The following emails have been received from Mike Constable, who grew up in Sulgrave:

Email No. 1

Dear Sir.  I see from visiting your web pages during November that you are interested in hearing  more information about the War Dead from Sulgrave Village.

Frederick George Wade was my Great Uncle.  The youngest but one of seven children to Robert and Rebecca Wade, and his eldest sister Cicely was my Grandmother.  Robert Wade came from Thorpe Mandeville,  Rebecca came from Helmdon and the family had several homes around the village.  Helmdon Road in 1881, Little Street in 1891 and Great Street in 1901.  I believe there were still family members in the thatched cottage (demolished) next to the Wesleyan Chapel in Great Street during my infancy in the village, but I have little or no memories of them.  The  name Carrie comes to mind, but the Census does not help in identifying her.

Frederick enlisted into the 1st Battalion Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry in May 1915, in Oxford.  He fell at the Battle of Sannaiyat on April 6th 1916 and died the following day of his wounds.  Over 250 soldiers from the Regiment died in those 2 days.  FGW was approx 36 when he died.  His grave is unmarked, probably because the Turks or Arabs subsequently destroyed the markers, and it is a sobering thought that the modern British Army is still engaged in fighting over the same ground today.

As your report says, his name is recorded on the Basra Memorial, although that too has been moved from its original site.

Keep up the good work

Michael Constable,
Long Buckby.

Email No. 2

Further to my earlier letter re the above, I can now tell you a little more about Lance Sergeant Albert Franklin, but not as to why his name appears on the Sulgrave War Memorial.

Albert Franklin, as you know was the son of William Henry Franklin, (a Blacksmith) and his wife Mary Anne.  He was born in about 1889 in Windsor in Berkshire.  By 1901 he was living with Frederick Barton and his wife Harriet, (nee Franklin) at a different address in Windsor.  Although there were several Franklins living in Sulgrave at that time there does not seem to be an obvious family connection as most of them seem to have been born in Sulgrave or Bickenhill in Warwickshire.  Heavy losses in Mesopotamia earlier in the campaign could explain his presence in the Oxfordshire and Bucks. Light Infantry as the town in which you enlist may have little relevance to your Regiment.

Private Arthur William Berry illustrates this point well.  Although born in Sulgrave, he enlisted in Banbury, was living in Warwickshire at the time, and found himself in the 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment.  (In a later conflict my Father, also a Sulgrave resident was sent to the Hampshires)  Arthur was the son of Arthur Berry and Lucy, nee Lilleyman, born in 1899.  The family lived with Lucy's parents, William and Sara Lilleyman next to the Six Bells in Dark Lane in 1901.  William is described as a Retired Yeoman.  Arthur (Jnr) was killed in action on the 22 April 1918 and is named on the Loos Memorial in the Pas de Calais area although as yet I do not know which particular battle was concerned as the memorial covers a much greater time span right from 1915.

Mike Constable.

This information will be added to the SULGRAVE WAR DEAD HOME PAGE.

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