Flamstead War Memorial - Local Families Listed

[Gooders]

With the encouragement of the Parish Council and Local History Society I, along with a few others, have begun to collect information on those men from Flamstead (just over the Hertfordshire border), and a few surrounding villages, who gave their lives in the two World Wars. Our aim is to produce a small written record of their sacrifice so that they do not become just a list of names on a War Memorial. We are interested in both their Military Service and their Home Lives before the Wars.

I have already put this message on the Hertfordshire Board but, realising that a number of these men came from the Pepperstock / Slip End / Markyate / Kensworth areas I thought it might be worthwhile posting it on the Bedfordshire Board as well.

The names of thirty two of these individuals, who died in the First World War, are carved into the base of the Village War Memorial, along with the names of six men who died in World War Two.

In addition, our research has shown another thirteen casualties who had links with the Village but are not named on it's War Memorial.

I would be happy to share any of the information we have found to date on any of these individuals with anyone researching these families. Of course, if anyone does have links with any of those named and would be able to let us know anything further on their pre War lives, or Military Service, then I would be delighted to hear from them.

The Casualties Named are :

1914 -18

Frederick ANDREWS
Percy ANDREWS
Frederick George ARMSTRONG
Ernest BALDWIN
Lawrence Alfred Howard BARROW
Frederick BATCHELOR
Horace BATCHELOR
Spencer CAIN
Frederick William CLARK
Percy CLARK
Leonard COOK
Leonard COOTE
Stanley COOTE
William COOT
Frederick David CURL
Horace DAY
Percy DRAPER
Joshua DYER
John FEATUM (or FEETHAM)
James FENSOM
Alfred FLITTON
Arthur FLITTON
George FLITTON
George William FLITTON
William FLITTON
Frederick GINGER
William GINGER
Horace GODFREY
Percy GODFREY
Edgar HARRIS
Horace HARRIS
Percy IMPEY
Laurence Frederick JACKSON
George KITCHENER
Arthur LEE
Elijah PEACOCK
Charles PEDDAR
Harry PEDDAR
Dennis RILEY
Walter ROBINSON
Jack SILVESTER
William SMITH
William SOUSTER
Ernest William STEVENS
Jack WHITE

1939 - 45

Albert George BANDY
Douglas Arthur BATCHELOR
Frederick Charles HARVEY
Leslie John HORWOOD
Gleister Leslie MORTON
Allan Lane TUCKEY

[Half Pint]

Hi

Welcome to this board.

We should never forget the sacrifices made by these men and their families so I wish you and your team all the very best.

I have been researching my husbands family in Flamstead as his gr grandparents Arthur and Eliza Chapman nee Seymour ran the Three Blackbirds PH there at the end of the 19th C but at the moment cannot find any links to your names as yet!!!!!!!

Again, I wish you all the very best.

Regards

Half Pint

[Gooders]

Hi Half Pint,

Many thanks for that.

I'm pleased to say that we have been able to establish quite a lot in the past year and a half, since we began this project - but we are always pleased to learn more and look for ways to widen the search.

One of our aims has been to record the human cost of the conflict within the village itself - looking at, amongst other things, the families who lost two or three sons. Those that were wounded and came back home only to die later. Those who are even buried in the Village Graveyard with no headstone to mark their final resting places.

You might struggle to believe it but we even have one name on the War Memorial (Leslie John HORWOOD), who died in WW2, who we can find no definite record of. Even the recollections of the older village inhabitants seem to differ greatly on what happened to him.

So there is still much to do .....

[Daisypetal]

Hi,

Some thoughts about Leslie John HORWOOD,

Marriage
Albert Edward HORWOOD    Mar Q 1907    Luton    3b  593
Edith Jane JEFFS with same details.


Birth
Leslie J HORWOOD    Jun Q 1921    Newport Pagnell    3a  1908
Mother's Maiden Surname: JEFFS


Leslie John HORWOOD
Birth Date: 27 Mar 1921
Christening Date: 10 Jul 1921
Christening Place: Woughton On The Green, Buckinghamshire
Age at Christening: 0
Father's Name: Albert Edward HORWOOD
Mother's Name: Edith Jane

Woughton on the Green is about 19 miles from Flamstead, could the family have moved there later?


Death
Leslie J HORWOOD    age: 23    Jun Q 1944    Ware    3a  1039


I can't find another Leslie J HORWOOD birth that would fit this death, maybe he came home and then died., or maybe he had a reserved occupation and was a member of the Home Guard


Regards
Daisy

[StevenG]

Searching FreeBMD for HORWOOD with mother's maiden name JEFFS gives six between 1913 and 1930.  The first four registered in Newport Pagnell, the last two at Hemel Hempstead (which include Flamstead).

[Gooders]

Hi Daisypetal and StevenG,

Very many thanks for the information you have each kindly sent.

