Selected Biographies

March, Alfred William – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 14.7.1894.[1]  Parents: William March (Iron Foundry Labourer) and Kate [née Ambrose] (Tailoress).  Family Connections: Cousin of Harry March [b1874], Thomas George March [b1879] and William Ernest March [b1882]; also, brother-in-law of Arthur Leonard Sillitoe [b1895].  Home: The Green, Long Melford (1901 and 1911), Firecroft, Plumpton Green, Sussex [1916] to (1939), 34 Hanover Terrace, Brighton, Sussex [1945].  Occupation: Grocer’s Assistant (1911), Royal Marine [1916 to 1945].  Married: Emily Maud Pratt in 1926.  Service Record: Alfred was conscripted on 29.2.1916 as Pte.19247 with the Royal Marines.  From 1.11.1916 to 4.11.1919 he served in 3^rd Royal Marine Light Infantry Battalion stationed in the Eastern Aegean.  His service continued through to the Second World War, eventually retiring in 1945.[2]  Died: Hove, Sussex in 1991.

March, Harry – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 3.7.1874.[3]  Parents: Henry March (Coconut Mat Weaver) and Emma (Horsehair Weaver).  Family Connections: Brother to Thomas George March [b1879] and William Ernest March [b1882]; also, cousin of Alfred William March [b1894], father-in-law of Archibald Victor Danes [b1899] and brother-in-law of Harry Duce [b1886].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1881), St Marys Street, Long Melford (1891), Hall Street, Long Melford (1901), St Marys Street, Long Melford (1911 to 1939), The Nookery, Hall Street, Long Melford [1949].[4]  Occupation: Coconut Mat Binder (1891), Bakery Manager (1901), Baker (1911) to [1937], Master Baker (1939).  Married: Rose Ettridge in 1896.  Service Record: Harry was a member of the Long Melford Volunteer Training Corps from 1915.[5]  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk on 2.7.1949.[6]

March, Thomas George – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 10.1.1879.[7]  Parents: Henry March (Coconut Mat Weaver) and Emma (Horsehair Weaver).  Family Connections: Brother to Harry March [b1874] and William Ernest March [b1882]; also, cousin of Alfred William March [b1894] and brother-in-law of Harry Duce [b1886].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1881), St Marys Street, Long Melford (1891), Prospect Terrace, St Catherines Road, Long Melford [1897], Military Barracks in Gibraltar (1911), 51 Addington Road, Margate, Kent (1939), Prospect Terrace, St Catherines Road, Long Melford [1949].[8]  Occupation: Baker [1897], Soldier [1897 to 1920], Baker (1939).  Service Record: Enlisting as George March in 1897 as Pte.S/13686 with 7^th Supply Company, Army Service Corps, he was posted to South Africa where he saw action during the Second Anglo-Boer War.  Between 1909 and 1913 he was stationed in Gibraltar.  Private March was posted to France from 14.8.1914 to 19.8.1915, initially with 5^th Field Bakery, ASC.  On 12.4.1915 he was promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant with N^o. 3 Reserve [Horse Transport] Depot, ASC based at Woolwich, receiving his discharge in 1920.[9]  Died: Long Melford, Suffolk on 23.3.1949.[10]

March, William Ernest – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk in 1882.  Parents: Henry March (Coconut Mat Weaver) and Emma (Horsehair Weaver).  Family Connections: Brother to Harry March [b1874] and Thomas George March [b1879]; also, cousin of Alfred William March [b1894] and brother-in-law of Harry Duce [b1886].  Home: St Marys Street, Long Melford (1891), St Catherines Road, Long Melford (1901 and 1911).  Occupation: Gardener (1901), Bricklayer’s Labourer (1911).  Service Record: William was conscripted as Pte.20627 with 7^th [Service] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, posted to France from 22.12.1915 as part of 35^th Brigade, 12^th [Eastern] Division, where he saw action during the Somme Offensive of 1916.  Died: Private March was killed in action on 12.10.1916, during a failed attack on ‘Bayonet’ trench.  As William and his comrades approached the German front line, they found that the barbed-wire defences had not been destroyed in the preceding artillery bombardment, forcing them to retire in full view of the enemy.  The Battalion took over 500 casualties on this day from machine-gun and automatic rifle fire.  This sorry incident was part of the wider Battle of the Transloy Ridges.  William March is buried in Ovillers Military Cemetery [grave ref: XIV.T.5], Ovillers-la-Boiselle, Somme, France and commemorated on the Long Melford War Memorial.[11]

Related Biography

Danes, Archibald Victor – Born: Foxearth, Essex on 18.10.1899.[12]. Parents: George Danes (Brewer’s Drayman) and Elizabeth [née Radford].  Family Connections: Brother to Arthur William Danes [b1898] and son-in-law of Henry March of Long Melford [b1874].  Home: The Street, Foxearth, Essex (1901 to 1939), St Marys Street, Long Melford [1960].  Occupation: Racking for Ward & Sons, Brewers of Foxearth (1921), Mineral Water Maker (1939).  Married: Syble Gertrude March of Long Melford in 1930.  Service Record: Archibald was conscripted as Pte.54227 with 2^nd Battalion, Princess Charlotte of Wales’s [Royal Berkshire Regiment], transferring as Pte.28182 to 2^nd Battalion, The Duke of Edinburgh’s [Wiltshire Regiment].[13]  It is not known if Private Danes served on the Western Front as his Service Record is no longer extant; both battalions, however, took part in major actions during around Ypres in 1917 and in the Somme valley in 1918. He is also recorded as a First World War veteran on the Roll of Honour in St Peter and St Paul Church in Foxearth.  Died: St Leonards Hospital, Sudbury, Suffolk on 13.8.1960.[14]

