Tag Archives: Northamptonshire

Alfred Christie Jeavons

22 Wednesday Jan 2025

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Alfred was born in Coseley, the son of James and Adelaide Jeavons. In 1911, the were living in Castle Church, Staffordshire, along with Alfred’s sister, Marion, who was born in 1906. By 1921, they were living at 179 Owen Road, Wolverhampton, and Alfred had a younger sister, Beatrice Irene. In 1935, he married Kathleen M. Byard in Kettering, Northamptonshire. By 1939, he and Kathleen were living with her parents in Kettering, and Alfred was working as a supervisor of customs for the Colonial Customs service. He was also a member of the Federal Malay volunteer force.

During the war he served with the 4th (Malacca Volunteer Corps) Bn. Straits Settlements Volunteer Force (service number 80073). Unfortunately he was captured on 2 September 1943 and diest in the Hakodate Prisoner of War camp in Japan not long afterwards. He is buried in the Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Myanmar.

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The research for this blog post was carried out by remote virtual volunteer, Doug Lewis.

Downes Ireland

09 Tuesday Nov 2021

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Downes was born in Uppingham in Rutland on 10 February 1895, the son of Thomas and Ellen Ireland. They were living at Gretton in Northamptonshire in 1901, along with Downes’s sister, Edith. In 1907, he started at the Holy Trinity National School in West Bromwich. They were living in West Bromwich in 1911, by which date the 16-year-old Downes was working as an assistant photographer.

By the time he joined the armed forces, Downes was living in Bradley in Bilston, and he enlisted at Tipton as a private in the West Riding Regiment (service number 204651). He was killed in action on 25 November 1917 in Belgium. His name is recoreded on the Bradley Memorial in Bilston, and he is buried in the Dochy Farm New British Cemetery in Belgium.

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The research for this blog post was carried out by remote digital volunteer, Jacky de Escofet.

Thomas Septimus and John Stanley Bennett

13 Thursday Sep 2018

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John (mainly known as Stanley) was born in Towcester, Northamptonshire, in 1890, and Thomas (mainly known as Septimus), was born in the same location, in 1895. These were sons of William and Emma Bennett. In 1901, both young men were boarding in the home of Sarah Pitts in Leicester, along with their sister, Clara. By 1911, Stanley had enlisted with the 1st Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment (service number 8521), and was serving with them in Arabia, Cyprus and Gibraltar. I have not been able to find Septimus on the 1911 census.

At some point, both men moved to Wolverhampton, which is where Septimus enlisted in the South Staffordshire Regiment (service number 9034). He first served in France from 11 March 1915. He was promoted to Sergeant, but was killed in action on 1 July 1916. He is remembered at the Thiepval Memorial. Stanley disembarked with his regiment on 4 October 1914, but he, too, was killed in action on 7 November 1914. By the date of his death, his father was living at 12 Middle Cross Street, Wolverhampton. Stanley is buried at Zantvoorde British Cemetery in Belgium.

 

Robert Pickering Phipps

27 Monday Nov 2017

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Robert was born in Towcester, Northamptonshire, in 1897, the son of Richard Percy and Edith Louisa Phipps. By 1911, the family had moved to Tettenhall, and were living at The Hollies, Lower Street, together with Robert’s siblings Audry, John, Alan, and Dorothy. Robert attended Wolverhampton Grammar School.

Robert enlisted in the 2nd Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment, becoming a Lieutenant and then Acting Captain. Despite being reported as missing, he was mentioned in despatches, as announced in the Express & Star on 4 January 1917, and in the London Gazette on the same date. It was later confirmed that he had been killed in action, at some point between 13 and 15 November 1916. He is remembered at the Serre Road Cemetery No 2 on the Somme.

Frank Rhodes Armitage

28 Thursday Aug 2014

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Frank Rhodes Armitage

Frank Rhodes Armitage

Captain Dr Frank Rhodes Armitage DSO was killed in action on 30 July 1917, aged 34. He was in a dugout along with Captain C. E. Hickman (who received serious injuries to the head). He had been a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps, attending the 232nd Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery, and is commemorated at Brandhoek New Military Cemetery.

According to the Express & Star article published on 9 August 1917 (which describes him as “one of the bravest and best”), he had been in the firing line for two years and “had many miraculous escapes from death”. One example was given when he had been inches away from a shell crashing into a dug-out, but escaped without injury. He had also been responsible for saving the life of a Lieutenant Finnis.

He was born in Edinburgh, in Scotland. He was a school boarder along with a younger brother, in Northamptonshire in 1901. He had been educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School, and then went to Cambridge, where he followed in his father’s footsteps to become a doctor. In 1911 he was living at home with his parents, brother and sister, plus four servants at 58, Waterloo Road, Wolverhampton and both he and his father were surgeons at that time. His father was born in Margate. He was also a keen sportsman, holding the record for the South Staffordshire Golf Club for the course at Tettenhall, which he covered in a score of 66. He was a member of Wolverhampton Cricket Club. He married a Frances M. Snape in 1913, and had a daughter, Prudence, born in 1915.

His probate entry records him at 52 Waterloo Road, Captain in the R. A. M. C., who died on 30 July 1917 in France or Belgium. His effects, which were divided between his widow Frances Marie Armitage, stock broker Edward Howorth Armitage and Inglis merchant Ernest Alexander, amounted to £3723 12s. 4d. He is commemorated on the Wolverhampton Grammar School World War One website and on the Oundle School Roll of Honour.

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