Upto my registering our enquiry on the website two days ago, we had only noted the following :

~~~~~~~~-------------

Leslie John Horwood

Commonwealth War Graves Website : No apparent matches

Soldiers Died In WW2 CD-ROM : No apparent matches

Register Of Births, Deaths and Marriages – Watford District
Q4 1914 - Births
Horwood Leslie J   Mothers Maiden Name : Picton

OR

Register Of Births, Deaths and Marriages – Newport Pagnall District
Q2 1921 - Births
Horwood Leslie J   Mothers Maiden Name : Jeffs

OR

Register Of Births, Deaths and Marriages – Watford District
Q3 1922 - Births
Horwood Leslie   Mothers Maiden Name : Jeffrey


England & Wales Christening Records (1530 – 1906)

Leslie John Horwood      Christened 10 July 1921 at Woughton on the Green, Bucks
            Born 27 March 1921
            Fathers Name Albert Edward Horwood
            Mothers Name Edith Jane

Parish Records for the Flamstead village cemetery show no HORWOOD’s in there.

Notes : According to one of the older village residents still living (born 1922) Les was a Private in the 7th or 8th Battalions of the Hertfordshire Regiment. He would have been born about 1921 or 1922 and he went to Cheveralls Green School. He was born in Flamstead. He has a Sister buried in God’s Acre. He was captured by the Japanese at Singapore and died as a Prisoner Of War when he was smashed by a Rogue Elephant.

Notes : A separate Web Search has revealed that Singapore surrendered to Japanese forces on 15th February 1942 and that the 5th Bn Beds & Herts Regiment were there then.

St Leonards Parish Records (Flamstead)

Dennis Albert Horwood was born 8 November 1927 and baptised 9 April 1929, son of Albert Edward and Edith Jane Horwood of The Kennels, Beechwood, Flamstead where Albert Edward was the Game Keeper.

Kenneth Reginald Herbert Horwood was born 28 November 1930 and baptised 21 June 1931, son of Albert Edward and Edith Jane Horwood of The Kennels, Beechwood, Flamstead where Albert Edward was the Game Keeper.

England & Wales Birth Index 1916 – 2005

Joan E M Horwood
Mother’s Maiden Name : Jeffs
Registered : Q3 1924
Registration District : Newport Pagnall

Also

Harry F J Horwood
Mother’s Maiden Name : Jeffs
Registered : Q1 1918
Registration District : Newport Pagnall

Also

Denis A Horwood
Mother’s Maiden Name : Jeffs
Registered : Q4 1927
Registration District : Hemel Hempstead

~~~~~~~~-


As you will see - it looks as though we all three believe that this family came from the Newport Pagnell area before moving to Flamstead and that Leslie John HORWOOD was christened in Woughton on the Green on 10th July 1921.

This is pretty much confirmed by the St Leonard's (Flamstead) Parish Registers showing the names of the parents of Dennis Albert HORWOOD and Kenneth Reginald Herbert HORWOOD. So long as we assume this is the only HORWOOD family in the area.

Therefore, based upon the years of birth it would suggest that Albert Edward and Edith Jane HORWOOD brought their family from Newport Pagnell to Flamstead between 1924 and 1927.

The real difficulty with all of this is that there is no record with the Commonwealth War Graves Commision or on the Soldiers Died In WW2 CD-ROM (at the local studies library) to record the death of Leslie John HORWOOD - despite his name being clearly carved on the village War Memorial. I even tried the Archivist at the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regimental Museum who could find no record of a Leslie John HORWOOD serving with any Battalions of the Regiment

I'm beginning to think that the sixty year old reminisences of one of the villagers I spoke to (a D Day veteran who has lived in the village since his birth in 1922) may be wrong and that it was another man who was killed while a POW in the Far East.

But ...... what did Mr HORWOOD do to warrant putting his name on the memorial but not be on the CWGC website.

I think that the next thing to do is to try and get a hold of the Death Certificate that Daisy mentioned to see what that says.

"Death
Leslie J HORWOOD    age: 23    Jun Q 1944    Ware    3a  1039"

There is an outside chance that this could be the Leslie HORWOOD whose Mother's Maiden Name was Jeffrey and whose birth was registered Q3 1922 in Watford District - but the year and the lack of the middle initial J suggest it isn't.

I shall be very interested to see how Mr Leslie J HORWOOD died in Ware in 1944 and am excited to receive this information that I didn't previously have. I also note, and it is just an observation, that June 1944 was the invasion of Normandy (although that may be completely irrelevant).

Again, many thanks for your kind help and information.

[Daisypetal]

Hi,

Please let us know how you get on

Daisy

[Half Pint]

"Gods Acre"

What a wonderful name for a cemetery

[Gooders]

Hi Daisy,

Just a quick question for you - if I may.

I would be really interested to hear where you found out about the Death Registration in Ware in 1944.

I only ask, because I hadn't found any reference to this in the past year and a half of research and wondered if there was a source you are using that I should consider using in future.