Selected Biographies

Bryant, Arthur James – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk in 1891.  Parents: Frederick Henry Bryant (Brick Maker) and Ellen [née Smith].  Family Connections: Brother to Joseph William Bryant [b1889], Jonathan Bryant [b1893], William Frederick Bryant [b1895], Charles Philemon Bryant [b1899] and Martyr Stephen Bryant [b1901]; also, brother-in-law of Francis Walter David Taylor [b1888].  Home: Rodbridge Street, Long Melford (1891), Chapel Lane, Little Cornard, Suffolk (1901), Alexander Road, Sible Hedingham, Essex (1911).  Occupation: Labourer (1911).  Service Record: Based on his service number, Arthur may have enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment as early as 1912.  By 15.8.1914 he had been posted to France as Sgt.8486 with 2^nd Battalion, Suffolks as part of 14^th Brigade, 5^th Division.  His unit met the full force of the Imperial German Army at the hill-top town of Mons in Belgium and was chosen only days later to act as a rear-guard near the village of Le Cateau.  The determination of 2^nd Suffolks slowed the enemy’s advance, allowing the bulk of the British and French forces time to successfully regroup further south.  Three-quarters of this battalion, however, were either killed, wounded, or captured in this brave stand.  From the end of 1915 the Battalion was under the command of 76^th Brigade, 3^rd Division, seeing further action during the Somme Offensive of 1916 and the Battles of Arras in April 1917.[1]  Died: Arthur was killed in action on 16.6.1917, during an attack on ‘Infantry Hill’ near Moncy-le-Preux and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial [bay 4], Faubourg d’Amiens British Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France.[2]

Bryant, Charles Philemon – Born: Little Cornard, Suffolk on 10.3.1899.[3]  Parents: Frederick Henry Bryant (Brick Maker) and Ellen [née Smith].  Family Connections: Brother to Joseph William Bryant [b1889], Arthur James Bryant [b1891], Jonathan Bryant [b1893], William Frederick Bryant [b1895] and Martyr Stephen Bryant [b1901]; also, brother-in-law of Francis Walter David Taylor [b1888].  Home: Chapel Lane, Little Cornard, Suffolk (1901), Alexander Road, Sible Hedingham, Essex (1911), 2 Railway Cottages, Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex [1917], Greenways, Feverills Road, Little Clacton, Essex (1939).  Occupation: Gardener [1917], Bricklayer (1939).  Married: Florence Louisa Mills in 1922.  Service Record: Charles was conscripted on 17.2.1917 as Pte.TR13/53867 with 17^th [Training Reserve] Battalion, being posted to France from 21.4.1918 and transferring in the field as Pte.48773 to 6^th [Service] Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment as part of 54^th Brigade, 18^th [Eastern] Division.  On 24.10.1918 Charles received a gunshot wound to his left buttock, being transferred in July 1919 as Cpl.48873 to 326^th [Prisoner of War] Company, Labour Corps before his discharge four months later.[4]  Died: Barnet, Hertfordshire in 1961.

Bryant, Jonathan – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk in 1892. Parents: Frederick Henry Bryant (Brick Maker) and Ellen [née Smith].  Family Connections: Brother to Joseph William Bryant [b1889], Arthur James Bryant [b1891], William Frederick Bryant [b1895], Charles Philemon Bryant [b1899] and Martyr Stephen Bryant [b1901]; also, brother-in-law of Francis Walter David Taylor [b1888].  Home: Chapel Lane, Little Cornard, Suffolk (1901), Alexander Road, Sible Hedingham, Essex (1911).  Occupation: Labourer (1911).  Service Record: No definitive military record has been found.  Died: Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex on 22.3.1918.

Bryant, Joseph William – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 27.2.1889.[5]  Parents: Frederick Henry Bryant (Brick Maker) and Ellen [née Smith].  Family Connections: Brother to Arthur James Bryant [b1891], Jonathan Bryant [b1893], William Frederick Bryant [b1895], Charles Philemon Bryant [b1899] and Martyr Stephen Bryant [b1901]; also, brother-in-law of Francis Walter David Taylor [b1888].  Home: Rodbridge Street, Long Melford (1891), Chapel Lane, Little Cornard, Suffolk (1901), Alexander Road, Sible Hedingham, Essex (1911), 23 Lodge Street, Accrington, Lancashire (1921), 1 Moorhouse Avenue, Accrington (1939).  Occupation: Carter (1911), Goods Guard for Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway at Accrington (1921 to 1939).  Married: Gladys Hargreaves in 1935.  Service Record: No definitive military record has been found.

