Royal Fusiliers - Other Rank PoWs 1914

This is an extract from a roll call of 247 men from the Royal Fusiliers who were said to have been captured on or before 25th December 1914.  You can read more about the source of this 1914 Prisoner of War roll on a new page I have created on this blog: 1914 PoWs. Amongst the Royal Fusiliers' Prisoners of War is a certain L/13814 Private Sidney F Godley (pictured above) who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his action at Mons on the 23rd August 1914.

This list is almost certainly incomplete and in my experience does not, for instance, contain the names of those men who were captured and subsequently repatriated before the cessation of hostilities.  There are also some errors. For instance, the notation on the medal index card of MR/8108 Private C J Webb states "P. of W. 27/4/16" which is obviously a good deal later than the 25th December 1914 cut-off date.

Nevertheless, this list, and others like it which I will publish over the following days, represents a fascinating snapshot of the regular army in 1914. Here we have a company's worth of trained soldiers taken out of action as a result of being captured by the enemy; men the British Army could ill-afford to lose.

The majority of the men on this list have the L/ prefix indicating regular soldiers, but there are also a number of men with the SR/ prefix indicating that they were Special Reservists. Godley's number indicates that he enlisted in December 1909 but there are many men who are considerably older hands. Corporal Arthurs, for instance, originally enlisted in 1898.  With the exception of L/10809 Private F J Taylor who was a 1st Battalion man, all of the men listed below were serving with the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers at the time of their capture. Any errors in transcription from the original badly faded documents are entirely my own.

The full transcription is available for sale as a download or CD for £20. Contact me if you would like to purchase a copy.

SR/1116 Private A Atkinson, L/6163 Corporal R Arthurs, L/7246 Private F Attewell,  L/8545 Private John Anderson, L/15520 Private Herbert J Adams.

SR/477 Private Frederick Bentley, Private Beaumont, L/6920 Private Albert H Bevans, L/7546 Private Thomas G Butler, L/9210 Sergeant J W Burrill, L/9328 Lance-Corporal W H Brewer, L/9407 Private A Brown, L/10040 Private W Bates, L/10202 Private William Bear, L/10204 Private J Bramley, L/10597 Private G A Beyer, L/10911 Lance-Corporal William Brandon, L/8567 Lance-Corporal Leonard M Brunt, L/11569 Private R Barker, L/12069 Lance-Corporal R Bowrie, L/12165 Private Alfred Basterfield, L/12884 Sergeant Albert H Burgess, L/12927 Lance-Corporal W S Batt, L/12953 Private W A Burrows, L/13151 Private J Bull, L/13268 Private Albert H Brown, L/14490 Private Albert V Barker, L/14523 Lance-Corporal W Boardman, L/14796 Private W Barrett, L/14891 Private R Barnard, L/15573 Private S G Bunce, L/15242 Private W Branscombe, L/15549 Private J Branston, L/16108 Private C A Bolton, L/6913 Private A Blandford, SR/579 Private Charles Burkinshaw, L/11151 Private W Bristow, L/7951 Sergeant J T H Bord.

SR/1297 Private George Chapman, L/8525 Private J J Collins, L/9608 Private A W Clack, L/9627 Private A Chopping, L/10367 Private Richard W Calvert, L/10397 Private Norman S Campbell, L/10431 Private F E Curtis, L/10840 Private W Cook, L/10910 Private Herbert H Chitty, L/11121 Private William Clarke, L/11326 Private John Connor, L/11582 Lance-Corporal Benjamin W Cox, L/1591 Private Frederick J Cockerill, L/11768 Private Thomas G Catley, L/12254 Corporal Lewis Christie, L/12835 Private George A Clifford, L/13035 Private [Unclear], L/15172 Lance-Corporal James H Cuffley, L/15384 Private John Crawley, L/15406 Private Alfred Cockman, L/15938 Private Albert James Cole.

 
SR/878 Private Edward N Denney, SR/1882 Private H Dalton, L/7883 Private George Demant, L/8327 Private Ernest E Dunsdon, L/10089 Private Walter Dye, L/10122 Private H E Day, L/11502 Sergeant Charles H Duller, L/11527 Private John Desmond, L/12503 Private William Dixon, L/15428 Private Michael Davis, L/15435 Private Horace Drury.

 
L/7387 Private Charles F Evans, L/12093 Private George Egan, L/12999 Private W Elvin, L/13316 Private Philip H Earl, L/14265 Private W C W Elliott, L/14860 Private W Everitt, L/15823 Private A H G Eaglis.

 
SR/247 Private A R Fretton, SR/1033 Private W T Field, L/10266 Private C Francis, L/10640 Acting Sergeant W F Freeman, L/10655 Private H J Francis, L/15660 Private W Freeman.

 
L/7344 Private Thomas P Glover, L/9901 Private G Glanfield, L/10053 Private J Green, L/11394 Private E Grubb, L/11414 Private L Gose, L/13125 Private Reuben T Green, L/13814 Private Sidney F Godley, L/14364 Private George Gore, L/15113 Private Cornelius Guince, L/15153 Private J W Gorst, L/16429 Private A Gardner, L/10208 Private T Gain.

