Selected Biographies

Hill, Martin Thomas Copinger – Born: Buxhall, Suffolk on 17.1.1870. Parents: Henry Copinger Hill (Rector of Buxhall, Suffolk) and Eleanor [née Chamley]. Family Connections: Brother to Hugh Tithe Copinger Hill [b1878]. Home: The Rectory, Buxhall, Suffolk (1871 to 1891), High Street, Long Melford (1901), living with Walter Copinger Hill (brother) at Highford Farm, Clovelly, Devon (1911), Virginstowe Rectory, Ashwater, Devon [1915], The Lodge, Alderton, Suffolk [1949]. Occupation: Farmer (1891, 1901). Service Record: Martin enlisted on 10.4.1915 as Pte.3620 with N^o.5 Supernumerary Company, 1/4^th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, transferring on 29.4.1916 to 22^nd Port Company, Royal Defence Corps, then to 339^th Company, RDC on 18.7.1917. Over his career in the army, he was also issued with other service numbers, namely 6399 and 20865.[1] Died: Alderton, Suffolk on 17.2.1949.

Hill [MC], Hugh Tithe Copinger – Born: Buxhall, Suffolk in 1878. Parents: Henry Copinger Hill (Rector of Buxhall, Suffolk) and Eleanor [née Chamley]. Family Connections: Brother to Martin Thomas Copinger Hill [b1870].  Home: The Rectory, Buxhall, Suffolk (1881), Grammar School, Snettisham, Norfolk (1891), Lyndhurst, Seabrook Road, Hythe St Leonard, Kent (1901), Broadwater, Framlingham, Suffolk (1911) Knapp, North Curry, Taunton, Somerset [1944]. Occupation: Assistant Schoolmaster (1901), Schoolmaster (1911). Married: Olive Winifred Vachell in 1907. Service Record: Hugh held a Captain’s commission with 1/5^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, being posted to the Dardanelles on 14.9.1915 where he saw action during the Gallipoli Campaign.  On 2.10.1915 he was transferred to the Balkan Front before moving on to Egypt in 1917.  By April 1917 he was in Palestine, where he fought bravely at the Second Battle of Gaza being awarded a Military Cross and was promoted to the rank of Major. By the end of his career, he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.[2] Died: Taunton, Somerset 1944.

Notes – [1] Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363], Medal Roll [WO 329], and Medal Index Card [WO 372].  [2] For more about the campaigns and his career see Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. R. Murphy, The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928], pp 106, 207, 211, 311 and 313.  Further information about 1/5^th Suffolks can be found in Capt. A. Fair and Capt. E. D. Wolton “The Suffolk Regiment”: the history of the 1/5^th Battalion [London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1923].  Also see his Medal Index Card [WO 372].