THOSE REMEMBERED ON THE FALFIELD WAR MEMORIAL WHO DIED DURING THE 1914-18 WAR

THOSE REMEMBERED ON THE FALFIELD WAR MEMORIAL WHO DIED DURING THE 1914-18 WAR

JOHN 'JACK' STRANGE

JOHN 'JACK' STRANGE

WW1-centenary

Date Born

Circa 1887

Birth place:

Castle Eaton, Wiltshire

Date of Death:

28th March 1917

Fate:

Died of Wounds

Duty Location:

Egypt

Buried:

Deir El Balah War Cemetery, Israel. Grave Ref: A.7.

Regiment:

1st/5th Battalion Welsh Regiment

Rank:

Private

Service No:

240856

Military Information:

1/4th & 1/5th Battalion Territorial Force
04.08.1914 The 1/4th stationed at Carmarthen and the 1/5th stationed at Pontypridd both as part of the South Wales Brigade and then moved to Tunbridge Wells.
Feb 1915 Moved to Scotland as part of the Forth & Tay Defences.
17.04.1915 Moved to Bedford and transferred to the 159th Brigade of the 53rd Division.
19.07.1915 Embarked for Gallipoli from Devonport, Plymouth via Mudros.
09.08.1915 Landed at Suvla Bay and engaged in various actions against the Turkish Army.
08.10.1915 Amalgamated with the 1/5th Battalion to form the 4th Welsh Composite battalion
11.12.1915 Evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt due to severe casualties from combat, disease and harsh weather. The Division was reduced to just 162 officers and 2428 men (15% of full strength).

Medals Awarded

1914/15 Star

The 1914/15 star campaign medal of the British Empire for his service in World War One.

This Star is identical to the 1914 Star in every respect except that the centre scroll bears the dates “1914- 15” and the two small scrolls bearing “Aug” and “Nov” are omitted.

Victory Medal

Eligibility for the Victory Medal consisted of having been mobilised, fighting, having served in any of the theatres of operations, or at sea, between midnight 4th/5th August, 1914, and midnight, 11th/12th November, 1918. Women who served in any of the various military organisations in a theatre of operations were also eligible.

British War Medal

The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in the 1st World War. Two versions of the medal were produced. About 6.5 million were struck in silver and 110,000 in bronze, the latter awarded to, among others, the Chinese, Maltese and Indian Labour Corps

The 1914/15 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal were sometimes irreverently referred to as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred. With Pip representing either the 1914/15 Star or the 1914 Star, only one of which could be awarded to a soldier, Squeak represented the British War Medal and Wilfred represented the Victory Medal.

MEMORIAL PLAQUE

The Next of Kin Memorial Plaque is a bronze plaque approximately 11 cms or 4½ inches diameter with the name of someone who died serving with the British and Empire forces in the First World War. This was issued to the Next of Kin of the casualty along with a scroll. They were posted out separately, typically in 1919 and 1920, and a ‘King’s message’ was enclosed with both, containing a facsimile signature of the King.
The immediate next of kin of all who died serving with the British and Empire forces in the First World War were eligible to receive the plaque and scroll. With nearly a million dead for the British Army alone, the plaques are today still commonly found; the fragile scrolls survive less often. Some of those recorded by plaques and scrolls were not eligible for service medals, for instance, those who did not serve overseas but who died in service through accident or illness.

This is the Memorial Plaque for Charles William Cole. We are grateful to his family to allow this to be shown here

Parents:

John and Lucy Strange, of  Keepers Cottage, Falfield, Glos,  His fathers profession was a Gamekeeper so it was assumed that as the only estate in the village was the Jenkinson family at Eastwood Park that the family were living on the Eastwood Estate.

Lucy died in 1915 and is buried in St George’s churchyard, Falfield. Although there is an entry in the Burial register for a John Strange in 1941 his age is give as 83 years it cannot be established that this is the same John Strange. At 83 years this would make his birth date 1837. In the 1891, 1901 and 1911 census his birth date is reported as 1856 or 1857.

The 1901 census records that John had two younger brothers Albert aged 5 and William aged 3. There is an Albert Edward Strange buried in St George’s Churchyard (1895-1961) which is almost certainly Johns brother.

Other Information:

John was married to P. E. (Nellie) Strange, of Military Hospital, Crowborough Camp, Crowborough, Sussex. Although various searches have been made no information can be found for John after the 1901 census. War records show that at the time of his death he home was Merthyr Tydfil..

Credits: St George’s Church Baptism and Burial Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Ancestry website, forces-war-records.co.uk , scribes-alcove

If anyone believes that any of the information above is incorrect or has information to add to John Strange then please email [email protected]

The production and updating of information on this page is compiled on a voluntary basis. If you should find any errors or omissions please contact us by using the contact page

This page was last updated on: Jan 28, 2022 @ 7:59 PM

The production and updating of information on this page is compiled on a voluntary basis. If you should find any errors or omissions please contact us by using the contact page
This page was last updated on: Jan 28, 2022 @ 7:59 PM