Eton Wick Newsletter: Our Village August 2014 - Lest we forget

Since the beginning of 2014 we have had many television and radio programmes telling us it is the 100th Commemorative Year of the start of the Great War (1914 —18); the first ever conflict involving most of the 'so called' civilised world. Hopefully without over repeating the oft quoted facts, it is appropriate to turn our attentions to the war as it affected Our Village' and that of our immediate neighbours. There were of course no televisions or radios (wirelesses as they were first known). In fact Eton Wick's first known wireless was a Cat's Whisker set assembled by two villagers in 1923. Both had served in the war. Bill Brown (Army) and Norman Lane, Royal Flying Corp (R.A.F. as from April 1st 1918). 

The village had just two gas street lamps in 1914; there was no bus service, no main drainage, and with few exceptions only, a few newish houses had piped water and cesspit sanitation. I am told there were only two houses with bathrooms, but I cannot be sure of that. Nobody expected to travel further than their legs would take them, unless of course they were tempted, as young men are, to answer the posters displayed on Public Notice Boards to 'Join the Army and see the world'. Many did just that, and some of Eton Wick and Boveney's fatalities were men who had served their commitment in the forces; married and had settled down in the village. From day one of the war starting, they were back in uniform as re-called trained reservists, and with a good conduct record of previous service were invariably promoted to senior N.C.O's. In fact Eton Wick's first fatality was Sergeant Albert Caesar who was killed on September 4th 1914, fighting a rear-guard action with the Grenadier Guards at the forest of Villers Cottaréts in France. This was only one calendar month since the outbreak of hostilities with Germany on August 4th. The sad troubles of Mrs Caesar seemed never ending. A few months before Albert's death they had lost their five year old son who was drowned in the Thames, near the college swimming place known as 'Athens'. He was walking the long way home from school at Eton Porny. Six months after losing Albert, her one year old daughter died. Little wonder she eventually left her Alma Road home for a place in Australia. Albert was one of Eton Wick and Boveney's 34 Great War fatalities. 

The combined village population at that time was approximately eleven hundred. There were no officers among the village fatalities in the Great War, and only one among the twelve men killed in WWII 1939 — 1945. This I think reflects the working population of Eton Wick which really has no 'big house' residents. Two of the thirty four were in the Royal Navy and thirty two were soldiers. We suffered no female casualties in either conflict. Fifteen men were aged under twenty five years and two were over thirty five. At least ten left widows with young children. In comparison Eton Town lost fifty eight men and Domey, with a smaller population lost five men, including one twenty two year old officer. Without knowing the exact number of Eton Wick's serving men, I estimate it roughly at one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty. This would still be a slightly above average of approximately one in about seven fatalities nationally. 

Eton College was undoubtedly well above the average, losing approximately one in five of an astounding number. Five thousand six hundred and fifty Old Etonian served in the Great War with one thousand one hundred and fifty seven paying the supreme sacrifice. At the war's end 18 Generals went to Eton - their old school; to celebrate peace. Numbers are so vast they numb our conceptions. I once read that if the Great War dead could march from Edinburgh to London the columns would be so long that the first would arrive in London before the last had started. Certainly beyond my comprehension. 

The war had started in 1914 with volunteers. The regular Army; recalled reservists (ex-regulars); Territorial battalions, and wartime volunteers. Early volunteering had been very good, but of course ongoing casualties had also been high. In March 1916 conscription for the 18 year olds to 41 years was introduced, with exemption of service for munition workers, shipbuilders, miners. some transport employees and agricultural workers. The war pre-dated the Industrial Estate at Slough, and in fact only agricultural substantially kept some Eton Wick men out of uniform. It will be seen that fatalities before March of 1916 would have been voluntary servicemen. Some killed later had also been volunteers. Old local newspapers report on others applying for exemption on personal grounds. Two from Eton Wick were a publican and a shopkeeper. Neither felt they could leave everything to their wives. The result was invariably being given three or six months to get their affairs in order, with no further right of appeal. In fact two and a half million had volunteered by the time conscription was introduced. 