 
SR/551 Private Samuel Haggar, SR/732 Private T Hollis, L/8244 Sergeant F E Haylock, L/9595 Private T J How, L/9647 Private H Hart, L/10262 Private W H Hopgood, L/10326 Private Robert R Hatchett, L/10495 Private Harry A Hutchings, L/10874 Private Alfred Holt, L/11172 Private William H Hatcher, L/11426 Private John Howard, L/12094 Private Elton Hampshier, L/13698 Lance-Sergeant Leslie B Hall, L/14024 Private Patrick Hussey, L/14631 Corporal W Howe, L/14645 Private H H Hewitt, L/14925 Private Edward Honeyman, L/15146 Corporal Robert S L Hughes, L/15359 Private Victor Higgins, L/15577 Private Thomas Hayes, L/15705 Private W C Hutt, L/15913 Private Leonard C Hale.

 
L/8676 Lance-Corporal Samuel Ing

SR/1537 Private H Johnson, L/6370 Private D R Jenkins,  L/10056 Private Harold Johnson, L/11105 Private T H Jones, L/12824 Private Frederick Jones, L/14928 Private Frederick Johnson, L/15667 Private H Johnson, L/15748 Private John H Jenkinson.

SR/1118 Private H Kelly, L/9927 Private H E Knight, L/11404 Private H Knowles, L/12997 Private C Keen.

SR/1125 Private J Lee, L/7238 Lance-Corporal J Langhorn, L/8125 Private F Locke, L/9738 Private R Lucas, L/9750 Private W H Lowe, L/11388 Private Charles A Lindley, L/11704 Private W London, L/11849 Private G H Lambert, L/15380 Private W Lawrence, L/16202 Private W Lomas  

L/8485 Private Ernest Locke (pictured above as a PoW at Altdamm, with thanks to Maureen Locke for this photograph of her grandfather)

SR/722 Private J Moles, SR/7281 Private Benjamin J Manser, SR/1120 Private W E Miller, L/10135 Private R Meads, L/11327 Private C A Mills, L/11398 Private L C J Monkhouse, L/11728 Sergeant E J McQuinn, L/11831 Lance-Corporal H McClelland, L/12933 Private F W Moore, L/13786 Private G Miller, L/13888 Private F May, L/14027 Private Albert H Matthews, L/15364 Private A Marshall. 

L/10594 Private E Norton, L/11092 Private C Neal, L/12362 Private W R Neal, L/12622 Private W Napham. 

L/9727 Private F Oliphant

L/7436 Private L Parker, L/5826 Private A R Phillips, L/7269 Private A Payne, L/7528 Private W T Preece, L/7754 Private Pillinger, L/8556 Private George Powell, L/8709 Private Joseph Parsons, L/9152 Private George A Parrott, L/10032 Private Arnold G Pocock, L/10730 Private W A Parkinson, L/11108 Private John J Preston, L/11187 Private John Pamphlett, L/11193 Drummer John G Piner, L/11253 Private Charles E Prince, L/11595 Corporal George D Phillips, L/11943 Private Alfred Parker, L/12574 Private Thomas Paice, L/14081 Private S Pusey, L/14952 Corporal H Parmenter, L/16095 Private F A Princep, L/14970 Private E Phipps. 

SR/903 Private E Rogers, SR/1040 Private L Rogers, SR/1634 Private E Rose, SR/955 Corporal H Robinson, L/10316 Private George Ralph, L/10926 Private William D Robertson, L/11652 Sergeant W H Rayment, L/15150 Private Arthur J Roberts,  L/15181 Lance-Corporal George C Rowles, L/12306 Private Harry Richardson. 

L/6215 Drummer Andrew Sibley, L/7167 Private F C Scarbrook, L/9235 Private T Saunders, L/9441 Private Joseph F Smith, L/9694 Private Thomas F Scott, L/9724 Private Joseph E Stratton, L/9987 Private John Sullivan, L/10155 Private David Stevens, L/10589 Sergeant Benjamin Smith, L/10991 Private Edward J Stone, L/11288 Private George W Shorter, L/11318 Private George W Slade, L/11670 Lance-Corporal L Simpson, L/11740 Private John W Stevens, L/11905 Private [Unclear], L/12118 Private Harry Smith, L/12400 Lance-Corporal Victor G Sherlock, L/12662 Sergeant Herbert Sparling, L/12504 Private Robert B Sutherby, L/13487 Lance-Corporal Simpson, L/14049 Private G Sainty, L/14469 Private Charles Shaboe, L/15811 Private Edward W Searle, L/15820 Private Sidney G Stratford, L/6805 Sergeant H [Unclear]

L/10809 Private F J Taylor, L/7455 Private William J Turner, L/7502 Private H Turner, L/8661 Private F Thomas, L/9222 Private W Thomas, L/10413 Private William S Tennant, L/10818 Private W E Thorley, L/11117 Private Alfred H Todd, L/11235 Sergeant George Thompson, L/11921 Private George E Turner, L/12233 Private William T Tyler, L/12442 Private Thomas Edward Turvey, 

L/10737 Private Sidney Utting 

L/15684 Private Thomas Williamson, SR/1040 Private Richard Williams, L/1544 Private T Wiltshire, L/8069 Private Charles James West, MR/8108 Private C J Webb, L/8744 Private Timothy Walsh, L/9470 Sergeant Fara A Wood, L/9980 Private Ernest W Warren, L/10194 Private Charles Webb, L/10198 Private William E Ward, L/10516 Private H White, L/11070 Sergeant William Wallace, L/11071 Private Walter Wright, L/11451 Private Henry Watts, L/11500 Private George White, L/12274 Private Thomas Webb, L/13592 Private Woodley, L/15141 Private A Whitthread, L/15700 Private Edward Ward, L/15901 Private Ernest E Wells. 

Photo of Private Godley courtesy Wikipedia which references the photo as being part of an Imperial War Museums collection, reference Q80449.

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