World War 2 Eighty Years On - August 1941 - An Outbreak of Polio

An outbreak of Infantile Paralysis (Polio) in the district during August affected over eighty people in the Slough area with one case in Eton Wick. This outbreak prevented the village school from re-opening on the first day of the winter term.

This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham. 

Note from Steven Denham - website manager.

This is just one paragraph from Round and About Eton Wick that I wish to add to. In 1956 I, along with my brothers, Prince Charles and Princess Anne were among a cohort of around 200,000 early recipients of the Salk Polio vaccine. 

Does any one who lived in Eton Wick in 1956 remember being given the Salk Polio vaccine?

The NHS at 70 page on the practice of health wales website states:

 

Polio: This incurable and deadly disease has also been eradicated from much of the world, including the UK. 

Polio is caused by a virus that destroys nerve cells. It was a disease that used to threaten millions of people worldwide. At its peak, more than 1,000 children across the world were paralysed by polio every single day. 

Those who contracted Polio were not only paralysed in their arms or legs, but also their breathing muscles, which put them at risk of suffocation. 

The only way to keep children with polio-induced respiratory problems alive was to put them in a giant metal machine, called an "iron lung", to help them breathe. Hospital wards with children in iron lungs were common just 50 years ago. You may remember such machines yourself. If not, chances are you will have relatives who do. 

Routine vaccination against polio with an inactivated virus began in 1956 and was later replaced in 1962 by the live attenuated oral polio vaccination, which was delivered on a sugar cube. 

Following the introduction of the vaccination, cases of polio fell dramatically with the last outbreak in the late 1970s and the last British case of polio infection in 1984. 

The way things were — in sickness and in health

The treatment of illness before the National Health Service in 1948 was unbelievably different from what we have today. My earliest memories are of the 1920s — 1930s; which were themselves much improved from earlier years. Doctors were not normally afforded and the district nurse was a much-respected member of the village community. It was 1883 when the Eton Poor's Estate first paid for a nurse to attend the sick. The Eton Wick population was growing and would have been between 500 and 700. Later a resident nurse was appointed, and she lived in a wooden and thatched bungalow in Wheatbutts orchard. 

The complaints of scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria, and tuberculosis are fortunately no longer the dread illnesses of yesteryear. I was about 6 or 7 years old when scarlet fever swept through my family, necessitating a six-week spell in the Cippenham Isolation Hospital. The homesick room was sealed and fumigated, and books or soft toys used by the patients were destroyed. While in hospital, visitors could only stand outside the closed window and wave. After the six weeks of isolation we returned home and duly gave the fever to another in the family. My youngest brother, who was barely two years old, was in hospital while I was there. Mother was so worried and asked me to look after Fred. How on earth can a 6-year-old look after a 2-year-old in what I regarded as an alien world. We were ministered regular doses of filthy greenish-grey liquorice water from a dirty chipped enamel cup, presumably to keep us all 'regular'. Even now after 80 plus years, I find myself twisting my nose and mouth at the thought of it. 

By the time my family had each had scarlet fever my Mother had endured a long summer of weary treks across the 'slipes' (now we call it all Wood Lane) to the Cippenham Isolation Hospital. After WW2 it became a nurses' hostel. Ironically there was an Isolation Cottage Hospital in Eton Wick at this time, but alas, I understand, not for the use of Eton Wick residents. It had been built by the Eton Council in 1883 on the southeast corner of Bell Farm - which the council had purchased in 1875, primarily to enable sewage to be pumped from the town and College, and spread on 'sewer beds' to be located at Bell Farm. Of the remainder of the farm, seven acres were privately sold, a plot at a time, for homes on an area later known as Boveney Newtown, and the remainder was kept as a Council farm. 

