MEMORIAL INSCRIPTIONS
AT LANGHAM, NEAR COLCHESTER,
WAR MEMORIAL
This information was gathered by Simon Gallup and was given to Camulos in December 2013 for inclusion in our Colchester Heroes pages.
Together with the above photographs, the following is what was given to us.
In Langham we have two Memorials, a) an oak plaque in the Church and b) as part of the entrance gate to the Primary School. The entrance gate was subsiding and was dangerous so, in 2008, it was replaced with a replica of the original and the names were redone. I am attaching photos of the new gate and its rededication in 2008. I am also attaching a summary of the details on the names, I have tried to establish their link with Langham and hence why their names appear on our Memorial. You will see that for two I can find no link and for others there is only a presumed link that they attended Langham School. The Head at the time did say that he wanted the memorial at the school because "they were all my boys". That was when local schools and their 'Head' were local! This is just a précis of my working notes.
Langham WW1.
Herbert John Arnold
Private, 11th (Service) Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, 116th Brigade, 39th Division. Service no. SD/5872. Killed in Action 21st October 1916, aged 19. No known grave but commemorated on Pier & Face 7C, Thiépval Memorial, Somme, France
Herbert John Arnold was born in 1897 at West Tofts, Norfolk, the eldest of the five children of John and Mary Elizabeth Arnold (neé Powell). The father was a gamekeeper and moved around frequently, from Norfolk to Suffolk and then to Alresford, Essex, where Herbert Arnold was living at the time of his enlistment at Colchester. However, the newspaper notice of Herbert Arnold's death (during the Battle of the Ancre Heights in the last phases of the Battle of the Somme) described him as "of Langham", where the family are believed to have lived beside Adelphi Cottages in Moor Road.
Alan Scott Balfour
CWGC information: Second Lieutenant, Royal Field Artillery attached Royal Flying Corps. KIA 13/01/1918. Buried in Tincourt New British Cemetery IV. E 18
Alan Scott Balfour was born in 1894 in Lanarkshire, the younger son of Sir Robert and Lady Balfour, later of Langham Hall (1913 to 1927), and educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Oxford. He was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in August 1916 and in September 1917 was attached to the Royal Flying Corps as an observer. In this role he had to take aerial photographs and spot for the artillery. While on a photographic flight over the lines, his aircraft, an Armstrong Whitworth FK8, was attacked by enemy planes (probably by Ltn Hans Schlömer of Jasta 5) near Bantouzelle, and he was killed; his pilot, 2nd Lt Hall, although wounded, was able to fly the aircraft back to the aerodrome.
Charles Barrell
CWGC information: Private 241931, 1/5th (Territorial) Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment. Killed in action 28th September 1918. Aged 31. Born London, enlisted Colchester, resident Boxted. Son of P. and Clara Hines, of Gunhill Cottages, Dedham, Colchester. Native of Langham, Essex. Buried in Bellicourt British Cemetery, Aisne, France. Plot II. Row I. Grave 10
Charles Barrell was born in 1887, the son of Philip and Clara Barrell. Clara Barrell had been born in Langham, daughter of George & Mary Barrell , both also born in Langham. She married Philip Hines in 1893 at St Mary's Church. Philip and Clara lived first in School Road and then Chapel Road. They died in 1920 and 1944 respectively and are buried in St Mary's churchyard. Charles Barrell became a farm labourer and spent many years living with his uncle, Daniel Barrell, in Ipswich Road and then in The Rose, Thorington Street, Stoke by Nayland, when Daniel became its landlord. He died, probably in a German spoiling attack, the day before the 46th Division launched its brilliant assault on the Hindenberg Line (Siegfried Stellung) across the St Quentin Canal at Riqueval.
Harry Beardwell
CWGC information: Royal Army Medical Corps. Killed in action 4 March 1917, aged 33, Salonika, Greece. Private 62143, 29th General Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps. Born Boxted, Essex, enlisted Croydon, Surrey. Son of Ester Beardwell, of Straight Rd., Boxted, Colchester. Buried in Salonika (Lembet Rd) Military Cemetry, Greece. Grave 943.
Harry Beardwell was born in Boxted in 1883, the son of Henry and Esther Beardwell. The family must have moved to Langham shortly afterwards, for his younger siblings were all born and baptised in Langham. They lived in School Road, close to Blacksmith's Corner. Before enlisting, Harry worked as a horseman, like his father. He died during the Allies' Salonika campaign to defend first the Serbs and then the Greeks against the Austro-Hungarian, German and Bulgarian forces.
