A village with a big story
Selected Biographies
Elms, Arthur – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 25.5.1890.[1] Parents: William Thomas Elms (Bricklayer’s Labourer) and Caroline [née Bugg] (Washerwoman). Family Connections: Brother to Frederick Elms [b1883]; also, brother-in-law of Harry Ernest Richardson [b1885] and Albert Whittle [b1876]. Home: St Marys Street/Little St Marys, Long Melford (1891 and 1901), Hall Street, Long Melford [1919], St Catherines Road, Long Melford (1939). Occupation: Head Baker for Henry Coley [1916], Bread and Cake Maker (1939). Married: Annie May Whittle in 1915. Service Record: At the Melford Military Service Tribunal in March 1916 Arthur’s employer wrote to the committee asking for his ‘absolute exemption’. As he explained; ‘The man is my head baker and is the one man I have to depend on, being unable to do it myself’. The application met with little sympathy and was refused. Three months later Henry Coley was again pleading for Elms to be exempted, the panel did not agree and granted him only one month’s grace.[2] Arthur Elms was conscripted on 13.10.1916 as Pte.26863 with 3rd [Reserve] Battalion, Norfolk Regiment. On 24.12.1916 he was posted to India, then to Mesopotamia from 24.4.1917 with 2nd Battalion, Norfolks as part of 37th [Indian Infantry] Brigade, 14th [Indian] Division. On 4.7.1918 he was transferred to 37th Brigade: Light Trench Mortar Battery operating a Stokes Mortar. In February 1919 he was returned to 2nd Norfolks before his discharge a year later.[3] Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1967.
[1] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 17.7.1890, St Catherines Mission Church, Long Melford, however the 1939 Register for Long Melford records his birth date as 28.5.1890. [2] For the Tribunal’s rulings see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 15.3.1916 and 28.6.1916. [3] For details of 2nd Norfolk’s movements in India and Mesopotamia see War Diaries [WO 95/5022/8 and WO 95/5180/1-2], and for 37th Trench Mortars see War Diary [WO 95/5181/8]. 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].
Elms, Frederick – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 29.7.1883.[1] Parents: William Thomas Elms (Bricklayer’s Labourer) and Caroline [née Bugg] (Washerwoman). Family Connections: Brother to Arthur Elms [b1890]; also, brother-in-law of Harry Ernest Richardson [b1885]. Home: St Marys Street, Long Melford (1891), Cavendish Lodge, Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire (1901), St Marys/Little St Marys, Long Melford (1939) to [1954]. Occupation: Groom (1901), Hawker [1916]. Service Record: Frederick was conscripted on 26.10.1916 as Pte.19792 with 3rd [Reserve] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. He was posted on 6.1.1917 to France, transferring on 3.2.1917 as Pte.235680, later Pte.3760297 to 1/5th Battalion, The King’s [Liverpool] Regiment as part of 165th Brigade, 55th [West Lancashire] Division. Frederick’s battalion saw action during the Third Battles of Ypres in 1917. On 9.4.1918 during the German Spring Offensive, Private Elms was wounded in an enemy attack on Festubert, and on 4.6.1918 again at Festubert, with a gunshot wound to his left thigh, probably from sniper fire. He received his discharge in November 1920 as ‘no longer fit for War Service’.[2] Died: Sudbury, Suffolk on 22.6.1954.
[1] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 2.9.1883, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [2] For details of the actions where Frederick Elms received his wounds see 1/5th Liverpool’s War Diary [WO 95/2926/1]. See also his Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363].
Related Biography
Richardson, Harry Ernest – Born: Glemsford, Suffolk on 24.11.1885.[1] Parents: David Richardson (Agricultural Labourer) and Annie [née Golding]. Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Arthur Elms [b1890] and Frederick Elms [b1883]. Home: Egremont Street, Glemsford (1891), Boxted Hall, Boxted, Suffolk (1901), St Marys Street, Long Melford (1911), Liston Railway Gate House, Long Melford, Essex (1939) to [1944]. Occupation: Servant (1901) Agricultural Labourer (1911), Permanent Way Lengthsman (1939). Married: Florence Elms of Long Melford in 1917. Service Record: Harry enlisted briefly in 1902 as Pte.5663 with the Suffolk Regiment, re-enlisting later in the year as Pte.5569 with 1st [Royal] Dragoons, serving in South Africa from 1911 to 1914. His Medal Index Card suggests that at some point before the Great War he was transferred to 2nd [Royal Scots Greys] Dragoons, as on 9.9.1914, the date he was posted to France, his former unit was still sailing to England from South Africa. On the assumption that he served in the Scots Greys from the beginning of the War, he would have been part of 5th Cavalry Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division and seen action at the Battles of the Marne, the Aisne and Messines in 1914, the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, and the First Battle of the Scarpe and Cambrai in 1917. Before his discharge in March 1919, he was issued with a new service number as Pte.20715.[2] Died: Long Melford, Suffolk on 17.2.1944.[3]
[1] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 25.4.1886, St Marys Church, Glemsford, Suffolk. [2] Recorded as serving with 1st Dragoons in 1917 see Marriage Register 18.10.1917, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. For details of 1st Royal Dragoons movements see War Diary [WO 95/1153/1]. The Royal Dragoons also held the dubious distinction of having Kaiser Wilhelm II as its Colonel-in-Chief up to the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. For details of 2nd Royal Scots Greys’ movements see War Diary [WO 95/1139/3]. See also his Chelsea Hospital British Army Service Record [WO 97] up to 1902, Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372]. [3] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar.
Genealogical Table