Eton Wick had no main drainage until the mid-20th century, about 60 years later, so could not have benefitted from the sewage farm, and was denied the hospital also. In the early 1800s raw sewage was often disposed of in open ditches and subsequently found its way into the river. In Eton there was just such a ditch along Baldwin Shore (by Baldwin Bridge) surely an unappealing sight and stench in the college area of Eton, albeit up to the 1840s, when it was covered over. The need to use Bell Farm was undoubtedly justified. 

In 1893 an epidemic of measles caused the Eton Wick School to close for a week but undoubtedly the really dreaded complaint before the NHS came into being was TB (Tuberculosis). Improved drugs and treatment in the post-war years brought hope and comfort for the sufferers. Even naming the illness was often avoided and it became known as 'consumption'. During my own school years of the early 1930s several of my childhood contemporaries died of TB and one particularly poignant memory is of a sad family walking from Alma Road to the village churchyard with a child's coffin held between them. The day of the limousine had not yet arrived, although generally the village builder, Alf Miles, who was also the undertaker, provided a bier. Perhaps even the comparatively minimal cost of a bier was prohibitive. Times were hard but nobody glibly talked of poverty as is bandied around today. 

In 1913 we had yet another amenity that to my knowledge never did be of any service to the

village. This was a mortuary that was mostly used for drownings at a time when the river was popularly used for bathing, swimming and sometimes for a 'soap and soak' wash down after a hot day's work. The river was fairly safe for local people who knew it well, and not so safe for the many day trippers who came to Windsor by rail and finished up on the Brocas at Eton. Many will remember the old mortuary which stood in a very dilapidated state for many years after WW2 — long after its infrequent use of the 1920s — 1940s. The Jubilee Oak planted in 2012 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II 60 year on the throne is approximately 20 metres southwest of the Mortuary and about 120 metres southwest of the Isolation Hospital. Before the mortuary was built in 1913 corpses were often kept in the cellars of local public houses. Perhaps a 'cool keep' but it must have been a deterrent to drinkers wanting a cool pint from the cellar after a hard day's toil. 

Family medicine cupboards would probably have included Syrup of Figs, Zam-Buk for chilblains, Sloans or Ellimans ointment, eucalyptus for colds, Wintergreen ointment, Iodine, Germolene, cinnamon for fevers and of course bandages and plasters. My family chest also had linseed oil that was mixed with oats when the workhorse had a cold and cough. Dad's greengrocery round required a fit horse at all times; consequently, after cold, wet days the horse was top priority for a dry and vigorous rub down; only after the horse was comfortably stabled would Dad think of changing his own wet clothes. All traders gave their horse this love and care. When trucks displaced the animals the loving concern ended, also bringing, perhaps, a different attitude to work. 

In the pre-WW2 years, and before NHS, visits to doctors and dentists were avoided as much as possible, despite the facts of chilblains and toothache causing regular trouble. As a village cub around 1932, I well remember a visit to the pack from a Gibbs Dentifrice representative. After distributing hands-full of peanuts to us we were told to chew them for at least 24 times before swallowing. I think perhaps he was the original 'nut case'. Few of us knew about hygiene, and regular cleaning of teeth - it seems incredible now, with so much attention to such matters. We were told we could purchase Gibbs Dentifrice for tuppence (less than 1p). It came in an all tin about the size of a shoe polish tin, and it was pink and hard. nothing like today's range of tubed pastes. A small jigsaw puzzle also came as a 'freebee' with the Dentifrice. Yes! all for less than one new pence. 

An extraction in the 1930s cost around 3 shillings and 6 pence (17% new pence) and when prescription charges for medicines were first introduced in 1952 it was one shilling (5p), only to be abolished in 1965 and re-introduced three years later. 

One middle-aged lady very dear to me had all her teeth extracted in one visit to Windsor and then walked home to Eton Wick. Again this was the early 1930s. 

Hospital patients, of course, were fed, but certainly no menu to choose from, and weekend visitors often took jam or dripping to add a little extra to the afternoon tea. Perhaps I should have titled this article 'Lest we forget'. 

By Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village August 2012.


This article was originally published in the Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village as is republished with the kind permission of the Eton Wick Village Hall Committee. Click here to go to the Collection page.

A Soldier Who Lived In Eton Wick Whose Name Is Not On The War Memorial.

Frederick Albert Boxall, 1880-1917 - Private, M2/130622 Army Service Corps

Frederick’s father, Robert Boxall, was a gardener from Kirdford, Sussex, born c1827. His mother Elizabeth was about 15 years younger. (Her maiden name was also Boxall which suggests she may have been a cousin.) Robert and Elizabeth had at least seven children; six boys – Charles Robert, William George, James Percy, Alfred Ernest, Frederick Albert, Jehu John – and a daughter, Florence.

In the 1871 census they were living at Maybanks Lodge, Ewhurst; in 1881 at Meers Cottage, West Chiltington (where Frederick was born); and in 1891 they were at Pol Common, Pulborough.

Stableboy at Upper Gatton.

Upper Gatton House,
watercolour by John Hassell, c1822.

By 1901, Frederick was working as a stable boy, living in rooms above the stables at Upper Gatton in Surrey. He was one of four young men living there; the others were a coachman, a carriage groom, and another stable helper.

Gatton was a small parish, north-east of Reigate; half of it was taken up by the 550-acre Gatton Park Estate. Upper Gatton was owned by Alfred Benson, a director of J W Benson Ltd, a firm of jewellers, watch and clock-makers, based in London’s West End.

According to Mr Campbell Beverly Smith (1881-1977) whose memories were published in the Lower Kingswood Newsletter in 2014:

“Each member of the [Benson] family had a personal coachman. The Bensons also employed seven gardeners, seven strappers for the horses, 19 maids plus a ladies maid, a butler, a footman and a pageboy! Mr Benson always made sure before employing anyone that they were cricketers – he had his own team. There was a cricket pitch with two pavilions in his grounds, one for the family and one for the rest! Amongst his greenhouses, he had a special buttonhole house where the special flowers for the family’s buttonholes were grown. His wife even had a special buttonhole room.” The Bensons’ neighbours were the Colmans who were known for their extravagant parties. “Sir Jeremiah Colman’s family lived nearby, at The Hall, Gatton Park; he was known as ‘The Mustard King’ and all their carriages were painted yellow to show they belonged to the Colman mustard family.”

A move to the coast

By the time of the 1911 census, Frederick was living in Brighton. He listed his occupation as coachman/chauffeur, rough-rider, and domestic odd job man. (A rough rider is usually a rodeo rider, or someone who breaks horses, riding without a saddle. Perhaps he learned this skill while he was at Gatton?) Sir Jeremiah Colman had a cousin, also Jeremiah Colman, in Hove, Brighton. It’s not known if Frederick found a job in the area through his contacts at Gatton.

Frederick was living in four rooms at 271 Eastern Road, Kemptown, Brighton (since demolished). The 1911 census recorded him with a wife and child. He had married a Devonshire girl, Mary Ann Davey from Dalwood, in November 1907 at St Anne’s church, Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales.

Frederick and Mary Ann went on to have four children in total; Robert, born in Brighton c1909, May also born in Brighton in 1911; John born in Stafford in 1913, and Ethel whose birth was registered in Eton in 1916. The birthplaces of these children suggest the family was moving around, perhaps following Frederick’s work.

Joining the army

An extract from Frederick’s
military records

When Frederick enlisted in October 1915, he gave his address as 1 Castleview Villas, Eton Wick. He was 34 and working as a chauffeur. The army made good use of his driving skills and he became Private, M2/130622, a driver in the mechanical transport section of the Army Service Corps, part of 569 Company, a Motor Ambulance Company. His service records describe him as 5’7” tall, weighing just under 10 stones, with a chest measurement of 37½” fully expanded, 34” at rest.

Family in the Datchet?

