 7, Little George Street, died 13/09/16, aged 19 (HDM 12/11/1917);

Cpl., C. Harrian, Hussars, killed in action on 22/03/1918, aged 35 years. He was an former footballer at Hull’s Victoria barracks and left a widow and 2 children. These deaths are reported in the Hull Daily Mail, but are not traced in formal casualty lists.

Alf Watson (21), East Yorkshire regiment, Died of wounds, He lived at 5, Maple Street, Queens Road. His death and photograph were published in the HDM 11/07/1918, but is not recorded in official records.

There are many more Hull men, who died in the war and are unrecorded in official war records. As it is a complicated process to verify casualties from 100 years ago, they have been included here, to ensure that they are remembered. If you can verify any of these casualties, please e-mail ww1hull.com. Thank You