| Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. |
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| St John's Gospel, Ch.15 v.13 |
Albert Henry Anson was born in London in 1882. He worked as a barman until the outbreak of the First World War when he joined the London Regiment of the First Surrey Rifles. During the war his wife moved to live in Bosham. Rifleman Albert Anson fought in the trenches in the Thiepval area. He died on the Somme aged 34 on 8 th October 1916 during the final weeks of the battle of the Somme . His name is recorded on the Thiepval memorial.
William Luckhurst was born in 1896. During the First World War he served with the Yorkshire Regiment as a Second Lieutenant. During the Spring of 1917 he was leading a group of men preparing for the Arras offensive. 35,000 men lost their lives during April and May 1917 in the Arras sector. William Luckhurst died aged 21 on 24 th April 1917 and is buried at the Arras cemetery.
Charles Lucking was born in Portsmouth in 1881and joined the Royal Marines aged 14. During the first World war Sergeant Lucking was serving on the battlecruiser HMS Lion. On 31 st May, 1916 , at the start of the battle of Jutland , HMS Lion took a direct hit midships on the Q turret. The ship was saved due to the dying act of Royal Marines who flooded the magazines. Sergeant Lucking died aged 33 and was buried at sea. He is remembered on the Portsmouth war memorial.
Samuel Lucking was born in 1886. He joined the Royal Marines in 1900 aged 14 as a boy bugler. By the outbreak of the First World War Private Lucking was serving on board HMS Bulwark as part of the Royal Marine Light Infantry. HMS Bulwark was part of the 5 th Battle Squadron carrying out patrol duty in the Channel. On 26 th November, 1914 , while loading ammunition at Sheerness in the Thames Estuary she was destroyed by a huge explosion. Only 12 men survived from a crew of 750. Samuel Lucking died aged 28 and is remembered on the Portsmouth war memorial.
Henry Pedder was born in 1888 and joined the Royal Navy at an early age serving in submarines. At the beginning of the First World War Leading Seaman Peddar was serving on submarine E13. During the night of 19 th August 1915 she attempted to pass through the narrow waters of the sound between the neutral countries of Denmark and Sweden on her way to reinforce submarine forces in the Baltic. Due to a compass failure she ran aground in Danish territorial waters and was spotted by a German torpedo boat and was fired upon. Sadly 15 members of the crew lost their lives including Henry Pedder aged 27. A Danish vessel intervened and 14 crew were taken prisoner in Denmark . The body of Henry Pedder and those of his fellow crewmen were repatriated after the war and are buried in the Haslar RN cemetery in Gosport .
Bertram Alfred Porter served as a Lance Corporal in the Royal Fusiliers. He was stationed in France and in 1917 was part of the force preparing for the Arras offensive. He died on the 3 rd of May 1917 and is remembered on the Arras memorial.
H Thomson Whybrow was a Captain in the Machine Gun Corps. At the outbreak of the First World War, Tanzania was the centre of German East Africa . Captain Whybrow was part of the Commonwealth forces that invaded from April 1915. It was a long and difficult campaign, centred on the attempt to capture Moshi in the southern foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro . Moshi was finally seized in March of 1916. Captain Whybrow died on 21 st March 1916 and is buried at Moshi cemetery.
J Sterling Yates : John Tamar Sterling Yates was born in 1867 on a ship in Canadian Territorial waters and thus was Canadian citizen. His Irish parents were in fact emigrating to the USA. He came to England in 1900 and worked as a blacksmith at Funtington. In 1905 he married Nellie Redman of Bosham. In 1912 his sister visited him from America. Sadly she returned on the Titanic and died when the ship sank.
He joined the Royal Sussex Regiment at the start of the First World War aged 47. He probably served as a blacksmith. He was wounded in France and was repatriated to a hospital in Ashford in Kent, where he died of his wounds.
Reginald Charles Bettis Bowden was born during the First World War and lived in Chidham with his parents Thomas and Edith. He joined the Royal Navy and at the outbreak of the Second World War was serving aboard HMS Royal Oak a dreadnought battleship. On 13 th October 1939 when the war was only 6 weeks old HMS Royal Oak was sunk at Scapa Flow in Orkney by torpedoes from a German U boat. 833 men lost their lives including Able Seaman Bowden aged 24.
Henry James Hayes was born in 1909. At the outbreak of the Second World War he was serving as a Leading Seaman on board HMS Exmouth. On 21st January 1940 the ship was escorting a merchant vessel to Scapa Flow . In the early hours of the morning of 21 st January, 1940 HMS Exmouth was hit by a torpedo from a German uboat. She was hit in the magazine and sunk almost immediately with all hands. The position of the wreck was only discovered in 2001. Leading Seaman Hayes died aged 31 and is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. He lived in Hambrook with his wife Dorothy.
Eustace Arthur Peter Hillard was born in 1910. He served in the Royal Marines and at the outbreak of the Second World War was a Second Lieutenant. He died on 26 th August 1940 when the German airforce bombed Fort Cumberland at Eastney and is buried in Funtington Churchyard.
Sydney William Lockyer was born in 1892. After leaving school he served in the Royal Navy. In 1942 he was Chief Stoker on board the Boom Defence Vessel Sparsholt. He died on 13 th March, 1942 aged 50. He was survived by his wife Margaret who lived in Emsworth.
William Leonard Eliot Reynolds was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He died on 17 th October, 1939 . He is commemorated on the Brookwood Memorial in the Brookwood military cemetery in Surrey . The Brookwood memorial commemorates those who have no known grave, whose death could not be commemorated on any campaign memorial. Among them are those who died in the campaign in Norway , raids on Dieppe and at St Nazaire and those operating as special agents who died as prisoners whilst working with allied underground movements.
Leslie James Simpson was born in 1913. He joined the Royal Horse Artillery and became a Battery Sergeant Major serving in the North Africa campaign. During this campaign Tripoli was an important Axis base until it was taken by Montgomery ’s forces in 1943. Warrant Officer Simpson died on 22 nd July 1943 aged 30. He is buried in the Tripoli war cemetery.
Edward William Swatton was a Pilot Officer attached to 408 Squadron Royal Canadian Airforce. He is buried in Frederikshaven cemetery in Denmark . Denmark was occupied by the Germans during World War 2 and allied planes were active in Danish skies with special operations, raids on specific targets and supplying the Danish resistance. Many airmen were killed in these operations. Edward Swatton died on 19 th July, 1942 aged 29. He lived with his wife Catherine in West Ashling .
Thanks to Carol Vigor for the research
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