Sometime after Frederick joined up in October 1915, Mary Ann and the children moved to Datchet, to 28 Green Lane. There were other Boxalls, Matthew and Clara and family, living in the village at Green Lane in the 1891 and 1901 census and at the Parish Council Office in 1911. It is very possible they were related to Mary Ann and Frederick but this hasn’t yet been confirmed. Two of Matthew and Clara’s sons also fought in WWI.

Illness strikes

It wasn’t long before Frederick was promoted to Sergeant but after six months in France, in mid-April 1916, he became ill with typhoid. He was brought back to the UK and treated at various hospitals: University War Hospital, Southampton; Addington Park War Hospital, Croydon; The Enteric Depot, Woldingham; and then tested monthly at Catterick and Southport. Eventually he was well enough to come home to Datchet on leave in February 1917. Sadly, he contracted pneumonia while he was here. He died in a military hospital in Wiltshire on 1 March 1917.

A military escort

Windsor & Eton Express, 10 March 1917:

Frederick’s grave has a
War Graves Commission headstone

"Frederick was buried in Datchet. The Windsor & Eton Express reported on 10 March 1917: “We regret to record the death of Sergt F Boxall, ASC, which took place at Tidworth, from pneumonia. The deceased, who was formerly a chauffeur joined the ASC in October 1915, and almost immediately was sent to France. Last May [1916] he was taken ill with typhoid and was brought to England. Eventually he got better and about a month ago came home on leave before again going back. The Saturday previous to his departure he contracted pneumonia, from which he never recovered. His promotion took place only a short time prior to his illness. He leaves a wife and four young children, to whom the greatest of sympathy is extended. The funeral took place on Wednesday afternoon last and was witnessed by many sympathisers. A party from the Coldstream Guards met the funeral cortege at the house, and the drums and fifes played farewell music. At the conclusion of the service three volleys were fired, and the ‘Last Post’ sounded. The Rev J H Harvey, M A officiated and Mr G Hunt had charge of the arrangements. The mourners included: Mrs Boxall (widow), Mrs Boxall (mother), Messers E., W., and P [Ernest, William and Percy] Boxall, brothers, and others and there were many floral tributes."

Datchet Parish Magazine also reported in April 1917:

“Sergeant Frederick Boxall who belonged to A.S.C. since October 1915 had a long illness, or rather a series of illnesses from May last onwards, succumbing a short time ago to pneumonia. Much sympathy is felt for his widow and her four young children.” 

The cemetery records also show
details of Frederick’s burial.

Frederick was awarded the British War Medal, Victory Medal and 15 Star. His wife was awarded a pension of 28/9 per week for herself and her four children.

This biography is republished here with the kind permission of the

Datchet Village Society. who undertook the research. Further information about the men who are remembered on the Datchet War Memorial can be found on Datchet in WW1.

Frederick Boxall: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

Frederick Boxall: The For King & Country page.

Frederick Boxall:  Lives of the First World War page.

The Datchet War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

Grave Registration Records courtesy of CWGC

Headstone Records courtesy of CWGC

Fred Colbourn - Machine Gun Corps

Fred Colbourn (Private No. 185017) - Machine Gun Corps (Infantry).

Fred was a married man and came to live in Eton Wick from Datchet. His village address is given as "The Bungalow", and this is believed to be the bungalow at the east end of Victoria Road, Boveney. Until after W.W.II. the road was a cul-de-sac and "The Bungalow" was at the extreme end. His age was probably about 30. Most of the information gathered about Fred is from The Windsor & Eton Express dated November 16th 1918:

Amidst signs of the greatest respect, the body of Private F Colbourn was consigned to its last resting place, in the churchyard of Eton Wick, on Sunday last. The deceased had been a clerk in the parcel office of the London and South Western Railway, Windsor, for 14 years, and came from an old Datchet family. Whilst a boy he took the keenest interest in the 1st Church Lads' Brigade, Datchet, formed by Captain Folson, and one year he won the Challenge Cup for smartness and efficiency. He was also a boy chorister at St. Mary's, where he was much respected. For some time he has resided at Eton Wick, and there too was much esteemed. 