Photo taken by Jon Sharp

Nationally there were seven and a half million men aged 18 - 41 and conscription in 1916 brought a further two and a half million. An almost identical number were exempt, either industrially or on medical grounds. By the end of the war; in 1918; between five and six million had served, and approximately three quarter million had lost their lives. Sadly casualties had been double the number of fatalities, and many of those were affected for the rest of their lives. Some suffered permanent gas damage to their lungs; there were many shell-shocked. and the limbless. In Eton Wick we had at least two men with artificial legs; a shell-shocked man who stood for hours at his gate; almost a recluse, never to have employment. 

Another man in Eton was cruelly dubbed The Mad Major as without apparent reason he suddenly burst into a run screaming 'Up guards and at 'em'. Another regularly stood on Eton's Barnes' Pool Bridge selling boot laces and matches from a tray hanging from his neck; trying to supplement his pittance of a pension. Presumably the pension varied according to the incapacity, but if we relate this to a soldiers' Separation Allowance at that time, it was indeed a pittance. A soldier's wife received twelve shillings and six pence (62½p) weekly with another eight shillings and six pence (42½p) if she had two children. Of this, the soldier had three shillings and six pence (17½ p) deducted from his weekly pay. 

Prolonged war inevitably brings and hastens changes (a few good - some bad). The 1914 - 18 war brought for the first time gas warfare, conscription, introduced steel helmets (1916), advanced the development of aeroplanes and mechanical vehicles, brought civilian rationing and gave us many medical and surgical advances. It also saw the decline of large and stately homes with their 'upstairs, downstairs' uniformed staff. Motor vehicles began to replace the faithful horses. Ex-service clubs sprang up throughout the land, where demobilised men could meet, and perhaps relate horrific experiences they never mentioned in the home. The Imperial War Graves Commission; later renamed 'Commonwealth War Graves Commission' grew from nothing into a truly awesome organisation, giving the nation pride, and even with deaths on such a scale, a feeling that here was satisfaction with an organisation that had truly fulfilled its object of remembering the dead; creating beautiful cemeteries, and for the unidentified, magnificent memorials. There are many graves in most cemeteries where these unidentified internments have the standard C.W.G.C. headstone suitably inscribed 'Known unto God' or perhaps 'Their name shall not be blotted out'. Such facts as are known are inscribed - maybe the Regimental badge or date of death. Next of kin of the identified dead were invited to submit a small text to add to their family headstone, and many of these are very moving. The unidentified may well have a grave, albeit with no inscribed name, the names of these men were engraved on various memorials by the C.W.G.C. Twelve of Eton Wick's thirty four fatalities are on these memorials. They are: 

Henry Ashman (age 23 years) and Arthur Richards (26 years) Cape HeIles Memorial, Gallipoli (20,765 names) 

Ernest Brown (22 years) and Robert Hoborough (37 years) Tyno-Col-Memorial, Belgium (35,000 names) 

Angus Bruce (37 years) Arras Memorial France (35,929 names) 

Joseph Newell (24 years) Basra Memorial, Iraq (33,000 Indian names, 7,000 UK names) 

George Percy (19 years) Berkshire Memorial, Belguim (11,447 names) 

Peter Knight (26 years) Salonika (478 names) 

George Hammerton (22 years); Herbert Pithers (late 30s); Arthur lremonger (27 years) Thiepval Memorial, France (73,412 names). 

Charles Miles (20 years) Royal Navy - Chatham Memorial, Kent (8,515 names) 

Of the other twenty two, four have graves in the Eton Wick churchyard and one is buried in Iraq; one in Kent (RN) four in Belgium and twelve in France. This is a great contrast to WWII when we suffered just twelve fatalities in a wider variety of theatres of war — Syria 1. Libya 1. Egypt 1. Burma 1, Luxemburg 1, Italy 2, France 2. UK 3. 

