Selected Biographies

Chatters, Albert – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 27.7.1886.[1]  Parents: Emma Chatters of Glemsford, Suffolk (Horsehair Weaver). Family Connections: Father to Frederick Charles Chatters [b1910]; also, cousin of Charles Chatters [b1874], Alfred Chatters [b1881], Reuben Chatters [b1879], Henry George Andrews Chatters [b1889] Arthur Andrews Chatters [b1894] and Ralph Andrews Chatters [b1899].  Home: Back Lane, Long Melford (1891), The Green, Long Melford (1901), Westgate Street, Long Melford (1911), 26 High Street, Long Melford [1915], Westgate Hill, Long Melford (1939).  Occupation: Agricultural Labourer (1901) Soldier [1904 to 1919], General labourer (1939).  Married: Maud Matilda Warnick in 1909. Service Record: Before 1904 Albert was a member with 3^rd [Militia] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  He enlisted in 1904 as Pte.8506 with ‘D’ Company, 1^st Battalion, Scottish Rifles [Cameronians] and was posted to India from 1905 to 1907.  On his return to England, he was placed on the Army Reserve, later recalled to the Colours, and sent to France from 15.8.1914 to 16.1.1915 as part of 19^th Brigade, 6^th Division, being discharged as unfit on 5.5.1915 due to a hernia.[2] Despite this impediment he re-enlisted on 3.9.1915 as Pte.21333 with the Suffolk Regiment, transferring as A/Cpl.30238 to 2^nd [Home Service] Garrison Battalion, Suffolks, then as A/Cpl.45582 to 6^th [Service] Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment and finally as A/Cpl.41554 to 12^th [Service] Battalion, Suffolks, receiving his discharge in 1919.[3]  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1964.

Chatters, Arthur Andrews[4] – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 5.11.1894.  Parents: Jane Chatters (Horsehair Weaver and housekeeper to Henry John Andrews).  Family Connections: Brother to Reuben Chatters [b1879], Henry George Andrews Chatters [b1889] and Ralph Andrews Chatters [b1899]; also, and cousin of Albert Chatters [b1886], Charles Chatters [b1874] and Alfred Chatters [b1881].  Home: The Green, Long Melford (1901), High Street, Long Melford (1911).  Occupation: Factory Hand (1911), Porter [1914].  Service Record: Arthur enlisted on 2.9.1914 as Pte.12332 with 2^nd Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, posted to France on 7.4.1915 for two months before being posted to Salonika, transferring on 6.11.1915 as L/Cpl.24014 to 7^th [Service] Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, as part of 30^th Brigade, 10^th [Irish] Division.[5]  In August 1917 Arthur was posted to Egypt for service in Palestine and transferring on 29.7.1918 as L/Cpl.21440 to 1^st [Garrison] Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment, receiving his discharge in 1919.[6]

Chatters, Charles – Born: Glemsford, Suffolk in 1874. Parents: Charles Edward Chatters (Coconut Mat Maker) and Charlotte (née Welham). Family Connections: Brother to Alfred Chatters [b1881]; also, cousin of Reuben Chatters [b1879], Arthur Andrews Chatters [b1894], Ralph Andrews Chatters [b1899] and Albert Chatters [b1887]. Home: Fern Hill, Glemsford, Suffolk (1891), Britannia Military Barracks, Norwich (1911), 96 Quebec Road, Norwich, Norfolk [1946].  Occupation: Horsehair Labourer (1891), Soldier (1911), former Corporation Labourer [1946].  Married: Ellen Adams in 1912. Service Record: Charles enlisted in 1892 as Pte.3432 with 1^st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, being posted to India from 1894 to 1904 and South Africa from 1904 to 1907, receiving his discharge in 1911.[7] It is not known if he served in the First World War as no definitive military has been found. Died: Norwich, Norfolk on 25.2.1946.[8]

Chatters, Mrs Evelyn Dorothy ‘Dolly’ – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk in 1898 see under Younger  

Chatters, Frederick Charles – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 6.11.1910.[9]  Parents: Albert Andrews Chatters [see his details above] and Maud Matilda (née Warnick). Home: Westgate Street, Long Melford (1911), 26 High Street, Long Melford [1915]. Married: Victoria Alice Lydia Pratt in 1940. Service Record: Although no definitive record has been found, Frederick may have enlisted as Pte.5824655 with 1^st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  If this assumption is correct then the was posted to France in 1939 as part of 8^th Infantry Brigade, 3^rd Division, being wounded between 28.5.1940 and 1.6.1940 during the evacuation from Dunkirk.[10]  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1984.

Chatters, Henry George Andrews – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 25.6.1889.[11]  Parents: Jane Chatters (Horsehair Weaver and housekeeper to Henry John Andrews).  Family Connections: Brother to Reuben Chatters [b1879], Arthur Andrews Chatters [b1894] and Ralph Andrews Chatters [b1899]; also, cousin of Charles Chatters [b1874], Alfred Chatters [b1881] and Albert Chatters [b1887]. Home: Recorded as Henry Chatters in Westgate Lane, Long Melford (1891), recorded as George Chatters at The Green, Long Melford (1901), recorded as George Andrews in High Street, Long Melford (1911). Occupation: Ostler (1911), Agricultural Labourer [1948].  Service Record: It is not known if Henry served in the First World War as no definitive military has been found.

Chatters, Ralph Andrews[12] – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 2.8.1899.[13]  Parents: Jane Chatters (Horsehair Weaver and housekeeper to Henry John Andrews). Family Connections: Brother to Henry George Andrews Chatters [b1889], Arthur Andrews Chatters [b1894] and Ralph Andrews Chatters [b1899]; also, cousin of Charles Chatters [b1874], Alfred Chatters [b1881] and Albert Chatters [b1887]. Home: The Green, Long Melford (1901), High Street, Long Melford (1911).  Occupation: Sailor [1916 to 1942]. Service Record: Ralph Andrews enlisted in 1917 as No.LZ/7544 with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, re-enlisting in 1919 as Stoker No.SS123632, transferring in 1923 as Stoker 1^st Class C/K61758. Died: Ralph was killed in action on 10.11.1942 while serving on the destroyer HMS Martin which was torpedoed by U-431 off Algiers in the Mediterranean.[14] He is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial [panel 61, 3] and on commemorated on the Long Melford War Memorial.[15]

Chatters, Reuben – Born: Glemsford, Suffolk on 25.2.1879.[16]  Parents: Jane Chatters (Horsehair Weaver).  Family Connections: Brother to Henry George Andrews Chatters [b1889], Arthur Andrews Chatters [b1894] and Ralph Andrews Chatters [b1899]; also, cousin of Charles Chatters [b1874], Alfred Chatters [b1881] and Albert Chatters [b1887]. Home: Egremont Street, Glemsford (1881), living with George and Elizabeth Chatters (grandparents) in Back Lane, Long Melford (1891), High Street, Long Melford (1911), 59 High Street [1915], Cordell Cottages, High Street, Long Melford (1939) Occupation: Coconut Mat Maker [1899], Soldier [1899 to 1916], Agricultural Labourer (1939).  Service Record: Before 1899 Reuben was a member of 2^nd [Volunteer] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  He attested in November 1899 as Pte.5413 with 2^nd Battalion, Suffolks and was posted to India from 1901 to 1907.  He was mobilised on 5.8.1914 and transferred to 3^rd [Reserve] Battalion, Suffolks, being posted to France from 7.10.1914 with 2^nd Battalion, Suffolks as part of 8^th Brigade, 3^rd Division.  Reuben returned to England in January 1915 but was posted again to the Western Front from 20.7.1915 to 6.3.1916.  On 18.8.1916, while serving in the Somme sector with 7^th [Service] Battalion, Suffolks he was issued with a Silver War Badge and discharged due to chronic bronchitis.[17]  Died: Melton Asylum, St Audry’s Hospital, Woodbridge, Suffolk on 18.6.1942.[18]