Bryant, Martyr Stephen – Born: Little Cornard, Suffolk in 1901.  Parents: Frederick Henry Bryant (Brick Maker) and Ellen [née Smith].  Family Connections: Brother to Joseph William Bryant [b1889], Arthur James Bryant [b1891], Jonathan Bryant [b1893], William Frederick Bryant [b1895] and Charles Philemon Bryant [b1899]; also, brother-in-law of Francis Walter David Taylor [b1888].  Home: Alexander Road, Sible Hedingham, Essex (1911), 13 Church Street, Cheam, Surrey [1934] to (1939).[6]  Occupation: Bricklayer (1939).  Married: Queenie Elsie Mills in 1928.  Service Record: No definitive military record has been found.  Died: buried in Witcombe Burial Grounds, Great Witcombe, Gloucestershire on 7.11.1956.

Bryant, William Frederick – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 7.7.1895.[7]  Parents: Frederick Henry Bryant (Brick Maker) and Ellen [née Smith].  Family Connections: Brother to Joseph William Bryant [b1889], Arthur James Bryant [b1891], Jonathan Bryant [b1893], Charles Philemon Bryant [b1899] and Martyr Stephen Bryant [b1901]; also, brother-in-law of Francis Walter David Taylor [b1888].  Home: Chapel Lane, Little Cornard, Suffolk (1901), Alexander Road, Sible Hedingham, Essex (1911), Haytor, Turner Road, Colchester, Essex (1939).  Occupation: Mill Hand (1911), Bricklayer (1939).  Married: Lilian May Nice in 1923.  Service Record: Although no definitive military record has been found for Frederick during the Great War; he is recorded on the 1921 Census as being stationed at Ridge Barracks at Jubbulpore in the Bengal Province of India as a Private with 1^st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  Died: Essex County Hospital, Colchester, Essex on 6.4.1963 and buried at Mile End, Colchester on 11.4.1963.[8]

Related Biography

Taylor, Francis Walter David – Born: Aldershot, Hampshire on 17.1.1888.[9]  Parents: Francis John David Taylor (Staff Sergeant Wheeler with the Army Service Corps) and Mary Jane [née Mason].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Joseph William Bryant [b1889], Arthur James Bryant [b1891], Jonathan Bryant [b1893], William Frederick Bryant [b1895], Charles Philemon Bryant [b1899], all of Long Melford, and Martyr Stephen Bryant [b1901].  Home: Granby Military Barracks, Devonport, Devon (1901), Corunna Barracks, Stanhope Lines, Aldershot, Hampshire (1911), Rolyat, Harwich Road, Little Clacton, Essex (1939) to [1973].  Occupation: Fitter (1911), Poultry Farmer (1939).  Married: Esther Ellen Bryant of Long Melford in 1912.  Service Record: Francis enlisted in 1908 as Pte.M/27497 in the Repair Shop of the Mechanical Transport section of the Army Service Corps, rising quickly to the position Acting Company Quartermaster Sergeant.  He remained with this unit throughout the First World War and on 28.12.1917 was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. He was still serving in 1921 as the Census of that year records him as Mechanist Staff Sergeant with 804 [Mechanical Transport] Company, Royal Army Service Corps, stationed in ‘B’ Lines, Hipswell Camp, at Catterick Barracks in Yorkshire.[10]  Died: Little Clacton, Essex on 21.4.1973.[11]

Notes – [1] http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/suffolk-regiment-1st-2nd-battalions.html.  For details of 2^nd Suffolk’s many actions see War Diary [WO 95/1437/1] and for the period surrounding the attack on Infantry Hill see Murphy, Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. R. The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928], pp.219-25.  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  His Service Medal and Award Roll suggests that Sergeant Bryant also served in 9^th [Service] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment; for this unit’s movements see War Diary [WO 95/1625/1]. [2] Commonwealth War Graves Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 516438]. [3] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Tendring District, Essex. [4] For 6^th Northamptonshire’s movements see War Diary [WO 95/2044/2].  See also his Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329], and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372]. [5] Date of birth taken from the Admissions Register 18.9.1901 for Great Cornard School. [6] Address for the Electoral Roll. [7] Date of birth taken from the 1939 Register. [8] Date, and place of death from the National Probate Calendar. [9] Date of birth taken from the 1939 Register. [10] For military details see his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] [WO 372/19/164010 and WO 372/24/106244], also see London Gazette 28.12.1917. [11] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar.