THOMAS WILLIAMSON

Thomas Williamson was the first of the Kettlestone soldiers to die.  He was killed in action in France on 27th September 1915 ,whilst  fighting with the 4th battalion the Grenadier Guards.

Thomas was born in Horningtoft but his early life was spent in Whissonsett with his parents George and Alice and their five other children. His father George was employed as an agricultural labourer.   By 1911 Thomas was living with the rest of his family in Dunton and he too was working on a farm.

At the time he joined up Tom was living in Kettlestone. The exact date of his enlistment is not known, but he travelled to London to sign on. The 4th battalion Grenadier Guards was formed at Marlow and trained as a machine gun company before moving to France on 14 July 1915.  Tom was killed at the battle of Loos. This was the largest British offensive mounted in 1915 on the Western Front. The manoeuvre was part of an attempt to break through the German defences in Artois and Champagne and restore a war of movement. Advancing through Loos village the 4th battalion the Grenadier Guards came under gas shelling and in the confusion split into two, with half heading off with the Scots Guards and the other half forming up as had been intended to assault the German line at the top of a hill. As they approached the top, however, the guardsmen ran into scything machine gun fire. 

At sometime on this day Thomas Williamson was killed we do not know whether he was gassed  or whether he was killed by machine gunfire.

  Tom’s body was not found but he is remembered on the Loos Memorial  Nord-Pas-de-Calais.   Tom’s brother George also enlisted and he is listed on the Roll of Honour in Kettlestone church.

SIDNEY GEORGE GREEN

Sidney George Green was one of the first from Kettlestone  to enlist in the army. 

A note in the Rector’s Diary for the 5th September 1914 states that Sidney Green enlisted in Fakenham following a recruitment drive.   He joined the 9th Norfolk Regiment which was formed at Norwich and then moved to Shoreham to help in the construction of an army camp . Following training in Brighton and Aldershot the regiment mobilised for war and landed at Boulogne on the 30th August 1915. 

On the 25th August 1915 The Rector wrote in his diary 'C. Moore and S. Green leave for the front the Rector bidding them God Speed.’

At the time of enlistment, Sidney was 19 years old. He was baptised on 2nd June 1895 in this church, one of the 13 children of Arthur Alfred Green, an agricultural labourer and his wife Lilian Emily.  Before joining up Sidney worked as a stable lad and carrier for a pork butcher in Brimington near Chesterfield.  It is not known why he had moved to Derbyshire.

Sidney was wounded on March 1st 1916 near Ypres.  The entry in the Norfolk Regiment Casualty book states that Private S. Green no 14320 received a gunshot wound to the chest on March 1st 1916 and died from his wounds at Casualty Clearing Station 17.  He is buried at the military cemetery at Lijssenthoek in Belgium.

On 25th March  1916   the Rector wrote ‘We hear of the death [from wounds]  in Hospital at the front of S. G. Green  son of Mr and Mrs A.A. Green’

SIDNEY’S BROTHER 

Sidney’s brother Austin Green also served in the army and is listed on the Roll of Honour in K.ettlestone church

FRANK WILLIAM MOORE

Frank William Moore  was baptised in Kettlestone church on 6th September 1891, the fifth child of parents Charles and Mary Ann.  Charles is listed on the census as a joiner and blacksmith. By 1901 their 6th child Clarence, who also enlisted,  had been born.  It is probable that Frank attended Little Snoring Primary School along with other village children before becoming a farm labourer.

In his diary the Rector records that Frank’s brother Clarence joined up in September 1914 following a recruitment drive in the village but it was not until December 1915 that  Frank enlisted in the Norfolk Regiment  7th Battalion .

 Following training Frank was posted on the 15th July 1916 and shortly afterwards he was wounded at the Battle of Pozieres Ridge on the Somme. The Norfolk Regiment Casualty Book states that on the 12th August 1916  Private FW Moore was wounded and shell shocked.  30 days later he was listed as missing  but it was not until 25th June the following year that he was declared dead.

Frank is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial

FREDERICK PERCY LACEY

Frederick was born in Helhoughton in 1893 to parents Walter Cornelius and Hannah Maria Lacey.  On the 1891 census  his father Walter is listed as a shop dealer   By 1901 the Lacey family had moved to Sculthorpe.  Walter was the publican at the Horse and Groom [now the Hourglass] and he was also a pig dealer.  The family had grown bigger and there were now 3 sons and 3 daughters though sadly, Frederick’s sister Amelia died in 1903.

The Lacey family moved to Kettlestone some time before the 1911 census, and Walter took up farming.  Frederick, now aged 18  was employed on his father‘s farm.

Frederick enlisted with the 8th battalion of the Norfolk Regiment. The battalion was raised in Norwich in September 1914 as part of Kitchener’s Second New Army.  Possibly this is when Frederick joined up.  The battalion trained at Colchester, then Salisbury Plain before proceeding to France in July 1915.  In 1916 they were in action on the Somme.  The Norfolk Regiment Casualty Book stated that Private FP Lacey 24148 was killed in action on 5th October 1916.  Most likely this was at the Battle of Le Transloy which was the final offensive of this action. 

Frederick is buried at Connaught Cemetery Thiepval

GEORGE COLMAN

George was baptised in Kettlestone church on 1st October 1893.  His father, Thomas Colman was the publican at the White Horse in Kettlestone.  Sarah Ann, his mother, was Thomas’s second wife, and she became step-mother to a large family of eight children.  Four more children followed, one of whom was George. Thomas died in 1898 and Sarah Ann took over the running of the White Horse, remaining as publican for many years.

In 1901 George was living at the White Horse with his mother and 7 of his siblings.  The four older boys were agricultural labourers. Young George [aged 7] was probably attending Little Snoring primary school. By the time of the  1911 census,  he was employed as a groom at the rectory. 

George enlisted with the Norfolk regiment in Norwich on 18th January 1915 and fought with the 9th battalion in France. He  died from injuries probably received at The Battle of Flers–Courcelette on the Somme , which was launched on 15 September 1916 

The Norfolk Regiment casualty book reads ‘18246 Private  George Colman died of wounds at  casualty clearing station 5 on 16 September 1916'

On  the 29th September 1916 the Rector  wrote in his diary 

‘Private George Colman a member of the choir of this church and a regular communicant died of wounds received in action in Picardy.  Deeply lamented by all.  May he rest in peace’

George is buried at Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension 

WALTER BLUNKETT

Walter was born in Egham Surrey,  but by 1901 he  and his mother Helen were living in The Street Kettlestone with Walter’s maternal grandfather James Tennant.    Arthur Blunkett , Walter’s father had moved away from Egham to work in Lincolnshire as a farm labourer, and was wanted by the police for  deserting his family.  His two older sons, Albert and William had been placed in District Windsor Union Infirmary and Lunatic Asylum which offered education to paupers’ children.  

When the 1901 census was taken Walter was 6 years old and along with other village children he probably attended Little Snoring primary school.

By 1911 and by now 16 years old Walter was employed as a page boy.  It is not known where this was but as he was living in the village with his mother, it must have been locally. Subsequently he obtained a position as footman to the Earl of Camperdown.

Walter enlisted in the Queen Victoria’s Rifles on March 12th 1915, but it was not until the following year that the 9th battalion was sent to fight in France. Walter was killed in action on August 13th 1917 aged 22, just prior to the battle of Langemarck in France.  Evidence of heavy shelling that day comes from a book entitled “Queen Victoria's Rifles 1792 - 1922" by C.A.C. Keeson.

 "On August 13th heavy shelling took place all day, 2nd Lieutenant Bate being killed at 9.30 am. An hour later an endeavour was made to establish a line of posts in Glencorse Wood, in the course of which Captain Symes, M.C., was killed and 2nd Lieutenant Caley mortally wounded. ‘

The Rector made the following entry in his diary

 25th August 1917

Mrs Blunkett [next rectory] reports death of her youngest son, Walter Blunkett [officers’ servant] at the front [France]

Walter is buried at Hooge Crater Cemetery Ypres 

His brothers, Albert Edward and William James both served in WW1 and are listed on the Kettlestone Roll of Honour.  Albert served in the Royal Field Artillery but no service record has been found for William.  Both men survived to old age.

ARTHUR FREDERICK HARRISON

Arthur Frederick Harrison  enlisted in 1916, in Canada.  He was living in Kitscoty Alberta, and signed up in Edmonton on March 21st.   It is not clear why he was abroad but perhaps had gone to Canada to visit relatives.   Earlier in the 19th century a group of Kettlestone villagers had emigrated there and amongst them was a family with the surname Harrison.

Arthur Frederick was born to parents Frederick and Charlotte in October 1890 and he was baptised at 6 weeks on the 11th November in Kettlestone church. His father was working as a horseman on a farm.  Charlotte was the daughter of Thomas Colman and half–sister of George Colman.  Sadly she died in 1899 and Frederick remarried Kate Brown who had been working as his housekeeper after Charlotte’s death. On the 1911 census Arthur was living with his father and step mother in the village and working as a labourer on a farm.

 Arthur fought with the 50th battalion Canadian Infantry.  He was killed in action on 2nd September 1918 aged 27 at the breaking of the Drocourt –Queant Line, where British and Canadian troops charged through German defences.   A report of his death states that he was instantly killed by shrapnel  whilst taking part in an attack in front of Dury.  Arthur is buried near the site of the battle at Dury Crucifix Cemetery