Arthur James Brown (brother below)
CWGC information: Private 16402, 13th Battalion, Essex Regiment. Killed in action 3rd May 1917. Aged 23. Born and resident Langham, enlisted Colchester. Son of Elizabeth Brown, of Green Lane, Crocklelford Heath, Elmstead, Colchester, and the late William Brown. Brother of Frank Edward Brown (below). No known grave. Commemorated on Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. Bay 7.
Arthur James Brown was born in Lincoln in 1895, a younger brother of Frank Edward Brown (qv), and one of the seven children of William and Elizabeth Brown (née Spooner at Wormingford). By 1911 the family were living in Parney Green, opposite Perry Lane on the Dedham side of the Ipswich road, now the A12 Trunk Road but later moved to a smallholding in Wick Road, Langham. The brothers briefly (1903-04) attended Langham School. Arthur James Brown enlisted at Colchester into the 11th (Service) Battalion of the Essex Regiment (71st Brigade, 24th Division) and went to France on 30 August 1915; within a month, he was in action at the Battle of Loos, when he was wounded and gassed. (In this action 11th Essex suffered 371 casualties.) He was subsequently posted to the 13th Essex and was in this battalion when he was killed near the village of Oppy during the Battle of Arras. His father died six month later and his widowed mother moved at some point to Green Lane, Crockleford Heath, Elmstead, and survived to February 1946, when she died aged 84. Arthur James Brown and his brother Frank Edward are also commemorated on their parents' gravestone in Colchester Cemetery.
Frank Edward Brown (brother above)
CWGC information: Lance Corporal 599, 22nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment). Killed in action in France and Flanders 14th November 1916. Born Lincoln, enlisted Shepherd's Bush, resident Langham, Essex. Brother of Arthur J Brown (above). No known grave. Commemorated on Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. Pier and Face 8 C 9 A and 16 A
Frank Edward Brown was born in Lincoln on in 1892, the third son of William and Elizabeth Brown (neé Spooner at Wormingford) and the elder brother of Arthur James Brown (qv). By 1911 the family were living at Parney Green, opposite Perry Lane on the Dedham side of the Colchester to Ipswich road, now the A12 Trunk Road, but at the time of Frank Edward's death his father was a smallholder in Wick Road, Langham. The brothers briefly (1903-4) attended Langham Council School, perhaps because it would have been much easier to walk there than to Dedham village or because the parents may have been nonconformists who did not wish their children to attend the Dedham Church of England school. At one time "Boys' Caretaker" at the Colchester Union Workhouse (in later years St Mary's Hospital), in 1915 he married Annie Harriet Smith, the daughter of William Smith Jnr of Hill Farm, Langham. The marriage was in Kensington and when he enlisted at Shepherd's Bush his address was 27 Bloemfontein Road, West London. He was killed on "Redan Ridge" above Beaumont Hamel in the Battle of the Ancre towards the end of the Battle of the Somme. Frank Edward Brown and his brother Arthur James are also commemorated on their parents' headstone in Colchester Cemetery.
Ernest George Dines
CWGC information: Private 10715, 11th (Service) Battalion, Essex Regiment. Died in Farnborough Hospital, 26th August 1915. Aged 19. Born and resident Langham, enlisted Colchester. Son of Alfred Henry and Harriet Dines, of Cooks Hill, Langham, Colchester. Buried in St. Mary Churchyard, Langham.
Ernest George Dines was born in Langham in 1897, the only son of Alfred Henry and Harriet Dines and the family lived on Greyhound Hill. During his initial training he became ill and was taken to Farnborough Hospital, where he died. He was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's, Langham, on 31st August 1915, when his address was given as School Road, Langham. His parents Alfred and Harriet lived to 1949 and 1941 respectively and were also buried in St Mary's churchyard.
Albert Goodridge
CWGC information: Driver 36395, "K" Battery, XV Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division, Royal Horse Artillery. Killed in action 19th October 1914. Aged 27. Born and enlisted Colchester. Son of David and Harriet Goodridge; husband of the late Sarah Caroline Goodridge. No known grave. Commemorated on Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Panel 5 and 9.
Albert Goodridge was born in Mile End in 1886, the fourth son of David and Harriet Goodridge, but by 1901 the family lived in Langham Lodge Cottage, Langham. In 1912 he married Sarah Brundell and they had a son, James; Sarah died in 1918. Both Sarah's and Albert's mothers were from Langham families, the Brundells living near Langham Mill. Albert Goodridge, who had enlisted at Colchester, went with his division on 5 October 1914 to join the British Expeditionary Force (The Old Contemptibles) in Belgium. He was killed a fortnight later as the First Battle of Ypres began.