Related Biographies

Younger, Evelyn Dorothy ‘Dolly’ – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 19.2.1898.[19]  Parent: Sarah Ann Younger. Family Connections: Niece of Harry Younger [b1876] and Alfred Younger [b1881].  Home: High St, Long Melford (1901 to 1939), Kettlebaston, Suffolk [1945].  Occupation: Housemaid [1918], Housekeeper and Carer to the Misses Barton of Kettlebaston [from 1945], Hazel Court Residential Care Home, Acton Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk [1967].  Married: Alfred Chatters in 1919.  Service Record: Dolly enlisted on 1.6.1918 as Worker N^o. 42143 with the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.  She was to spend two brief periods in France, serving first from 28.6.1918 to 13.7.1918 and again from 5.9.1918 to 14.9.1918.  During one of her periods at the Front she was involved in an horrendous incident, which killed or maimed most of her comrades.  The steadfastness of her actions that day was duly recognised and reported thus in the local press: Miss Dorothy Younger, a WAAC, has been given the Croix de Guerre Medal by the French for bravery and distinguished service at the front.  Of the 13 who were with her, nine were killed and one lost an arm and leg and the remaining three returned with shell shock and are now in England.  Miss Younger received a wound in the foot, but that is now on a fair way to recovery. Long Melford may justly feel proud of a girl who feared not to act as a stretcher bearer on the battlefield and has escaped with comparatively little injury, considering what her comrades suffered.  By the time of her discharge the WAACs had be reformed as Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps.[20]  Died: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk on 14.9.1967.  There is a touching postscript to Dolly’s years of service and devotion to the Barton sisters.  Brigadier Russell, a local luminary of Kettlebaston, on hearing of Dolly’s sad demise, arranged for her body to be moved from its pauper’s grave in Bury St Edmunds Cemetery, and for it to be re-interred in the Barton family plot in St Mary’s Churchyard at Kettlebaston.

Notes – [1] Baptism Register 14.11.1889, St Catherines Mission Church, Long Melford.  [2] For details of 1^st Cameronians movements see War Diaries [WO 95/1366/1 and WO 95/2422/2].  For details of 1^st Cameronians movements see War Diaries [WO 95/1366/1 and WO 95/2422/2].  [3] 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].  [4] Recorded as Arthur Chatters on the UK Census for 1901.  [5] For details of 6^th Royal Dublin Fusiliers involvement in the Salonika and Palestine Campaigns see War Diaries [WO 95/4836] and [WO 95/4583].  [6] 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].  [7] Chelsea Hospital British Army Service Record.  [8] Death Certificate.  [9] Date of birth taken from his father’s Army Service Record.  [10] British Army Casualty Lists [WO 417/18].  [11] Baptism Register 3.11.1889 of Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  [12] Recorded as Ralph Chatters on the 1901 UK Census.  [13] RN Record [ADM 188/1129/123632].  [14] ibid.  [15] Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  [16] 1939 Register for Long Melford.  [17] For an account of the battalion’s actions during this period see 2^nd Suffolk’s War Diary [WO 95/1437/1] and Murphy, Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. R. The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928], pp.41-48.  See also his Soldiers’ Documents and Pension Claims, First World War [WO 364], Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War, Silver War Badge [WO 329] record [ref: 71274], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [18] National Probate Calendar.  [19] 1939 Register for Long Melford.  [20] My thanks to Brian Chatters of Stoke on Trent, Dolly’s great nephew, for bringing the newspaper article and a wealth of biographical detail to the attention of Miss Anne Grimshaw and for her kindness in passing it on to me.  See also her Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363] [WO 398/240/11], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  For notification of her French honour see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 21.8.1918.  In September 1921 Dolly was diagnosed with ‘TB Glands of the Neck’; see Tuberculosis: Register of Notification from Medical Practitioners [Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Record Office ref; EF501/4/23].