Selected Biographies

Deal, Arthur Ÿ Born: Cavendish, Suffolk on 23.9.1885.  Parents: Perry Deal (Horsekeeper on Farm) and Kate Julia [née Chatters].  Family Connections: Brother to George Alfred Deal [b1884], Frederick Deal [b1887] and Ernest William Deal [b1893].  Home: Claypits Farm Cottage, Foxearth (1891 to 1911).  Occupation: Agricultural Labourer (1901, 1911).  Service Record: Arthur enlisted in 1908 as Pte.7749 with 3^rd [Militia] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, being stationed in Malta from 1909 to 1911 and then in Egypt until October 1914.  On 16.1.1915 he was posted to France receiving a shrapnel wound to his right arm and leg on 18.4.1915.  After nine months back in England he was sent back to the Western Front on 22.2.1916 joining 2^nd Battalion, Suffolks being posted to France as part of 76^th Brigade, 3^rd Division, seeing action during the Somme Offensive at the Battles of Bazentin Ridge on 14 July and at Delville Wood five days later.  On 20 July Deal’s unit was advancing towards the village of Longueval when it encountered bitter enemy resistance, which killed or wounded many of his comrades and took many others prisoner, including Arthur.  He was held at the PoW Camp at Limburg in Germany until his repatriation in December 1918.  Died: Foxearth, Essex in 1947.[1]

Deal, Ernest William Ÿ Born: Foxearth, Essex on 30.4.1893.  Parents: Perry Deal (Horsekeeper on Farm) and Kate Julia [née Chatters].  Family Connections: Brother to George Alfred Deal [b1884], Arthur Deal [b1885] and Frederick Deal [b1887].  Home: Claypits Farm Cottage, Foxearth (1901, 1911), Park View, Lower Street, Cavendish, Suffolk (1939) to [1979].  Occupation: Agricultural Labourer (1911), General Labourer (1939).  Married: Alice Kate M. Ballard in 1924.  Service Record: Although no definitive military record has been found, Ernest possibly enlisted as Pte.4202 with 1/5^th Battalion, Essex Regiment.  If this assumption is correct, he was posted to Gallipoli in August 1915 as part of 161^st Brigade, 54^th [East Anglian] Division.  Following the evacuation of Allied troops in December he was shipped to Egypt for the rest of the War, taking part in the Palestine Campaign in 1917 and receiving a new service number 251317.  Died: Cavendish, Suffolk on 22.9.1979.[2]

Deal, Frederick Ÿ Born: Cavendish, Suffolk on 3.8.1887.  Parents: Perry Deal (Horsekeeper on Farm) and Kate Julia [née Chatters].  Family Connections: Brother to George Alfred Deal [b1884], Arthur Deal [b1885] and Ernest William Deal [b1893].  Home: Claypits Farm Cottage, Foxearth (1891 to 1911).  Occupation: Agricultural Labourer (1901, 1911).  Married: Eliza M. Bullock in 1921.  Service Record: Frederick enlisted on 20.1.1915 as Dvr.T4/044057 with 109^th [Horse Transport] Company, Army Service Corps.  On 11.11.1915 he was posted to Salonika as part of 22^nd Divisional Train, his unit seeing action at the Battles of Horseshoe Hill and Machukovo in 1916 and the Battle of Doiran the following year.  Deal returned to England in 1919, receiving his discharge shortly after.  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1971.[3]

Deal, George Alfred Ÿ Born: Foxearth, Essex on 24.1.1884.  Parents: Perry Deal (Horsekeeper on Farm) and Kate Julia [née Chatters].  Family Connections: Brother to Arthur Deal [b1885], Frederick Deal [b1887] and Ernest William Deal [b1893]; also, brother-in-law to Henry William Borley [b1879], Charles Borley [b1887] and Edgar Robert Borley [b1884].  Home: Military Barracks, St Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands (1901), Liston Lane, Long Melford [1907] to (1939).  Occupation: Bricklayer’s Labourer [1907], Agricultural Labourer (1911 to 1939).  Married: Ellen Borley of Long Melford in 1906.  Service Record: In 1900 George is recorded as Pte.5151 with 3^rd [Militia] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, renewing his engagement for another four years in 1907.  After leaving the Suffolks he enlisted in 1/1^st Divisional Supply Column, Army Service Corps before attesting on 23.9.1914 as Dvr.1764, later Dvr.S4/111130 with 257^th [Mechanical Transport] Company, ASC, part of 19^th Divisional Supply Column.  He was posted to France from 15.7.1915, seeing action during the Somme Offensive of 1916, the Third Battles of Ypres in 1917, and the First Battles of the Somme and the Battles of the Lys in 1918.  In 1919 he transferred to 625^th [MT] Company, ASC and was posted to the Army of Occupation on the Rhine, being discharged in March 1920.[4]

Notes – [1] Date of birth taken from his International Committee of the Red Cross PoW record [ref: PA5634 and PA6680].  For his military records see Soldiers’ Documents and Pension Claims, First World War [WO 364], Medal Roll [WO 329], and Medal Index Card [WO 372].  For the Battalion’s movements see their War Diary [WO 95-1437], Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. R. Murphy, The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928] pp.182-89 and Chris McCarthy, The Somme: The Day-to-Day Account [London: Brockhampton Press, 1998] p.53.  [2] Date of birth taken from the 1939 Register.  Medal Roll [WO 329], and Medal Index Card [WO 372].  Date of death from the National Probate Calendar.  [3] Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363], Medal Roll [WO 329], and Medal Index Card [WO 372].  [4] Approximate year of birth of 1882 is implied by his multiple Army Service Records, however the 1939 Register records 24.1.1884, where his name is also given as Alfred George.  For details of 257^th Company’s movements see War Diary [WO 95/892/1-2].  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].