Ernest James Green
CWGC information: Private 15182 [SDGW] or 15183 [CWGC], 2nd Battalion, 12th Brigade, 4th Division, Essex Regiment. Killed in action 23rd October 1916. Aged 23. Born Langham, enlisted Colchester, resident Rushbrooke, Bury St Edmunds. Son of Charles and Emily Green, of Colchester; husband of Clara E. Green, of 20, Rushbrooke, Bury St. Edmunds. No known grave. Commemorated on Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. Pier and Face 10 D
Ernest James Green was born and baptised in Langham in 1893, the third-born of the eight children of Charles and Emily Green (neé Lee). The family lived near Highfields in Water Lane and Charles was a horseman. By 1911 the family had moved to near Martin's Farm, where Charles was then the bailiff. Ernest married Clara Elizabeth (neé Barker) in 1915 and at the time of his enlistment at Colchester the couple were living, with their small son, Robert Charles, at Rushbrooke, Bury St Edmunds. Ernest was killed during an attack on Le Transloy Ridge in the later stages of the Somme offensive, when 2nd Essex lost a hundred men.
William James Gould Osborn
CWGC information: Private 50238, 8th Battalion, 53rd Brigade, 18th (Eastern) Division, Suffolk Regiment. Killed in action 1st June 1917. Aged 30. Born Dedham, enlisted Chelmsford. Son of William and Eleanor Osborn, of Langham, Colchester; husband of Winifred Alice Osborn, of "Kou-en", Boreham, Chelmsford. Formerly 31472, Suffolk Regiment. Buried in Rookery British Cemetery, Heninel, Pas de Calais, France. Section C. Grave 13.
William James Gould Osborn was baptised in Langham in 1886, the oldest of the three sons of William, a carpenter, and Eleanor Osborn. The family lived at School House, near School Farm; William junior was stable lad/groom and sang in the St Mary's Church choir. He married Winifred Alice Blythe in 1910 and moved to Rose Cottage, Hatfield Peveril; they had a daughter, Molly, who was born in 1912. William was at one time working on a fruit farm, although a newspaper report of his death mentions that before enlisting he had been employed in nurseries at Chelmsford. He was killed by a shell when the 18th Division was holding the line in front of the village of Cherisy following its disastrous attack on 3rd May at the end of the Battle of Arras, possibly in an enemy bombardment while the 53rd Brigade was being relieved by the 54th Brigade.
Leonard Passiful
CWGC information: No 2066, Private Essex Yeomanry. 1/1st Essex Yeomanry (Territorial Force), 8th Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division. Died of wounds 02/02/1916, aged 17. Buried in Bethune Town Cemetery.
Leonard Passiful was born in Dedham in 1898, the son of William and Emma Passiful of Boxted, and attended Langham Council School from 1903 to 1912; it is possible that he attended the Langham School either because his parents were nonconformists who did not want their son to attend a Church of England school in Boxted or Langham or because it was the nearest school to his home (by 1911 the family was living in Box House Farm, Dedham, where his father was a dairy farmer). Leonard Passiful's friend Albert Marshall, formerly of Elmstead Market, relates (Max Arthur: "Last Post", Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005) how he was shot by a German sniper and died of his wounds three days later. The incident occurred when a dismounted detachment (designated the 8th Battalion) of 1/1st Essex Yeomanry was holding the front line in the Vermelles sector near a German strongpoint, the Hohenzollern Redoubt. Leonard Passiful's name is also on the Dedham War Memorial.
Charles William Pettican
CWGC information: Private G/18995, 6th (Service) Battalion, 37th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). Killed in action 30th November 1917. Aged 37. Born and resident Langham, enlisted Colchester. No known grave. Commemorated on Cambrai Memorial, Louveral, Nord, France.
Charles William Pettican was born and baptised in Langham in 1879, the son of Charles and Rebecca Pettican. The family lived in Wick Road, close to The Wick and Charles William became a gardener. Both father and mother died in 1897 and 1900 respectively, when Charles William was still young, and were buried in St Mary's, Langham, churchyard. Charles William Pettican was killed during the later stages of the Battle of Cambrai when, after initial British success, the Germans counter-attacked and won back most of the ground they had lost. 6th Buffs lost over half their strength as they were forced back.
