Hethel, Norfolk - Roll of Honour WW 1

In Memory of those

from this Parish

who gave their Lives in

THE GREAT WAR

1914 - 1919

 

Captain Frederick Godfrey Bird DSM, Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve

Born on Tuesday 3rd. November 1868 at Rochester, Kent, the son of Captain Frederic Vincent Godfrey (d. 1899), Commander of the Chatham Division, Royal Marines Light Infantry, and Anne Narcissie Elsie Bird, nee Wood, born in Greece, the daughter of a Vice-Consul.

Frederick joined the Royal Navy on 15th. January 1882 and his first posting was to the training ship Britannia, where he passed out in December 1883. He was then posted to HMS Opal and spend two and a half years on the Cape of Good Hope Station.

In May 1884 he was a Midshipman, and in May 1888 he was made Acting Sub-Lieutenant. He was awarded the Goodenough Medal for 1889 for being the Sub-Lieutenant who achieved the highest gunnery examination for the year.

In 1891 he was a Lieutenant on HMS Agamemnon, then a Lieutenant on HMS Diadem in 1901 before being promoted to Commander on 31st. December 1903.

On 29th. February 1908 at Scole in Norfolk, he married Elizabeth Whitlock, born in 1883 at Richmond, Virginia.

At his request he was placed on Retired List on 30th. June 1911 with the rank of Captain. He lived with family in Hethel Hall from 1912.

At the outbreak of war he was assigned to transport duties at Newhaven before being made Assistant King's Harbour Master at Dover on 7th. March, 1915. On 21st. July 1915 he was appointed for duty with net drifters out of Dover as part of the Dover Patrol. He served four years until July 1919 when he reverted to the Retired List and was granted permission to proceed abroad. He applied for rank of Rear-Admiral in August, but was refused, as he was ineligible.

He was mentioned in dispatches in 1915, received Distinguished Service Medal (DSM), was made a CMG in 1918 for extraordinary and important service and granted Legion d'Honeur in 1918.

Frederick died, aged 51, on Monday 29th. December 1919 at Hethel Hall and was buried on Saturday 3rd. January 1920 at Chatham, Kent.

 

3527 Private Hugh Reginald Fulcher, 1st. Battalion, Coldstream Guards.

Born in 1877 at Scoulton, Norfolk, the son of Charles, an agricultural labourer, and Sarah Ann Fulcher, nee Saunders.

Baptised on 4th. October 1891 at Wreningham.

The 1881 census records the family were living at Hethel, Norfolk.

The 1901 census records Hugh at Chelsea Barracks with Coldstream Guards.

At the outbreak of war in 1914, Hugh was probably a reservist and was called up and posted to 1st. Battalion, Coldstream Guards.

Hugh died, aged 37, on Thursday 29th. October 1914.

Taken from the Regiment's official history,

'At Gheluvelt, 6 miles E of Ypres, 1st. Battalion suffered such casualties that it had no officers left and only 180 men. 4 days later, after reinforcements, it had once more been reduced to no officers and 120 men only'.

139 soldiers of Coldstream Guards died 29th. October 1914.

Hugh has no known grave and is commemorated on Panel 11 of the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

*Note* Recorded as Hugh Reginald with the CWGC.

 

242312 Private Alfred Gooch, 1st./5th. Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, formally 1550 Private, Norfolk Regiment.

The son of Robert Gooch and Sarah Ann Porter, nee Banham. Wreningham

Baptised at Hethel, Norfolk on 3rd. February 1889.

Elder bother of Frederick. below.

Enlisted at Wreningham.

In July 1915 the 1st./5th. Norfolk's sailed from Liverpool to Gallipoli and were evacuated to Alexandria in December 1915.

Alfred was killed on Thursday 19th. April 1917, aged 28, fighting with two Norfolk battalions and a Hampshire battalion against Turkish forces in 2nd. Battle of Gaza. On the 19th the three battalions lost around 1,500 men, including 2 commanding officers and all 12 company commanders.