He joined up on October 14th (1918) and was at camp at Rugeley, Staffordshire, attached to the Machine Gun Corps. Almost from the time of his joining, he was ill, and he succumbed in the camp • hospital on October 31st. The body, which had been brought from Rugeley; left "The Bungalow" his residence, about 2 p.m. and was preceded by a large number of railway employees, who were deeply attached to him, and among whom were Messrs. Coombs and White. The funeral rites were performed by the Curate in charge of Eton Wick, and a large congregation assembled in the church to pay their last signs of respect. 

St John the Baptist Church Eton Wick

The family mourners included Mrs Colbourn (Mother) Mr & Mrs Frank Colbourn (brother and sister in law) Mr John Colbourn and Mr Cyril Colbourn (brothers) Mrs Martin (sister from Winchester) Mrs V Elkins (cousin) Mrs F. Ridgeway (cousin from Staines). His wife was unfortunately ill and unable to attend: Messrs G.D.J. Kelsey (secretary) and G.A.E. Kelsey (branch chairman) represented the United Patriotic National Benefit Society. 

The floral tributes were exceedingly beautiful and included those from the National Union of Railwaymen, and fellow workers at Windsor. The railwaymen who bore the coffin were Messrs. Cox; Bowles; Barnett:, and Williams ('Windsor). Deepest sympathy is extended to the wife and child, and the family; at the early demise of one who had such a promising career. Mr Martin of Eton was the undertaker. 

Fred Colbourn's death came after only 17 days military service and just 11 days before the Armistice. Presuming the local paper was published on a Friday, then his funeral was in fact on Armistice Day. His headstone gives his surname as Colbourn, with no "e"; and the unit as Machine Gun Corps; Inf; the memorial however spells his name as Colbourne and the unit as Machine Gun Coy. The memorial inscription has been followed here.

It is most unlikely Fred served long enough to handle a gun of any description. Conscription had been introduced for married men two years earlier and it is perhaps surprising he was called upon to serve so late in the war. The cause of death was not given, but at this time Spanish Influenza was ravaging Europe and causing thousands of deaths. Fred Colbourn was married with a child. His grave is west, centre of the churchyard and he has a C.W.G.C. headstone. He is commemorated on the Eton Wick Memorial and on the Eton Church Memorial Gates.

This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone  
and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.

Fred Colbourn: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

Fred Colbourn: The For King & Country page.

Fred Colbourn:  There no information on Lives of the First World War as yet.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

Note. Fred Colbourn was born June 5th 1890 in Datchet, parents George and Alice were recorded as living at 6 New Road in 1891 census.

Grave Registration Records courtesy of CWGC

Headstone Records courtesy of CWGC

Henry George Moss (Private M2/097873) — Royal Army Service Corps

Henry George Moss (Private M2/097873) — Royal Army Service Corps
50th Division Motor Transport Company

George, as he was generally known, was an Eton Wick boy and man. He was the fourth son in a fairly large family, born on August 3rd 1891 and baptized two months later on October 4th. His father, Edward George, had built the family home in Moores Lane known as Myrtle Cottage, and Henry George, with the others in the young family, enjoyed their early Childhood in this rather remote house on the edge of recently developed Boveney Newtown. Some years later the family moved to number 3, Castle View Villas in Sheepcote Road, Eton Wick; these houses are not to be confused with Castle View Terrace in Victoria Road.

Like his brothers, he attended the infant school at Eton Wick, and when seven years old he went to Eton Porny School to complete his education. He left school in July 1905, a few days before his 14th birthday. It is not known what work he pursued for the next nine years, or exactly when he enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps. Certainly, George was a soldier by the spring of 1915 when his name appeared in the Roll of Honour of the May issue of the Parish Magazine.

At the end of the first year of the war, there were 258 serving soldiers and 48 sailors from the Parish of Eton and Eton Wick. Included at this time were three Moss brothers. William was in the Royal Engineers; he survived the war but sustained a gunshot wound to the knee in 1915, and Edward, who served with the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, also survived the war. Along with Henry George, there were three other brothers, six in all, and a sister.

The 50th Division, otherwise known as Northumbrian Division, was part of the pre-war territorial Force; there is, however, no evidence of George having been a territorial soldier himself. The 50th Division Motor Transport (M. T.) Company was part of N Corps M. T. Column, serving Xlll Corps. The Northumbrians were at the Second Battle of Ypres in April and May 1915 and on the Somme during the latter stage of the battles, between September and October 1916. They were engaged again in the Battle of Arras in April 1917, and at Passchendaele in October and November of the same year. They fought at both St. Quentin, in March 1918 and on the Lys the following month. This was during the great German offensive throughout the spring and early summer of 1918, when the outnumbered British and French forces withdrew from previously hard won territory.

Following the collapse of Russia, large numbers of enemy troops had moved to the Western Front and shifted the balance of power in favour of the German army. The 50th Division was one of several sent to a normally quiet sector on the Chemin des Dames to rest and regroup, only to be hit hard by the third stage of the German onslaught at the end of May. The enemy attacks finally slackened and were held in July, until a week or two later the final allied advance reversed the situation. The Division subsequently took part in the storming of the once impregnable Hindenburg Line in October as part of the Xlll Corps, Fourth Army, on the Somme.

George was not to survive the last three weeks of the war. He succumbed to the terrible epidemic of influenza that was decimating populations throughout 1918 and 1919. On November 2nd, 1918 the Windsor and Eton Express reported:

Moss H. G. of Myrtle Cottage, Eton Wick, the fourth son of Mr and Mrs Moss of that address, died at a Casualty Clearing Station in France of bronchitis and influenza on October 21st 1918.

He had seen many of the great battles fought in Europe during four years of war, and the Divisional record suggests that he had probably seen as much, or perhaps even more than the village's other casualties. He was 27 years of age. Henry George Moss is buried in the Roisel Communal Cemetery Extension, France; the grave is number 13, Plot 1, Row D. The Roisel cemetery is east of Péroone and south of Villers Faucon in the Somme region. It records the Great War burials of 721 UK soldiers, 106 Australian, 29 South African, 6 Canadian and about 50 Germans. George is commemorated locally on the village Memorial and on the Eton Church Gates Memorial.

Roisel Communal Cemetery Extension courtesy CWGC

This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone  
and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.

George Moss: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

Charles Dobson: The For King & Country page.

Charles Dobson:  The Lives of the First World War page.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

Note. The Census for 1911 records him as George Henry, aged 20  and single working as a Footman (domestic) and living with his parents at Myrtle Cottage. He was one of 9 children who all were all alive on the day of the Census.

H. DOBSON - WEST RIDING REGT

Horace Charles Dobson (Private No. 32908) - 5th Battalion Duke Of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment - 2nd West Riding Brigade - West Riding Division.

Charlie, as he was generally known to family and friends, was born on March 18th 1889. Edward and Agnes, his parents, lived at Knaphill in Surrey and moved to Boveney Newtown when Charlie was 10 years old. The Eton Porny School records state he started school there on May 15th 1899, and that his previous school was Naphill, [sic] Woking.

Dobson was a familiar name in Eton Wick before 1899, but may not have been related to the Surrey family. The home address was at Garrod Place in Alma Road. Three months before his 14th birthday, Charlie left school and gave as his reason for leaving, "to work in a barber's shop". It is not known how long he stayed at this work, but later records state that his occupation was a coach painter. His mother died in 1901, two years after moving to Boveney Newtown, and two years before her son left school.

