Private Robert Watts, Royal Sussex Regiment, 1919
There is a standard CWGC pattern headstone in the Cemetery at Methwold.
G/11409 PRIVATE
R. WATTS
ROYAL SUSSEX REGIMENT
19TH OCTOBER 1919
There is also a plaque attached:-
IN MEMORIAM
OF
ROBERT WATTS
FROM COMRADES AND FRIENDS
QUEEN ALEXANDERS HOSPITAL HOME
(There is a bottom line which I can’t make out)
Private WATTS, R
Service Number:………. G/11409
Died:…………………… 19/10/1919
Unit:…………………….Royal Sussex Regiment
Buried at METHWOLD (ST. GEORGE'S) CHURCH BURIAL GROUND
Location: Norfolk, United Kingdom
Source: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2803528/watts,-/
No match on SDGW.
The Medal Index Card for Private 11409 Robert Watts, Royal Sussex Regiment, is held at the National Archive under reference WO 372/21/47442
Source: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D5788014
He qualified for the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is also on the Silver War Badge List which shows he enlisted on the 22nd January 1916 and was discharged on the 26th July 1917. The Service Medal Roll shows him only seeing service with the 13th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment.
Some of his Service Records appear to have survived the incendiary attack during the Blitz on the Warehouse where all the Other Ranks Army Service Records were stored.
Robert Watts, a single Farmer aged 21 years and 1 month, was living at Methwold Hythe, Methwold when he attested at Norwich on the 22nd January 1916. He had no previous military experience.
He was recorded as 5 feet 7 and three quarter inches tall.
His next of kin was his mother, Mrs Mary Watts, of Methwold Hythe, Norfolk.
Having initially attested, probably through an extension of the Derby Scheme, he was posted after 1 days service to the Army Reserve He was mobilised on the 1st May 1916 and posted to a training unit, the 3rd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment on the 3rd May. On the 7th December 1916 he arrived at an Infantry Base Depot in France and from there was posted on to the 13th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment on the 25th December 1916.
He qualified for the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He receibed a Gun Shot Wound to the back on the 27th February 1917. He was repatriated through the medical evacuation chain, landing back in the U.K. on the 5th March 1917.
This wound left him permanently disabled and he was discharged from the Army on the 26th July 1917 as no longer physically fit for service. When the Army wrote to him with his discharge papers he was still a patient at the King George Hospital, Stamford Street, London S.E.1. He was to receive a weekly pension of 27 shillings and 6 pence. By December 1917 he acknowledged receipt of his Silver War Badge, giving his address as Methwold Hythe, Norfolk.
No match on Picture Norfolk, the County Image Archive.
No obvious Soldiers Will or Civil Probate for this man.
On the Methwold War Memorial elsewhere in the cemetery he is recorded as Robert Watts.
There are no obvious entries in the Civil Records for Robert or Mary Watts to link them to this part of East Anglia. He would not have been old enough to vote by the time preparation of the electoral register was suspended for 1916 and 1917. There is no-one with the surname Watts or Watt recorded on the 1915 edition of the Norfolk register of voters in the Methwold Polling District.
Robert stated when he enlisted in January 1916 that he was 21 years and 1 month old. If that is correct and Robert was his first name then his birth could be expected to have been registered in either Q4 1894 or Q1 1895. There are no likely births in Q4 and four births in Q1.
These were :-
Robert Henry, Truro District. Robert Henry, born Probus, Cornwall, was living at Probus, Truro, Cornwall, working as a Labourer, in the household of his parents Charles and Elizabeth on the 1911 Census.
Robert John, Cambridge District. Robert John, born and living Cambridge on the 1911 census. Living with parents Robert John and Lydia.
Robert Malcolm, Foleshill District of Warwickshire. No obvious match 1901 or 1911 census. No obvious match in the death records for England and Wales.
Robert William, Gateshead District. A possible candidate for this soldier was the 16 year old Robert William Watts, born Gateshead, County Durham, then working as an Engineers Fitter. He was living in the household of his parents at 1 Woods Terrace, Gateshead. It is his mother Mary, aged 40 and born Scotland, who is recorded as the head of the household as her husband Septimus Watts is stated to be in South Africa. The couple have been married 20 years and have had 6 children, of which 4 were then still alive. As well as Robert William they were Jane, (18), Eleanor May, (7) and Norman, (2). Going back to the 1901 census his father Septimus, a Milling Machineman was aged 34 and Mary was 30. Septimus was born Newcastle, Northumberland. The death of a Septimus Watts, aged 77, (so born circa 1866) was recorded in Johannesburg in 1943. His children are recorded as Jean, Robert, Eleanor May and Norman. His wife predeceased him, dieing on the 19th June 1937. It would look like Robert was still alive and so can be ruled out.
www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPHF-SZ4B
For now the assumption has to be that mother and son were born outside England and Wales, arriving in the Methwold area after the 1911 census was taken and were not qualified to vote.
On the day - wounded………………………
There is only one date for his wounding shown in his surviving service records and that’s the 27th February 1917. However the Battalion War Diary gives no real clue as to the circumstances of his death.
25th February 1917 – Battalion War Diary
St Lawrence Camp.
The Battalion relieved the 9th Yorkshire Regt. in the Right section OBSERVATORY RIDGE sector taking over the following dispositions. B C & D Coys in the front line from right to left with A Coy in support in HALIFAX TRENCH and Battn. Headquarters at RUDKIN HO. I.24.c.1/4.1 ½
The relief was a long time and was not reported complete till 1 a.m.
The general condition of the line was not good and supply arrangements necessitated large carrying parties.
26th February 1917 – Battalion War Diary
Owing to poor visibility the artilleries of both sides were inactive and except for desultory firing on a few points the day passed quietly. During the night our patrols were active but encountered no resistance.
27th February 1917 – Battalion War Diary
Day again passed quietly. During the morning the enemy fired about 20 5.9’s on RUDKIN HO. slightly damaging the trench but causing no casualties.
On the day………………………………
As he is regarded officially as among the war dead, Robert must have succumbed to his spinal injuries.
The death of a 24 year old Robert Watts, (no middle initial) was recorded in the Wandsworth District of London in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1919.
The plaque on his headstone references the “Queen Alexanders Hospital Home” – this is almost certainly either the Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital although that lies just across the river from the borough of Wandsworth.
See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Alexandra%27s_Military_Hospital
Or there is an Queen Alexandra Hospital Home which was originally opened at Roehampton in 1919.
See: www.military-history.org/articles/charities-queen-alexand...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roehampton
Private Robert Watts, Royal Sussex Regiment, 1919
There is a standard CWGC pattern headstone in the Cemetery at Methwold.
G/11409 PRIVATE
R. WATTS
ROYAL SUSSEX REGIMENT
19TH OCTOBER 1919
There is also a plaque attached:-
IN MEMORIAM
OF
ROBERT WATTS
FROM COMRADES AND FRIENDS
QUEEN ALEXANDERS HOSPITAL HOME
(There is a bottom line which I can’t make out)
Private WATTS, R
Service Number:………. G/11409
Died:…………………… 19/10/1919
Unit:…………………….Royal Sussex Regiment
Buried at METHWOLD (ST. GEORGE'S) CHURCH BURIAL GROUND
Location: Norfolk, United Kingdom
Source: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2803528/watts,-/
No match on SDGW.
The Medal Index Card for Private 11409 Robert Watts, Royal Sussex Regiment, is held at the National Archive under reference WO 372/21/47442
Source: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D5788014
He qualified for the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is also on the Silver War Badge List which shows he enlisted on the 22nd January 1916 and was discharged on the 26th July 1917. The Service Medal Roll shows him only seeing service with the 13th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment.
Some of his Service Records appear to have survived the incendiary attack during the Blitz on the Warehouse where all the Other Ranks Army Service Records were stored.
Robert Watts, a single Farmer aged 21 years and 1 month, was living at Methwold Hythe, Methwold when he attested at Norwich on the 22nd January 1916. He had no previous military experience.
He was recorded as 5 feet 7 and three quarter inches tall.
His next of kin was his mother, Mrs Mary Watts, of Methwold Hythe, Norfolk.
Having initially attested, probably through an extension of the Derby Scheme, he was posted after 1 days service to the Army Reserve He was mobilised on the 1st May 1916 and posted to a training unit, the 3rd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment on the 3rd May. On the 7th December 1916 he arrived at an Infantry Base Depot in France and from there was posted on to the 13th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment on the 25th December 1916.
He qualified for the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He receibed a Gun Shot Wound to the back on the 27th February 1917. He was repatriated through the medical evacuation chain, landing back in the U.K. on the 5th March 1917.
