Selected Biographies

Allies, Clarence – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 3.6.1892.[1]  Parents: Henry Frederick Allies (Farm Bailiff, later Innkeeper) and Anna Flower Brunning [née Grice].  Family Connections: Brother to Sidney Harry Allies [b1882], Henry Robert Allies [b1893] and Lawrence Allies [b1897]; also, brother-in-law of Jack Bridges [b1890] and Edgar Wallace Baylie [b1898].  Home: Parsonage Farm, Long Melford (1901), Crewe Farm, Kenilworth, Warwickshire (1911), Three Cocks Inn, Carlton Road, Tetbury, Gloucestershire [1916], Kingsmead Street, Bath, Somerset (1921 to 1939), 9 Grosvenor Park, Lambridge, Bath [1983].  Occupation: Gardener in a Farm Nursery (1911), Engineer for a Motor Body Builders (1921), Engineer and Driving Instructor (1939).  Married: Ethel Selby in 1916.[2]  Service Record: Attested as Pte.M2/077153 with the Mechanical Transport section of the Army Service Corps, posted to France from 27.4.1915 and discharged in May 1919.[3]  Died: Bath, Somerset on 22.6.1983.[4]

Allies, Henry Robert – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 12.8.1893.[5]  Parents: Henry Frederick Allies (Farm Bailiff, later Innkeeper) and Anna Flower Brunning [née Grice].  Family Connections: Brother to Sidney Harry Allies [b1882], Clarence Allies [b1892] and Lawrence Allies [b1897]; also, brother-in-law of Jack Bridges [b1890] and Edgar Wallace Baylie [b1898].  Home: Parsonage Farm, Long Melford (1901), Three Cocks Inn, Carlton Road, Tetbury, Gloucestershire (1911), Colly Cottage, Tetbury [1920], Long Street, Wooten-under-Edge, Gloucestershire (1939) to [1947].  Occupation: Groom (1911), Soldier [1911 to 1919], Painter and Decorator for Richard Holborow & Sons (1921), Painter and Decorator (1939).   Married: Lily Box in 1921.  Service Record: Attested in January 1911 as Private, later Cpl.8365 with 1^st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, being posted to France from 16.1.1915 as part of 84^th Brigade, 28^th Division.  During 1915 the Battalion saw action at the Second Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Loos, being shipped to Salonika at the end of October.  The Service Record of Henry Allies does not appear to have survived, it is therefore not possible to confirm if he served in this new theatre, or at what date he was transferred to 2^nd Battalion, Suffolks.  This latter battalion had been in action on the Western Front since the very beginning of the War and by January 1915 had lost most of its original number, hundreds being taken prisoner during the first few days of fighting.  Under the command of 3^rd Division’s 76^th Brigade it had also seen action at Loos in September 1915 and remained in France and Flanders through to the Armistice, contributing to most of the significant battles fought by British and Empire troops: the Somme in 1916, Arras and Third Ypres in 1917 and the Lys and the Hindenburg Line in 1918.[6]  Henry may have been involved in all or just some of these actions.  He was issued with a Silver War Badge and discharged in August 1919 due to wounds.[7]  Died: Stroud, Gloucestershire on 11.4.1947.[8]

Allies, Lawrence – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 19.4.1897.[9]  Parents: Henry Frederick Allies (Farm Bailiff, later Innkeeper) and Anna Flower Brunning [née Grice].  Family Connections: Brother to Sidney Harry Allies [b1882], Clarence Allies [b1892] and Henry Robert Allies [b1893]; also, brother-in-law of Jack Bridges [b1890] and Edgar Wallace Baylie [b1898].  Home: Parsonage Farm, Long Melford (1901), Three Cocks Inn, Carlton Road, Tetbury, Gloucestershire (1911), Hillsome Cottages, Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire (1921), 32 Fairfield Road, Brentwood, Essex (1939).  Occupation: Draper’s Apprentice (1911), Painter and Decorator (1921), Confectioner and Tobacconist and an Air Raid Warden (1939).  Married: Eleanor Katherine May Burns in 1924.  Service Record: Attested as Pte.2979 with 1/1^st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, posted to Gallipoli on 18.8.1915 as part of 2^nd Mounted Division.  Lawrence’s unit was in action soon after landing at the assault of Chocolate Hill on 21.8.1915.  It operated in a dismounted role throughout the Campaign.[10]  He was promoted to Signaller Cpl.235614 and probably went on to see action in Egypt and Palestine.[11]  Died: Braintree, Essex in 1969.

Allies, Sidney Harry – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 30.4.1882.[12]  Parents: Henry Frederick Allies (Farm Bailiff, later Innkeeper) and Anna Flower Brunning [née Grice].  Family Connections: Brother to Clarence Allies [b1892], Henry Robert Allies [b1893] and Lawrence Allies [b1887]; also, brother-in-law of Jack Bridges [b1890] and Edgar Wallace Baylie [b1898].  Home: St Marys Street, Long Melford (1891), Parsonage Farm, Long Melford (1901), Combers Mead, Tetbury, Gloucestershire (1911 to 1921), 9 Charlton Road, Tetbury (1939), 26 London Road, Tetbury [1948].  Occupation: Groom (1911), Painter and Decorator (1921), Auxiliary Postman, House Decorator, and member of an Air Raid Precaution Demolition Squad (1939).  Married: Ellen Dyer [d1926] in 1910 and Florence Cleaver in 1945.  Service Record: Sidney is recorded as C/Sgt.242559 serving with 1/5^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  It is not known when he volunteered but was probably with the Battalion when it landed at Suvla Bay in Gallipoli on 10.8.1915.  If this assumption is correct, then he would have seen action during the assaults of Karakol Dagh and Hill 60 before being evacuated to Egypt with the rest of his unit at the end of the year.  Much of 1916 was taken up guarding the Suez Canal before the Battalion, as part of 54^th [East Anglian] Division took part in the Palestine Campaign of 1917/18, seeing action at the three Battles of Gaza, the Battle of Sharon, and the advance on Beirut.[13]  Died: Tetbury, Gloucestershire on 10.11.1948.[14]