The 5th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's, was a territorial force unit at Huddersfield when war was declared on August 4th 1914. It has not been established whether Charlie was himself a territorial soldier. The 4th and 5th Battalions were at first engaged on coastal defence duties near Hull and Grimsby until, on November 5th 1914, they moved into billets at Doncaster. On April 14th 1915 they landed in Boulogne and four weeks later became part of the 147th Brigade, 49th Division.

The great Somme offensive started on July 1st 1916 with the 5th Battalion positioned in the front line near Thiepval Wood. Parties of men were ordered to support the 36th (Ulster) Division at the Schwaben Redoubt. On the following day a withdrawal was made to Aveluy Wood. On July 3rd and subsequent days they were moved to Martinsart, to Hedauville and to Martinsart Wood. From Authuille they again took over front line trenches on the 8th July, and on the 16th they moved back to support lines before a further spell in the front line at the Leipzig Salient. The Somme offensive raged on throughout August and into September, with similar Battalion movements and always with appalling casualties. In fact on September 20th they were again at Martinsart Wood and a few days later still fighting between Foncquevillers and Gommecourt, where they relieved the 5th Scottish Rifles.

During an engagement in September 1916 they fought on, having lost all the officers and N.C.Os and suffered 350 casualties of the 450 who attacked the German lines. The following year the Battalion became attached to XV Corps, Fourth Army, engaged in operations close to the Flanders coast, during the series of battles known as Third Ypres. In October they fought along with the Anzac Corps at Poelcapelle. In the following February (1918) the 5th Duke of Wellington's became part of the 186 Brigade and fought at Bapaume and at Arras during the spring German offensive.

By this time Charlie's active war role was probably over on account of an illness which

proved to be terminal. He died on July 15th 1918, in the East Leeds War Hospital, from a cerebral tumour and his body was conveyed to Eton Wick to be buried in his mother's grave. He left a widow, Alice, whose address was given on the death certificate as 63, Princeville Street, Bradford.

As Charlie is named on the Eton Wick War Memorial, it would appear the address given by Alice was perhaps a temporary one used by her during her husband's illness, enabling her to be near him. Because Charlie was buried in his mother's grave he has no official C.W.G.C. headstone, but is of course recorded in their roll of the dead. The grave is situated near the north east corner of the Eton Wick Church and has a simple kerbstone surround. The kerb inscription reads:

In Loving Memory Of Agnes Dobson Who Died May 7th 1901 Aged 42 Years. Also of Charlie Who Died 15th July 1918 Aged 29 Years.

On the opposite kerb edge is inscribed:

Also Edward Dobson Who Died 22nd November 1944 Aged 83 Years. Charlie Dobson is commemorated on the village memorial and on the Eton Church Memorial Gates.

This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone  
and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.

Charles Dobson: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

Charles Dobson: The For King & Country page.

Charles Dobson:  The Lives of the First World War page.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

Note Charles Dobson was working and living in Bradford with his wife Alice at the time he joined the Army. As he was was not living in the village at the time he joined up his burial in his mother's grave in Eton Wick is likely to be the reason why his name appears on the Village War Memorial.

Joseph Springford (Private No. 940171) - 17th Battalion Sherwood Foresters

Joseph Springford (Private No. 94017) - 17th Battalion Sherwood Foresters - 117th Brigade - 39th Division. (Formerly No. 8671 The Cambridgeshire Regiment)

Joseph was one of a large local family. He first registered for school at Eton Porny on the 21st October, 1895 and left school in December 1902. In all probability he attended the infants' school in Eton Wick for two years before going to Eton. The family home in 1895 was recorded as 6, Bell Cottages, Alma Road, Boveney Newtown. Later the family moved to No. 4, Hope Cottages, Common Road, and some years later to 3, Victoria Place, a terraced house about eight doors along the same road from Hope Cottages. By the beginning of 1918 there were six Springford brothers serving in the armed forces. Two were destined to die before the November armistice, although Albert and Harry who enlisted early in the war, returned safely.