Returning to 1914 -18, practically every community in the country paid for, and got its own local memorial. At Eton Wick a public meeting elected a committee (at least three had lost a son or nephew) who considered proposals for a memorial in the form of a clock in the church spire; a stained glass window; (with an inscribed tablet beneath) a lych-gate; a wall round the church; a monument outside the church with an inscribed tablet inside. At first the meeting decided on a stained glass window, with another suggestion from Mr Hammerton (Father of one fatality) that a marble stab be erected in the Institute (now named Village Hall) grounds. Eventually, following much discussion, they settled on a Churchyard stone memorial and the names of the fallen 'carved in stone' (please see the photograph on page 20). The final cost was £197-11-6d. A princely sum for the small village to raise at that time, with only one villager able to give more than one pound. 

They said it was the war to end wars, yet it happened again and again. When will we ever learn. 

Submitted by Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village August 2014.

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.

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

Harry Quarterman -1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment

Harry Quarterman (Private No. 7570) - 1st Battalion (Later 2nd) Royal Berkshire Regiment - 6th Brigade - 2nd Division

At 35 years of age Harry was one of Eton Wick's oldest fatal casualties of the Great War. He was born November 17th 1883 and baptised the following January. Brother Fred was born in July 1885 and it was about this time that Edmond and Louisa Quarterman took their young family from King Stable Street in Eton and moved to number 3 Oak Villas, Boveney Newtown. Two more sons were born in 1886 and 1887 and were named Alfred and Lewis. An older boy, John, apparently joined the regular army and at the outbreak of war was serving in Hong Kong, where his two sons were attending school. 

Hostilities brought them all back to England and when the two lads John and William, aged 12 and 13 years, registered for the Eton Porny School on January 18th 1915, they had the unusual entry in the register as "Previous School, Hong Kong". By this time the family home was at Long Close, The Little Common, Eton Wick and John's young family went to live there with his parents and their family. At Long Close the family were pig farmers. Years later it was recorded that Tom Quarterman was living there with his mother and two sons. Perhaps Tom and John were one and the same. Certainly Harry had four brothers and one sister, Kate. He attended Eton Porny School from October 26th 1891 and left that school one month before his 13th birthday, in October 1896. Perhaps he also became a regular peacetime soldier, but the facts have not been established. The Parish Magazine did however report him as serving in the army before September 1914. 

In August 1914 the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshires was at Aldershot, attached to the 6th Brigade, 2nd Division. On August 13th they arrived in France and 10 days later saw their first action. Considerable fighting took place then, and again during the long retreat from Mons. Initially Battalion casualties were not heavy but during October and November 1914, they suffered substantial losses while fighting in the First Battle of Ypres. At this time it became necessary to commission senior N.C.O.s. in the field. During the 1915 spring fighting they lost a further 423 officers and men. In September they were engaged in the Battle of Loos, and although they succeeded in taking their designated objectives, the overwhelming enemy forces drove them back again. 

In 1916 the Battle of the Somme was launched, but not until the offensive was three weeks old were the 1st Berkshires involved. They arrived near Delville Wood on July 24th and three days later were fighting against a determined enemy in the woods. They suffered a further 252 casualties. Subsequent actions were at Bernafay Wood; Mansell Copse; Serre; Mailly Maillet and Bertrancourt. The Battalion diary states:

"there were hardly enough [troops] to cope with the enemy when eventually his front line was reached."

The following year, in November, they were heavily engaged at Bourlon, and it was here that a company of men decided on "No Surrender" and died fighting. It was probably about this time that Harry was transferred to the 2nd Berkshires, 25th Brigade, 8th Division. American troops were beginning to arrive in Europe in the spring of 1918 and in an attempt to preempt their obvious influence on the war the Germans launched a massive 40-mile front attack, supported by 6,000 artillery guns, on March 21st of that year. Allied armies were forced to withdraw in the face of the onslaught. At midday on May 27th gas shells rained down on the four French and three British Divisions defending between the Ailette and Aisne rivers. The defenders were very tired as they faced 18 German Divisions. At 3.40 a.m. the following morning, German storm troops attacked and reached the Aisne across a carpet of annihilated allied soldiers. The 8th Division, which included the Berkshires, was one of the three British Divisions involved. It was here on May 27/28th that Harry was taken prisoner, but not until two months later was the first news of him available. 