This wound left him permanently disabled and he was discharged from the Army on the 26th July 1917 as no longer physically fit for service. When the Army wrote to him with his discharge papers he was still a patient at the King George Hospital, Stamford Street, London S.E.1. He was to receive a weekly pension of 27 shillings and 6 pence. By December 1917 he acknowledged receipt of his Silver War Badge, giving his address as Methwold Hythe, Norfolk.
No match on Picture Norfolk, the County Image Archive.
No obvious Soldiers Will or Civil Probate for this man.
On the Methwold War Memorial elsewhere in the cemetery he is recorded as Robert Watts.
There are no obvious entries in the Civil Records for Robert or Mary Watts to link them to this part of East Anglia. He would not have been old enough to vote by the time preparation of the electoral register was suspended for 1916 and 1917. There is no-one with the surname Watts or Watt recorded on the 1915 edition of the Norfolk register of voters in the Methwold Polling District.
Robert stated when he enlisted in January 1916 that he was 21 years and 1 month old. If that is correct and Robert was his first name then his birth could be expected to have been registered in either Q4 1894 or Q1 1895. There are no likely births in Q4 and four births in Q1.
These were :-
Robert Henry, Truro District. Robert Henry, born Probus, Cornwall, was living at Probus, Truro, Cornwall, working as a Labourer, in the household of his parents Charles and Elizabeth on the 1911 Census.
Robert John, Cambridge District. Robert John, born and living Cambridge on the 1911 census. Living with parents Robert John and Lydia.
Robert Malcolm, Foleshill District of Warwickshire. No obvious match 1901 or 1911 census. No obvious match in the death records for England and Wales.
Robert William, Gateshead District. A possible candidate for this soldier was the 16 year old Robert William Watts, born Gateshead, County Durham, then working as an Engineers Fitter. He was living in the household of his parents at 1 Woods Terrace, Gateshead. It is his mother Mary, aged 40 and born Scotland, who is recorded as the head of the household as her husband Septimus Watts is stated to be in South Africa. The couple have been married 20 years and have had 6 children, of which 4 were then still alive. As well as Robert William they were Jane, (18), Eleanor May, (7) and Norman, (2). Going back to the 1901 census his father Septimus, a Milling Machineman was aged 34 and Mary was 30. Septimus was born Newcastle, Northumberland. The death of a Septimus Watts, aged 77, (so born circa 1866) was recorded in Johannesburg in 1943. His children are recorded as Jean, Robert, Eleanor May and Norman. His wife predeceased him, dieing on the 19th June 1937. It would look like Robert was still alive and so can be ruled out.
www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPHF-SZ4B
For now the assumption has to be that mother and son were born outside England and Wales, arriving in the Methwold area after the 1911 census was taken and were not qualified to vote.
On the day - wounded………………………
There is only one date for his wounding shown in his surviving service records and that’s the 27th February 1917. However the Battalion War Diary gives no real clue as to the circumstances of his death.
25th February 1917 – Battalion War Diary
St Lawrence Camp.
The Battalion relieved the 9th Yorkshire Regt. in the Right section OBSERVATORY RIDGE sector taking over the following dispositions. B C & D Coys in the front line from right to left with A Coy in support in HALIFAX TRENCH and Battn. Headquarters at RUDKIN HO. I.24.c.1/4.1 ½
The relief was a long time and was not reported complete till 1 a.m.
The general condition of the line was not good and supply arrangements necessitated large carrying parties.
26th February 1917 – Battalion War Diary
Owing to poor visibility the artilleries of both sides were inactive and except for desultory firing on a few points the day passed quietly. During the night our patrols were active but encountered no resistance.
27th February 1917 – Battalion War Diary
Day again passed quietly. During the morning the enemy fired about 20 5.9’s on RUDKIN HO. slightly damaging the trench but causing no casualties.
On the day………………………………
As he is regarded officially as among the war dead, Robert must have succumbed to his spinal injuries.
The death of a 24 year old Robert Watts, (no middle initial) was recorded in the Wandsworth District of London in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1919.
The plaque on his headstone references the “Queen Alexanders Hospital Home” – this is almost certainly either the Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital although that lies just across the river from the borough of Wandsworth.
See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Alexandra%27s_Military_Hospital
Or there is an Queen Alexandra Hospital Home which was originally opened at Roehampton in 1919.
See: www.military-history.org/articles/charities-queen-alexand...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roehampton