Albert Arthur Smith (brothers)
CWGC information: Private 19356, 1st Battalion, 88th Brigade, 29th Division, Essex Regiment. Died of wounds 24th November 1916. Born Langham, enlisted and resident Colchester. Buried in Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Plot XX. Row B. Grave 17A
Albert Arthur Smith was born and baptised in Langham in 1887, the third son of Arthur and Alice Smith and the older brother of Alfred Thomas Smith (qv). Albert Arthur married May Frederica Nevard in 1907 and moved to Holly Tree Cottage, High Street, Weeley. They had two sons Douglas, born in 1909, and Frederick, born in 1911. He is presumed to have died at one of the huge Base Hospitals at Etaples, having been wounded in the later stages of the Battle of the Somme. His widow remarried in 1920. Alfred and Albert's brother Frank survived the war and succeeded their father (who died in 1941) as Captain of Bells at St Mary's
Alfred Thomas Smith (brothers)
CWGC information: Private 43314, 10th Battalion, 53rd Brigade, 18th (Eastern) Division, Essex Regiment. Killed in action 22nd October 1916, aged 23. Enlisted Colchester, resident Langham. Buried in Pozieres British Cemetery, Ovillers-La Boisselle, Somme, France. Plot I. Row E. Grave 31
Alfred Thomas Smith (known as "Quiner") was born and baptised in Langham in 1893, the fourth son of Arthur and Alice Smith and the younger brother of Albert Arthur Smith (qv); the family lived at Grove Hill. Arthur Smith was a horseman and bell-ringer at St Mary's Church. Alfred Thomas was a farm labourer and also a bell-ringer at St Mary's. 10th Essex were consolidating after the 53rd Brigade's capture of the formidable Regina Trench position north-east of Thiépval during the Battle of the Somme, when he was killed by an enemy shell.
Frank Smith
CWGC information: Private 81173, 1/1st Essex Yeomanry, 8th Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division, Essex Yeomanry. Killed in action 11th April 1917. Aged 22. Enlisted Colchester, resident Langham. Son of Frank and Alice Smith, of The Moor, Langham, Colchester. No known grave. Commemorated on Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. Bay 1
Frank Smith was born in Langham in 1894, the oldest son of Frank and Alice Smith. In 1901 the family was living in School Road between The Oaks and School Farm and Frank senior was a farm labourer. By 1911 the family had moved to Workhouse Lane, off School Road. Frank Smith was killed in the Essex Yeomanry's mounted action at the village of Monchy le Preux on the third day of the Battle of Arras. His father and mother died in 1931 and 1947 respectively and were buried in St Mary's churchyard.
Frederick Eugene Smith
CWGC information: Sergeant 17891, 10th (Service) Battalion, 53rd Brigade, 18th (Eastern) Division, Essex Regiment. Killed in action 4th December 1915. Aged 30. Born and resident Langham, enlisted Colchester. Husband of Millie Gertrude Frances Smith, of 26, Albion Grove, Colchester. Buried in Albert Communal Cemetery extension, Somme, France. Plot I. Row D. Grave 9
He was born in Langham in 1883, the younger son of Dan and Hannah Smith, living in Moor Road. Dan was a horseman and Frederick Eugene started work as a carter for a greengrocer. By 1911 he was working at The Royal Eastern Counties Institution for Idiots, Imbeciles & the Feeble Minded, North Station Road, Colchester. 10th Essex were in the front line at La Boisselle, near Albert, when enemy rifle grenades fell in their trench and he was killed. He left a widow, Millie G. F., née Farley, whom he had married before his division left for France in July 1915. His father died only three months after his son's death, while his mother died in 1928; both are buried in St Mary's churchyard.
Frank Starling
CWGC: Pte, No 2210, Private, 9th Battalion (Queensland), 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Australian Imperial Force. KIA 22/07/1916, aged 31. Grave XXIII. R.6 Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval. Native of Langham, Essex.
Born and baptised in Langham in 1885, the third of seven sons of Samuel and Sarah Ann Starling. The family lived in School Road before moving to Park Lane. He emigrated to Australia in 1909 on an assisted passage and became a dairy farmer but returned to England for a six month holiday in 1912. He was killed during the attack on Pozières in the early part of the Battle of the Somme. Frank Starling's name also appears on the Ardleigh Memorial, probably because by 1914 the family was living at Blue Barn Cottage, Ardleigh; Frank Starling's mother had also been born in Ardleigh. It also appears on the Lismore and District Memorial, New South Wales.
George Edward Tatum
CWGC: George Edward Tatum. Lance Corporal 8971, 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment. Killed in action 9th May 1915. Born Shelly, Suffolk, enlisted Colchester. No known grave. Commemorated on Ploegsteert Memorial, Comines-Warneton, Hainaut, Belgium. Panel 7
George Edward Tatum was born in Shelley, Suffolk, in 1892, the oldest son of George and Susannah Tatum. The family moved to Boxted and then St Osyth (there is no apparent connection with Langham). He enlisted in Colchester sometime before 1911 and arrived with his division on the Western Front in November 1914. He was killed in the abortive attack on Aubers Ridge, when 2nd Northants lost very heavily.
William Thurlow
CWGC information: Private 43383, 10th (Service) Battalion, 7th Brigade, 26th Division, Devonshire Regiment. Killed in action in Salonika 25th April 1917. Aged 27. Born Blakenham, Suffolk, enlisted Warley, Essex. Son of Caroline Thurlow, of Wick Rd., Langham, Colchester, and the late Robert Thurlow. Buried in Doiran Military Cemetery, Greece. Plot V. Row A. Grave 31.
William Thurlow was born at Blakenham, Suffolk, in 1889, the third son of Robert and Caroline Thurlow. By 1901 the family was at Langham Lodge with Robert Thurlow as the farm bailiff. By 1911 William Thurlow was a gardener and living with William and Alice Pettican in Wick Road, Langham. William Thurlow's division was transferred from the Western Front to join the Allies' Salonika expedition to defend Serbia and later Greece against Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian and German forces. He was killed during an attack on the Bulgarians' "Petit Couronné" position threatening the British lines near Lake Doiran.
Douglas Arthur Watson
CWGC information: Private 31866, 10th Battalion, Essex Regiment. Killed in action 12th August 1917. Aged 24. Born Dedham, enlisted and resident Colchester. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Watson, of Langham, Colchester; husband of Mrs. M. Fitt (formerly Watson), of 39, Brook St., Colchester. No known grave. Commemorated on Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Panel 39.
Douglas Arthur was born and baptised in Dedham in 1893, the younger son of Cator and Fanny Watson. Cator was the landlord of The Compasses in Dedham but the family soon moved to The Greyhound on Greyhound Hill, now Wyborne, where Cator became the innkeeper. Douglas Arthur Watson was killed in an attack towards "Inverness Copse" during the Third Battle of Ypres. He left a wife, Maud née Bloomfield, whom he had married in 1913, and two children, Arthur and Thomas. His widow remarried in 1918.
Names which are not on the Memorials but appear on plaques in the Church.
Henry Julian Dove
Private, 10th Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Canadian Expeditionary Force. Service no. 435316. Killed in action, 15th June 1916, aged 22. Buried in Grave VIII.A.18, Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium
Henry Julian Dove was born at Blackheath, Kent, in 1894, the son of Charles Henry and Ethel (née Chapman, on remarriage Page) Dove. Charles Henry Dove was the son of Henry Draper and Susan Dove (née Lawrence) of Langham Hall. Henry Draper Dove (d. 1891), Susan Dove (d. 1895) and Charles Henry Dove (d.1900) are buried in St Mary's Churchyard, Langham. Charles Henry Dove's widow, Ethel, remarried and emigrated with their son Henry Julian and her second husband to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, whence Henry Julian enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Henry Julian Dove died while his battalion was consolidating positions in the Mount Sorrel-Observatory Ridge sector of the Ypres Salient following a ferocious enemy attack which had initially overcome the Canadian defences. He is commemorated on a plaque in St Mary's Church, Langham, as is his uncle, Frank Dove, Royal Army Medical Corps (b. 1867, d.1902).
Harold Esmond Haddon
Captain, 119th Infantry (Mooltan Regiment), 6th (Poona) Division, Indian Army. Killed in action 24th December 1915, aged 26. Buried in Grave P.9, Kut War Cemetery, Iraq
Harold Esmond Haddon was born in 1888, the son of Thomas Wright Haddon and grandson of Daniel Blyth Haddon, formerly of New House Farm, Park Lane, Langham. He was educated at Tonbridge School and Sandhurst Military Academy. He was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in 1908 and joined the Indian Army in 1909. His regiment went to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) in 1914 as part of an expeditionary force sent to counter Turkish activity and to defend the oil installations of Abadan Island. After being Mentioned in Despatches no fewer than three times for his conspicuous gallantry and leadership, he was killed during the siege of Kut el Amara.
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