It is not known when Joseph enlisted in the army at Oxford, or what work he pursued before joining the 17th Battalion Sherwood Foresters, also known as the Welbeck Rangers. It was June 1st, 1915 when the Battalion was raised by the Mayor and recruiting committee of Nottingham. It was not unusual, at this early stage of the Great War, for Battalions to be raised by local dignitaries, towns, cities and even sporting associations. In October 1915 the 17th went to Aldershot as part of 117th Brigade, 39th Division. The following month they moved to Witley, and on December 10th were taken over by the War Office.

On March 6th, 1916 the Battalion arrived in France. The Battle of the Somme started at 7.30 a.m. on July 1st, 1916, but not until the end of August would the 17th Sherwood Foresters become involved. From the 24th August until the 28th they were being moved towards the front, and on September 2nd went into trenches near Beaumont Hamel. At 5.10 a.m. on the 3rd, 650 men and 20 officers of the Battalion advanced through No Man's Land and by 6 a.m. had taken the German front line. In attempting to advance further they met strong machine gun fire. At 1.50 p.m. they withdrew, having suffered many casualties.

That evening they fell back to Mailly Maillet Wood having sustained 454 killed and wounded of the original 670. The Battalion's first day of action was a bitter experience. Further Somme action followed at the Serre sector front line on September 20th, at Bertrancourt on September 30th and at the Thiepval sector of the front line on October 5th. It was here that the enemy attacked using flamethrowers before being driven back. The 17th Battalion were again in on the front line at Thiepval River sector on the 16th October. Subsequent action involved more hard combat near Senlis and Martinsart Wood.

On November 14th, with Somme battles drawing to an inconclusive end, the Battalion was relieved and sent to Warloy, Three days later they entrained at Candas for St Omer. In July 1917 the Battalion, still part of the 117th Brigade, 39th Division, were in the XVIII Corps of the Fifth Army and involved in the battles of Pilkem Ridge (July 31st) and at Langemarck; the Merlin Road Ridge; Polygon Wood and Passchendaele (in the Third Ypres) between August and November of that year. At this time they were with X Corps, Second Army.

St. Sever Cemetery Extention

The atrocious conditions of the Passchendaele offensive effectively ended in November when the German defence of the ridge was overcome. Three months later The Windsor & Eton Express reported:

Springford, Joseph, Private 17th Sherwood Foresters died 15.2.18 at No. 3 Stationary Hospital, Rouen aged 30.

And again on March 9^th, 1918 the same paper reported:

Springford, Joseph, Private Sherwood Foresters son of Mr. T Springford of 3, Victoria Place, Eton Wick, died of kidney disease on February 15^th, 1918 while in No. 3 Stationary Hospital, Rouen, France.

Joseph was the first of two Springford fatalities. His younger brother Isaac died 4 ½ months later as the result of severe gassing and was buried in Eton Wick. Joseph is buried in the St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen and his grave is No 73, Row K, Plot 6, Block P. The cemetery extension is two miles south of Rouen Cathedral and records 8,356 burials with a further 3,083 in the main St. Sever Cemetery to which the Extension is part. All these burials are of the 1914-18 war. The Extension contains 6,600 U.K. soldiers, 783 Australian, 311 Canadian, 271 Indian, 134 New Zealand, 88 British West Indian, 84 South African, 11 Newfoundlanders, three from Guernsey, one Bermudan, six unknown, one Egyptian, 44 Chinese labour force, 18 Italian and one Portuguese. The large number of different nationalities is due to the fact that the cemetery was for men dying of wounds or sickness in the No. 3 Stationery Hospital.

Joseph is commemorated on the Eton Wick Memorial and on the Eton Church Gates.

This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone  
and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.

Joseph Springford: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

Joseph Springford: The For King & Country page.

Joseph Springford:  The Lives of the First World War page.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/ 

Grave registration documents courtesy of the CWGC