Related Biographies

Baylie, Edgar Wallace – Born: Newington, London on 7.9.1898.[15] Parents: Walter Henry Baylie (Police Constable) and Elizabeth Emma [née Wisbry].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Sidney Harry Allies [b1882], Clarence Allies [b1892], Harry Robert Allies [b1893] and Lawrence Allies [b1897], all of Long Melford.  Home: 20 Arcadia Buildings, Great Dover Street, Newington, London (1901), 16 Charlton Square, Peckham, London (1911) to [1918], 4 Church Street, Littlehampton, Sussex (1921), 11 New Terrace, Spillmans Road, Stroud, Gloucestershire (1939), 68 Radway Road, Southampton, Hampshire [1956].  Occupation: Clerk (1921), Assistant District Manager for the Britannic Assurance Company (1939).  Married: Constance Lilian Allies of Long Melford in 1927. Service Record: Edgar was conscripted on 31.8.1916 as Rfn.654596 with 1/21^st [County of London] Battalion [First Surrey Rifles], London Regiment and posted to France on 13.12.1917, transferring ten days later as Rfn.605017 with ‘C’ Company, 1/18^th [London Irish Rifles] as part of 141^st [5^th London] Brigade, 47^th (2^nd London) Division.  Baylie was wounded in his left arm and captured at Neuville on 23.3.1918, during the German Spring Offensive, and held at the Prisoner of War camp at Limburg in Germany.[16]  He was issued with a Silver War Badge in June 1919 and discharged due to the effect of his wounds.[17]  Died: Southampton, Hampshire on 5.9.1956.[18]

Bridges, Jack – Born: Tonbridge, Kent on 19.10.1880.[19] Parents: Benjamin Bridges (Agricultural Labourer) and Lucy [née Charlett].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Sidney Harry Allies [b1882], Clarence Allies [b1892], Harry Robert Allies [b1893] and Lawrence Allies [b1897], all of Long Melford.  Home: 109 Vale Road, Tonbridge, Kent (1901), Wellington Barracks, Westminster (1911), Police Station, High Street, Kingswood, Gloucestershire (1939).  Occupation: Soldier [1904 to 1918], Police Inspector (1939).  Married: Ellen Mary Allies of Long Melford in 1918.  Service Record: Jack enlisted in 1907 with the Grenadier Guards. He was posted to France on 6.10.1914 as L/Sgt.13136 with 1^st Battalion as part of 20^th Brigade, 7^th Division.  On 21^st October his unit went into action around Langmarck-Poelkappelle, north of Ypres in Flanders. After two days of heavy hand to hand fighting and the first widescale use of chlorine gas by the Germans on the Western Front. The enemy took the village, one soldiers recording the mayhem thus: “We pull forward, get our first glimpse of this battlefield, and have to get used to the terrible scenes and impressions: corpses, corpses and more corpses, rubble, and the remains of villages.”  This was the opening phase of the First Battle of Ypres.[20]  On 25^th Bridges was posted as missing by his battalion; he was held at the Prisoner of War camp at Limburg in Germany.[21]  He was repatriated to England following the Armistice and received his discharge in March 1919.[22]  Died: Somerset on 13.10.1966.[23]

Notes – [1] Date of birth from Baptism Register 7.8.1892, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  The 1939 Register for Bath gives an incorrect birth year of 1893. [2] Marriage Register 3.5.1916, St Marys Church, Tetbury, Gloucestershire also records Clarence as a ‘Soldier on active service’. [3] Medal Roll [WO 329] and Medal Index Card [WO 372]. [4] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar. [5] Date of birth from Baptism Register 5.11.1893, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [6] For details of 1^st and 2^nd Suffolk’s movements see War Diaries [The National Archives – WO 95/2277/3] and [TNA – WO 95/1437/1]. [7] Silver War Badge record [ref: 458187], Medal Roll [WO 329], and Medal Index Card [WO 372]. [8] Date of death from the NPC. [9] Date of birth from Baptism Register 24.5.1897, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [10] For details of 1/1^st Gloucester Hussars/Yeomanry’s involvement see War Diary [TNA – WO 95/4293]. [11] Medal Roll [WO 329] and Medal Index Card [WO 372]. [12] Date of birth from Baptism Register 4.6.1882, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [13] Evidence for Sidney Allies serving with 1/5^th Suffolks rather than 2/5^th or 3/5^th is based on a group photograph taken in Cairo at the end of hostilities, which appears in the official history of the former battalion by Capt. A. Fair and Capt. E. D. Wolton “The Suffolk Regiment”: the history of the 1/5^th Battalion [London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1923], p.113.  See also his MR and MIC. [14] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar. [15] Date of birth from his POW record. [16] For his POW Record see International Committee of the Red Cross [ref: PA24827]. [17] [WO 329] Silver War Badge [ref: 454137], Medal Roll [WO 329], and Medal Index Card [WO 372]. [18] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar. [19] 1939 register. [20] For details of this battle see the 20^th Infantry Brigade War Diary [WO 95/1657]. [21] For his POW Record see International Committee of the Red Cross [ref: PA18901 and R52574]. [22] Soldiers’ Documents and Pension Claims, First World War [WO 364] and Medal Index Card [WO 372]. [23] National Probate Calendar.