Selected Biographies

Death, Arthur William Ÿ Born: Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk on 21.5.1883.  Parents: William Death (Agricultural Labourer) and Mary [née Hunt].  Family Connections: Father to Leslie Frederick Death [b1914].  Home: High Street, Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk (1891), Church Street, Walsham-le-Willows (1901), Hill Cottage, Hartest, Suffolk (1911).  Occupation: Plumber and Glazier’s Apprentice (1901), House Painter (1911).  Married: Ada Annie Sharman in 1902.  Service Record: Arthur attested as Pte.3227, renumbered in 1917 as Pte.203147 with 15^th [Suffolk Yeomanry] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  Died: On 4.5.1917 the troopship RMS Transyvania which was taking reinforcements to Salonika when it was torpedoed by U-63 off Cape Vado in the Gulf of Genoa.  Arthur was one of over four hundred men who lost their lives when the ship went down.  He is commemorated on the Savona Memorial, Savona Town Cemetery, Liguria, Italy and on the Long Melford War Memorial.[1]

Death, Leslie Frederick Ÿ Born: Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk on 24.2.1914.  Parents: Arthur William Death [see details above] and Ada Annie [née Sharman].  Home: Hill Cottage, Hartest, Suffolk (1911), Severalls Mental Hospital, Colchester, Essex (1939).  Occupation: Mental Nurse (1939).  Married: Winifred Margaret Oxborrow in 1943.  Service Record: Leslie enlisted as Flight Engineer N^o.1250525 with Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.  He joined 44 Squadron Bomber Command based at Dunholme Lodge in Lincolnshire crewing an Avro Lancaster, where he held the rank of Flight Sergeant.  Died: Leslie was shot down by a night fighter during a raid on the rail junction at Etampes on 9.6.1944, is buried nearby in Morigny-Champigny Communal Cemetery, Île-de-France, France and recorded on the Roll of Honour in St Marys Church, Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk.[2]

Notes – [1] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 1.7.1883, St Marys Church, Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk.  For details of the sinking see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Transylvania_%281914%29.  His widow’s name has been taken from the Soldier’s British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 564373] and it is from this that much of Arthur Death’s earlier life has been reconstructed.  See also his Commonwealth War Graves Commission record, Service Medal, and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329], and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  There is little evidence to tie this man to Long Melford other than his entry on Long Melford War Memorial.  [2] Date of birth taken from the 1939 Register.  Death details for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.