The Windsor & Eton Express dated August 3rd 1918 reported: 

Quarterman H. of Little Common, Eton Wick - Private in Royal Berkshire Regiment, missing since 27.5.18. 

SEDAN (ST. CHARLES) COMMUNAL CEMETERY courtesy of CWGC

On the anniversary, one year later the paper printed:

"Memoriam" Quarterman -Harry, Private. In memory of our dear son and brother in the Royal Berkshire Regiment, reported as missing on May 27th 1918 and is now officially reported as "Died of Dysentery" on October 30th 1918, whilst a P.O.W. at Asfold in Germany, after 4 years of active service. 

We pictured his safe returning, 

We longed to clasp his hand, 

But Our God postponed the meeting 

Until we meet in the better land. 

Harry was married to Julia. He was 35 years old and is buried in the Sedan (St Charles) Communal Cemetery, French Military Extension - Grave No. 621. The cemetery is situated 11 miles south east of Charleville. All 50 British burials are of P.O.Ws. who died between April 9th and October 30th 1918, In Eton Wick, the War Memorial Committee deliberated on the eligibility of Harry Quarterman to be on the village memorial, because he had lived in Hanwell before the War. 

At the time of the memorial unveiling in March 1920 a decision had been taken to include Harry's name, and it appeared on the "Form of Service". Because of the late decision however, his name was inscribed at the foot of a panel on the memorial and not in its alphabetic order. His name was not included on the Eton Church Memorial Gates: the only Eton Wick omission. Harry's brothers lived in Eton Wick and Eton for the rest of their lives, and today relatives are still living in the village.

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

Harry Quarterman: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

Harry Quarterman: The For King & Country page.

Harry Quarterman:  The Lives of the First World War page.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

Grave registration records courtesy of CWGC

Headstone records courtesy of CWGC

Albert Stallwood 2nd Life Guards

Albert Henry Stallwood (Trooper No. 4176) - 2nd Battalion Guards Machine Gun Regiment. (Formerly No. 4128, 2nd Battalion Life Guards Regiment - 7th Cavalry Brigade - 3rd Cavalry Division)

Albert Stallwood was born in High Wycombe in 1892 and apparently spent most of his early years living in Langley. When he left school he first took employment at a local farm in Langley and later became a carman at Slough's G.W.R. station. He married Emily Edith King in 1914 and this was probably when he moved to Eton Wick. They set up their home at No. 13, Castle view Terrace, Victoria Road, Boveney, and on March 1st 1915 Harry Albert was born. The christening took place on September 5th 1915 and two months later, on December 11th Albert enlisted in Windsor for the Life Guards. 

Trooper Albert Stallwood

The Life Guards, together with the Royal Horse Guards, constitute the prestigious Household Brigade: the soldiers of the Sovereign and as such they enjoyed a higher rate of pay than most other soldiers. Before joining the 2nd Battalion in the field Albert would have spent several months in training. 

The Brigade, meanwhile, was actively engaged on the continent, taking part in violent fighting during the Battle of Langemarck, 21st to 24th October 1914, when as dismounted troops they manned trenches between Zonnebeke and St. Julien; and at Gheluvelt from the 29th to 31st October, when they were forced back to Klein Zillebeke. At this time two squadrons of the Life Guards were wiped out. They were again in support at Hooge during the battle of Nonne Bosschen on November 11th 1914. The following year brought further heavy casualties in the trenches near the Ypres-Zonnebeke road, May 8th to 13th, during the second battle of Ypres, and in September 1915 the 3rd Cavalry Division was again pressed into action during the battle of Loos. 

Albert Stallwood was not involved in these early engagements but the survivors were. about to become his comrades and, when trained, he was surely going to be a replacement for one of the many casualties. During the 1916 Somme offensive, the Guards were kept in readiness behind the front line for a cavalry breakthrough which never came. Modern warfare with machine guns and trenches was not suitable for cavalry charges. By this stage of the war Trooper Stallwood would have been in the field with the 2nd Life Guards. 