Duce, Harry – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 26.12.1886.[15]  Parents: Charles Duce (Coconut Mat Weaver) and Emily Jane [née Boggis] (Horsehair Drawer).  Family Connections: Brother to Charles Duce [b1880], Frederick Duce [b1885], George Duce [b1888], Arthur Duce [b1890], Walter Duce [b1892], Bertie Duce [b1895] and Frank Duce [b1898]; also, brother-in-law of Harry March [b1874], Thomas George March [b1879] and William Ernest March [b1882].  Home: Westgate Lane, Long Melford (1891), Bishops Yard, Westgate Street, Long Melford (1901 and 1911), St Catherines Road, Long Melford [1918] to [1983].  Occupation: Coir Yarn Puller (1901), Horsehair Drawer (1911), Motor Mechanic [1918], Caretaker (1939).  Married: Ethel Emma March in 1912.  Service Record: Harry is recorded as a member of the Melford Silver Band in 1911 and 1914.[16]  He attested on 8.3.1915 as Pte.240921 with ‘A’ Company, 2/5^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, transferring to 1/4^th Battalion, Suffolks, then as Pte.235472 to 2^nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, as part of 62^nd Brigade, 21^st Division.  He was posted to France on 19.2.1918, moving into the front line at Épehy at the end of the month.  On 21.3.1918 his battalion was caught up in the first wave of the German Spring Offensive making a desperate withdrawal, which after four days had reduced 2^nd Lincolns to barely 220 fighting men.  By the beginning of April Harry’s unit had been moved from the Somme valley to Kemmel in the southern sector of the Ypres Salient, 65 miles to the north.  On 12.4.1918 the men were occupying trenches between Bogart Farm and Stanyzer Cabaret Crossroads when they were subjected to an intense bombardment which was to last for another three days, reaching its crescendo at 5:30 am on 16.4.1918.  Under cover of a dense fog enemy troops attacked both flanks of the Lincoln’s line, making it difficult to tell friend from foe until coming within a few feet of each other.[17]  During this confusion Harry fell into enemy hands.  He was held as a Prisoner of War at Friedrichsfeld near Mannheim, later being taken to a hospital at Münster in Westphalia, Germany before his repatriation to England on 29.12.1918.  He received his discharge in May 1919.[18]  Died: Long Melford, Suffolk on 11.2.1983.[19]

Sillitoe, Arthur Leonard – Born: Sudbury, Suffolk on 15.9.1895.[20] Parents: William Silvester Sillitoe (Beer Retailer) and Alice [née Griggs].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Alfred William March of Long Melford [b1894].  Home: 11 New Street, Sudbury, Suffolk (1901), 32 Friars Street, Sudbury (1911) to [1915], 22 School Cottages, Mill Lane, Sudbury (1939).  Occupation: Chemist’s Assistant (1911) to [1915], Dispensing Chemist [1932][21], Bus Conductor (1939).  Married: Jessie Victoria March of Long Melford in 1923.  Service Record: Arthur enlisted on 7.11.1915 as Pte.80877 with the Royal Army Medical Corps, being posted to Sierra Leone from 5.11.1916 to 14.12.1917, where he contracted malaria.  On 31.10.1918 he was transferred to 14^th Company, RAMC and was posted to the King George Military Hospital in Dublin as a dispenser, receiving his discharge in June 1919.[22]  Died: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in 1992.

Notes – [1] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 20.9.1894, St Catherine Church, Long Melford. [2] Royal Marines: Registers of Service [ADM 159/195/19247], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372]. [3] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 6.9.1874, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  The 1939 Register for Long Melford records his birth date as 5.7.1874. [4] Recorded as Henry March on the UK Census for 1881 and 1891. [5] For Training Corps articles see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 29.12.1915 and 27.12.1916. [6] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar. [7] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 6.4.1879, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [8] Recorded as George March on the UK Census for 1881, 1891 and 1911. [9] Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329]. [10] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar. [11] For details of 7^th Suffolk’s part in the action see War Diary [WO 95/1852/2] and Murphy, Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. R. The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928], p.180.  For more detail on the Battle of the Transloy Ridges see Chris M^cCarthy, The Somme: The Day-by-Day Account [London: Brockhampton Press, 1998], pp.128-37.  See also his Commonwealth War Graves Commission record, British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 417075], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372]. [12] 1939 Register. [13] Medal Roll [WO 329]. [14] National Probate Calendar. [15] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 6.3.1887, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [16] My thanks to Tim Seppings of Sudbury for showing Harry’s connection to the Melford Silver Band. [17] For details of 2^nd Lincoln’s movements see War Diary [WO 95/2154/2]. [18] For POW register see International Committee of the Red Cross [file ref: PA37576].  See also his Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363] and Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329]. [19] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar. [20] 1939 Register. [21] For occupation see his father’s entry in the National Probate Calendar of 1932. [22] Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Medal Index Card [WO 372].