Alfred has no known grave and is commemorated at on Panels 11 to 15 of the Jerusalem Memorial. He is also commemorated in Hethel church.

 

790547 Private Frederick William Gooch, 47th. Battalion (British Columbia) Light Infantry, Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Born on 16th. April 1883 at Hethel, the son of Robert Gooch and Sarah Ann Porter, nee Banham. of Potash Lane, Hethel. Younger brother of Alfred, above.

Frederick worked as a butcher,

On 3rd. June 1909 Frederick sailed from Liverpool aboard the SS Tunisian for Montreal, Canada. He returned home and in 1913 emigrated again from Liverpool aboard the SS Lake Manitoba with his brother Percy.

He settled at Cloverdale, Surrey in British Columbia were he again worked as a butcher.

Frederick enlisted at New Westminster on 1st. February 1916 with 104th. Regiment Westminster Fusiliers of Canada, commonly referred to as the Westies. The regiment would became part of 47th. Battalion, CEF.

Frederick fought at the Somme (1916), Vimy Ridge (1917) and Passhendale (1917).

He was killed in action, aged 35, only 23 days before the Armistice, at about 11 a.m. on Friday 18th. October 1918 whilst his company were taking shelter behind some large haystacks on the outskirts of Fressain during heavy German shelling. He was killed instantly when he was hit in the head by shrapnel when two large calibre shells fell simultaneously about 10 feet away from one of the haystacks.

Initially buried in Crucifix Cemetery, Lecluse, west of Fressain, he was reburied in Grave: E10, in front of the Cross of Remembrance, at Chapel Corner Cemetery, Sauchy-Lestree, Pas de Calais, France.

Frederick is commemorated on the Cenotaph at Surrey, British Columbia, and on Page 416 of the First World War Book of Remembrance of the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

 

Not remembered on the memorial.

 

29760 Lance-Corporal Sydney Ernest Jowlings, 7th. Battalion, Norfolk Regiment.

Born in 1894 at Potash Farm, Hethel, the son of Ernest and Marion Jowlings.

The census of 1901 records the family living near Hingham, Norfolk. The 1911 census records Sydney employed as an apprentice butcher in Norwich.

On Thursday 22nd. November 1917, Sydney died of wounds, probably inflicted in the attack on the Hindenburg line on 20th. November 1917, he was aged 23..

Sydney is buried in Grave: II. G. 16. at Tincourt British Cemetery, Somme, France. He is also commemorated on the Thuxton-with-Garveston war memorial in St. Mary's churchyard, Garveston, Norfolk.

 

19555 Lance Corporal Robert George Rayner, 9th. Battalion, Norfolk Regiment

Born in 1892 at Letheringsett, Norfolk, one of 9 children of John and Eliza Rayner, nee Lewis Moore, later of Wreningham, Norfolk. Elder brother of Sydney, below.

Robert was a farm worker, living in Potash Lane, Hethel when he joined the Norfolk's as a Private in June 1915.

He had a couple of spells in hospital in France, with 'flu in 1916 and with the effects of gas in 1918.

He was promoted to Lance-Corporal in February 1918.

Robert was killed in action on Thursday 8th. August 1918, aged 26. He is buried in Grave: XV. C. 3. at Nine Elms British Cemetery, Poperinge, Leper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium with the personal inscription,

'MAY HE REST IN THE LORD'

Also commemorated on the Wreningham War Memorial.

 

18843 Private Sidney William Rayner, 1st. Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers (Princess Victoria's Regiment).

Born in 1897 at Great Ryburgh, Norfolk, one of 9 children of John and Eliza Rayner, nee Lewis Moore, later of Wreningham, Norfolk. Younger brother of Robert, above.

The census of 1901 and 1911 record Sydney living at Potash Lane in Hethel.

Sydney was killed in action, aged 19, during the attack of Rainy Trench and Dewdrop Trench on 12th. October 1916. He has no known grave and is commemorated on Pier and Face 15 A of the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.

Also commemorated on the Wreningham War Memorial.

 

R.I.P

 

 

 

 

 

Done