The following year in the Battle of Arras the Household Cavalry were again ready to exploit a breakthrough but again the opportunity was denied them. By 1918 it had been decided to re-train the Household Brigade, as machine gunners. The 1st and 2nd Battalion Life Guards were to become the 1st and 2nd Battalions Guards Machine Gun Regiment. On March 10th 1918 they commenced their training at Etaples, on the Boulogne to Paris coast road. This was completed by the middle of May. 

On Whit Sunday, May 19th, when a fresh draft of 128 men had arrived, the great complex of hospital camps and training grounds of Etaples was subjected to a surprise Gotha bomber raid. It was 10 p.m. and the 2nd Battalion left their quarters, preferring to be in the open. The 1st Battalion stayed in their tents. One hour later a single bomber returned and two of the 1st's four companies were obliterated. In all 43 soldiers were killed and 82 were wounded. The fatalities included Charles Godwin of Eton Wick, (1st Battalion) but Albert Stallwood, being in the 2nd Battalion, was unharmed. On May 23rd the 2nd Battalion re-entered the line, joining the IV Corps at Warloy while the 1st's went back to Arras. They were in action during fighting on the Hindenburg Line between September 12th and October 9th 1918. 

On September the 18th the 2nd Battalion fought in the line at Villers Faucon, and again on the 29th with the 46th Division in the crossing of the St Quentin Canal. Both Battalions were in action together near Wassigny between October 17th and 25th. At this time Albert was wounded and he subsequently died of wounds on October 24th 1918. The Windsor & Eton Express reported: 

"Stallwood, Albert, husband of Mrs Stallwood of 13, Castle View Terrace, Boveney. "Trooper Life Guards (attached) Machine Gun Section died October 24th at 55 Casualty Clearing Station in France from wounds received in action."

He was buried at Prémont British Cemetery, Plot 1, Row B. Grave No. 5. The cemetery is one mile S.E. of the village of Bohain and 12 miles N.N.E. of St Quentin. It contains 572 burials of the Great War, with 521 being soldiers from the U.K., seven Australians, six Canadian, one each from India and South Africa and 36 Germans. 

Albert was 26 years old and he left a widow with two children. Happily Emily married again, and to a former service friend of her late husband. As Mrs Thurston she continued to live at 13, Castle View Terrace for some years. Albert Stallwood 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.

Albert Stallwood: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

Albert Stallwood: The For King & Country page.

Albert Stallwood:  The Lives of the First World War page.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

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.

Time for Reform: Nonconformists and Mrs Tough

A small number of families continued to attend the services of the Congregationalists, and as late as 1877 the Minutes of the Windsor Church described Eton Wick as 'flourishing'. But in that year a new personality, who was to have a decided influence on the lives of a great number of people, arrived in the village.

This was young Mrs Tough, who until recently had been Annie Moore of Rotherhithe, London. She came as a young bride to live at Bell Farm. Annie was an active Primitive Methodist and within a very short time had taken over the Congregationalist meetings and was conducting her own services and Sunday School in the Iron Room and cottages.

There is no doubt that Mrs Tough was successful in attracting families to her services and children to the Sunday School. Indeed, she was so successful that she soon incurred the displeasure of the new curate whose area of special responsibility ' included Eton Wick. In November, 1878, he wrote a short letter to Mrs Tough stating very clearly that he would be very obliged if she would kindly not encourage the children to attend chapel Sunday School, as he had forbidden them to attend it and he wished them to attend the Church Sunday School only. Mrs Tough sent a very spirited reply in which she assured the curate that she would do all in her power to urge the children to come to her meetings. As she explained, she had already made 'concessions to the Church in as much as chapel Sunday School was held at an inconvenient hour so as not to coincide with any church services, and parents and children were quite free to attend both. The letters were published in local and national papers and created quite a stir. Perhaps it was not surprising that the Church reacted in this way, for there was still much rivalry and intolerance nationally between the Established Church and the Nonconformists. Moreover, it was only three years since the Church in Eton had become separate from the College, and this was not a moment to welcome rivals.

