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Friday 11 May 2018

In Memory of Walter Titheridge who died in World War 1

Church at West Tisted, birth place of Walter 
Walter James Titheridge died in World War l in France on 11 May 1918, 100 years ago. This is his story.

Walter Titheridge’s Family 


Walter James Titheridge was born in West Tisted in 1898. He was the five times Great Grandson of John Titheridge and Ann Quallat of Cheriton. Walter was the youngest of six children born on 19 November 1898 to George Titheridge and Fanny Cooper of West Tisted. George and Fanny's children were:-

William George Titheridge born 1882 died 1962, married Daisy Ruffle
Dorothy Blanche Titheridge born 1887, married William Andrews
Albert Titheridge born 1890 died 1972, married Agnes Legg
May Titheridge born 1893, married Albert Whatmore
Ada Pamphylla Titheridge born 1896, married Thomas Bone
Walter James Titheridge born 1898 died 1918


On the 1901 census Walter was living with his parents and siblings at Upper Cottages New Tisted, and on 1911 census he was living with his parents and siblings at East Tisted. School records show he attended the school in East Tisted, starting on 11 January 1904 and leaving on 20 December 1912, age 14 to “go to work”. We do not know what his employment was.

Somerset Light Infantry


At some time during World War 1 Walter enlisted in Prince Albert's Somerset Light Infantry, 6th Battalion. He enlisted at Alton, army number 29310, but I have been unable to find the date of his joining up.

The 6th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry went to France in May 1915 and served on the Western Front throughout the war. In 1916 they fought at Delville Wood and Flers-Courcelette in the Battle of the Somme. In 1917 they were involved in the German retreat to the Hindenburg line, the Arras offensive and the Third Battles of Ypres. In 1918 the battalion suffered heavy casualties in The Battle of St Quentin and The Battle of the Avre.

21st March 1918


On 21 March 1918 the Germans began the Spring Offensive, a series of German attacks along the Western front in the Somme battlefield. The Battle of St Quentin took place from 21 March to 23 March with 72 German divisions in positions ready to attack in three waves. The British suffered a five hour artillery bombardment by over 6,600 artillery pieces with some 3.2 million shells landing on the British-held front during that first day of the attack. The German attack was assisted by the fog in the Somme battlefield with the British unable to see the movement of the Germans. Thousands of infantrymen left the German Front Line and appeared in the British forward positions without being seen. The 6th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry were part of the 14th Light division and were in the front line as the battle commenced. The explosives cut off telephone communication and the fog meant flares could not be used to communicate, hence the British troops in the front line were unable to communicate and call for artillery support. On 21st March 1918 the British suffered more than 38,000 casualties, the second worst day of losses in British military history.

6th Battalion SLI War diary for 21 March 1918


The last hours of the 6th Battalion Somerset Light Infrantry are recorded in the Battalion War Diary.
During March the Battalion were at Monteslourt, France
19th March
In the line   - Quiet 24 hours. Patrols out all night. New fire bays constructed.
20th March
In the line     Quiet 24 hours. Patrols winning. Casualties nil
21st  March
At 4.30 am the enemy opened an intense bombardment with all calibre shells, using a new kind of gas shell, the smell of which was not unpleasant, but had the effect of sleeping gas.
At 8.30 he finished gas shelling but continued with other shells.
It was very foggy, extra sentries were posted at all points.
All signal communication was cut by 7.40am.
At 10.20 news was received by runner - the enemy was in the front line.
Support companies, Battalion HQ moved into strong points “Egypt” where fighting immediately commenced.
2 pigeons were despatched and papers all burnt.
The enemy at 10.30 were streaming down the St Quentin Road from both flanks and poured into La Fozie Quarry.
At 10.35am he was reported to be pushing towards Benay and Cerizy.
1 officer, 6 runners and 3 signallers commenced to fight their way to Brigade HQ with the news to warn strong points.
1 officer reached Brigade HQ at 11.10am 2 runners arriving 10 minutes after. 1 signaller also got out successfully. After which this party were attached to 9 Scottish Rifles in reserve trenches behind Brigade HQ.
Estimated casualties 20 officers, 540 other ranks actually in the front line at the time of attack.

It is probable that by 10.30 the 6th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry had almost ceased to exist.

Prisoner of War


Private Walter James Titheridge was one of the soldiers taken prisoner from the front lines on the 21 March 1918.  Details of this were first received in England in early July and published in a Somerset paper.
10 July 1918
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser
The Captive Somersets
The following names have been received this week of Somersets now prisoners of war in Germany
A list of 32 names appeared in the paper among them
“29310 Titheridge”.

More information about Prisoners of War can be viewed on the website of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) . During the First World War 8 million soldiers were taken prisoner and interned in camps. In 1914 the ICRC established the International Prisoners-of-War Agency in Geneva, to which the warring States submitted, lists of prisoners. The Agency received 400,000 pages of documents: lists of prisoners’ names and records of capture, of transfers between camps and of deaths in detention. For each name listed, the Agency made out an index card. These indexes also contain enquiry cards, drawn up from the written requests for information submitted daily by relatives of the missing.

I have found 5 mentions of Walter as Prisoner of War.
  • There is a list of prisoners written in German.  Entry Number 146 shows "Titheridge Walter  gen. 6 Som.L.I. taken at Benay 21.3.18. Aus den felde. (translates to off the field). Place of birth Westtested 19.11.98."
  • In a document dated 24 July 1918 it lists Walter is mentioned again "Titheridge W 29310 SLI  Kriegslazarett"  (this translates to military hospital)
  • Another document written in German translates to "Titheridge W Private SLI without further information died 11.5.18 in field hospital in Foreste from dysentery buried at cemetery in Foreste."
  • A similar document is found at this link
  • The index card shows a request for information by Walter's mother, Fanny. The card has been updated as information is received from the Germans. It shows that the ICRC were notified of Walter being a prisoner on 3 July 1918, and notified of his death on 28 August 1918 with information communicated to the family on 1 October 1918


One cannot imagine the anguish of the family. Walter was reported as missing in March and it was July before the family  heard he was a prisoner of war. Then in October they learnt that Walter had died 3 months earlier.

Commonwealth War Grave


The Commonwealth War Grave site shows the following information for Walter:
29310 Private Walter James Titheridge. 6th Btn. Prince Albert's (Somerset Light Infantry). Age: 19. Born: West Tisted, Hants. Enlisted: Alton, Hants. Resided: East Tisted. Died. Son of George and Fanny Titheridge, of "Creeper Cottage," East Tisted, Alton, Hants. died on 11th May 1918. Buried at Foreste Communal Cemetery Plot  I B 15.

The cemetery is in Foreste, a hamlet about 15 kilometres west of St. Quentin. Foreste Communal Cemetery was used by the 92nd Field Ambulance in April 1917 but the village fell into German hands in the summer of 1918. In the cemetery are 95 UK burials of the First World War.

Walter was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

East Tisted War Memorial


Walter is remembered on a memorial plaque that is in East Tisted church. Click here to see an image.  It reads

In honoured memory of the men of East Tisted
who gave their lives for God, King and Country
in the Great War 1914 – 1919

There are 3 names, the last one reads
Walter James Titheridge Private in Somerset Light Infantry
Died while a prisoner of war in Germany 11th May 1918

"Be thou faithful unto Death and I will give thee a crown of life” Rev 2.10

Church at East Tisted where the Memorial to Walter can be found


Wednesday 2 May 2018

Death in the Harvest Field – Mabel Titheridge 1888 - 1889

Cottages in Frogmore, East Meon

Infant Mortality 


I was recently transcribing some Portsmouth Burials records and found 26 burial records for our family pre 1904. I was surprised to see that of 62% of these were children, with 13 of the burials children below five years old.

One of these records was the burial of Mabel Tetheridge buried at St Mary, Porchester, Hampshire on 7 August 1889 aged 18 months. No known Titheridge families lived in Porchester, so I was intrigued to find out more about Mabel and her family and find out why they were in Porchester.

Francis Titheridge from East Meon


Mabel’s father was identified as Francis Titheridge of East Meon, Hampshire. Francis was born in 1854 youngest of the fifteen children of William Titheridge and Elizabeth Lee. In the 1861 census Francis was living with his parents in Frogmore, East Meon and in the 1871 census living with elder brother William at Old Down, East Meon.

In October 1877 23 year old Francis married Emily Jane Port in East Meon and they had one child Henry Titheridge born in 1879 in Midhurst district of Sussex. On the 1881 census Emily and son Henry are living in Farlingham, near Portsmouth, but Francis is missing from the census. A year later in 1882 Emily’s death is recorded in Midhurst Sussex. No further records are found for son Henry.

Four years later in 1886 Francis married 18 year old Alice Emma Langrish 14 years his junior. Alice was from Compton near Chichester. Francis and Alice had four children.

Minnie Catherine Titheridge born 1887 in Westbourne district of Sussex
Mabel Titheridge born 1888 Droxford district christened in East Meon
Florence Mary Titheridge born 1890 in East Meon
William George Titheridge born 1892 in Westbourne district of Sussex

Mabel’s death is recorded in 1889 in Fareham aged one and Florence’s death is recorded in 1892 in Midhurst district aged 2.

The one thing noticeable is the nomadic life style of the family moving from place to place in the Sussex / Hampshire border area. Francis was a farm labourer and presumably he moved to find work. In the 1891 census Francis and Alice are living in Compton, Sussex with children Minnie aged 4 and Florence aged 1. However by 1901 Francis is living on his own in Up Marden, Sussex.  I have no idea what has happened to Alice and son William. They are not found on 1901 or 1911 census and there are no death records found. Daughter, Minnie, married William Allen in 1904 in Aldershot.

The Death of Mabel Titheridge


The question "Why was Mabel and family in Porchester" was revealed in the local newspapers. It was August 1889 and harvest time and Mabel had been brought to Porchester with her parents Alice and Francis as they came to harvest the crops on a local farm. It was here that Mabel, who was already unwell, died.  The account in the local paper is below:

Portsmouth Evening News - 6 August 1889

Death in the Harvest Field
The Deputy County Coroner (Leonard Warner, Esq.) held an inquest on Monday at the Railway Hotel Porchester, upon the body of Mabel Titheridge 18 months who died suddenly on Saturday last. The evidence showed the deceased had been unwell for the past three months and was brought to Porchester by its parents a few days since, the latter being engaged harvesting on the  farm of Mr Curtis, and whilst thus employed slept in the shepherd’s hut on the farm.  The child did not appear to be any worse but at half past eleven on Saturday night the mother heard a gargling in the child’s throat and at once took it to Dr Brake at Porchester but before arrival the child had died. Medical evidence showed that death had arisen from natural causes and the Jury returned a verdict to that effect.

If you can add any details about this family please get in touch email: titheradgegenealogy@gmail.com

The story of Francis’s life after Mabel’s death will be the subject of later blog.