Undaunted, Mrs Tough continued her work and mission in the village. Hers was a very personal religion. She sought out those who needed her help to find the way to Salvation - even those who did not recognize the need but had found solace, or pleasure, in alcohol; beseeching, cajouling and encouraging them, until they returned. Nine years had to pass, however, before the Iron Chapel could be replaced by a new building. Until the development of New Town there simply was not any available building land. Even then it was only the persistence of Mrs Tough that won from the developer the small plot of land on which the present chapel stands. He gave it as 'a reward for perseverance’. The money was raised by subscriptions and, even though the chapel was small, no little effort was needed by the collectors. Eton Wick was still a relatively poor community and the rich of the parish were firmly Church of England.

Within the chapel community were several people who are worthy of mention and whose names are recorded in stone on the walls of the chapel, but it is Mrs Tough who was known throughout the village. Her upright, forceful nature made her loved and feared. Even as an old lady she would wait outside the chapel until just before the service began to encourage people to come in. She died in 1930 and the Tough Memorial Hall was built in her memory.

This is an extract from The Story of a Village: Eton Wick 1217 to 1977 by Judith Hunter.

The Story of Oliver James Stannett in his own word - Part Three

I had started going to Eton Porney School when the 1914-18 war broke out. George and Albert both joined up in the Royal Life Guards at Windsor.

While going to Eton Porney School we used to have a Christmas party and magic lantern show every year. On this particular day I had my lunch taken from the cloakroom. (This was the only place we were allowed to put it, with our coats.) So I went to see the Head Master who lived on the premises and informed him that someone had taken my lunch.

Mr. Baker was very concerned and told me to wait a minute. He came out after five minutes and gave me two large pieces of fruit cake and two sandwiches. "There you are," he said. "And don't forget you will have no cake with your tea." But I had all the cake I wanted. I was worried because I thought that I wasn't going to get any at the party but when it was passed round the table I looked up at Mr. Baker and all he did was smile and nod his head so I got stuck in.

When I was about eleven years old, Eton College had a soup kitchen in Eton High Street where one could buy offcuts of bread. It cost tuppence for half a pillowcase full. John (Brewer) and I used to go every Friday morning and we would sit in the playing fields on the way home to search our cases for pieces of cake or currant bread - sometimes we were lucky other times not.

On other days we used to look into the dustbins of the college houses for anything that was any good. We always had plenty of writing materials, books with only two pages written on in pencil and pen nibs and pennies all stuck together. Very often we would find a cake in a cake box which had been thrown away by the boys. They always put it on top of the dustbin.

Sometimes when nothing else was forthcoming we would find a 7lb. tin of golden syrup with a nice lot of treacle inside. Then we would go along to the meadow. This was a meadow which ran nearly the length of the common. Near home, we would find the best and youngest clump of sour sorrel, which was very sour. Then we sat down and dipped the sorrel in the treacle and enjoyed life. So when we got home we did not want any tea, if there was any.

On the occasions when there wasn't the treacle tin came in handy. We three (Mum's brothers and myself) went collecting birds eggs and cooked them on a fire. We used to have birds' eggs often. At least we had something to eat. Autumn was the best time for swedes, turnips and spuds. We used to cook wheat when we had nothing else. When I look back I often wonder if it did us any good but I'm sure it did.

Dad took an acre of grassland for an allotment. This was when we shook the villagers. They were all puzzled about how the ground got dug without anyone working on it. I was given to understand that the men in parts and around the village were arguing about it. I used to wait for Dad to come home from work and after he had his tea he would say, "Come on Olly let's show 'em." We went to the allotment, of course, it was dark when we got there. He uncovered some bags of lime which we proceeded to throw over the ground. We dug until midnight or thereabouts. The moon came up a bit and we could see what we were doing. We always covered a certain amount of ground. Whatever we covered, we dug without leaving any sign that we had been there. It was surprising what we managed to do.

On Sundays we did planting only, you see, at that time Dad was working in the coal yard near the gas works. It was always getting dark when he got home. But what amused me was that men came out of two or three pubs to watch us. They all came up the path to see what we were doing. Dad told them how it was done and they got some lime for their own ground. Dad and I managed to do a whole quarter acre in three weeks.

This is an extract from the autobiography written by Oliver James Stannett (1903 - 1988) and republished here with the kind permission of his relatives who still live in Eton Wick.