Selected Biographies

Meadows, Albert Edward – Born: Nayland, Suffolk on 28.8.1897.[1]  Parents: George William Meadows (Corn Miller) [see military record below] and Agnes Jane [née Goddard].  Family Connections: Brother to Ernest Edgar Meadows [b1895].  Home: The Green, Long Melford (1901), Bridge View, Little Green, Long Melford (1911 to 1921), 112 Constable Road, Ipswich, Suffolk (1939), 71 Sherrington Road, Ipswich [1989].  Occupation: Carpenter as a civilian artificer for 11^th [Mechanical Transport] Company, Royal Army Service Corps (1921), Cycle Dealer (1939).  Service Record: Albert was a member of the Long Melford Volunteer Training Corps in 1915.  He was conscripted as Pte.41892 with 9^th [Service] Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment and posted to France as part of 110^th [Leicester Tigers] Brigade, 21^st Division.  In February 1918 his home battalion ceased to exist, the men going to 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th Battalions within the same Brigade.  On the morning of 27^th May the Leicester Tigers were entrenched behind the Canal de l’Aisne à la Marne near Cormicy when they came under heavy bombardment from high explosive and poison gas shells.  By mid-morning masses of German Stormtroopers were overwhelming the Leicester’s positions, all the companies sent to guard the flanks, having according to the Brigade Headquarters’ diary ‘totally disappeared’.  This was the last great push of the German Spring Offensive, recorded in British annals as the Third Battle of the Aisne.  At the end of the day the Leicester Tigers had lost well over a thousand men, killed, wounded, or captured.  Albert and his comrades were not sent to camps in Germany but kept close to the front-line and used as sweated labour, repairing the road and railway network.  He was repatriated in December 1918.[2]  Died: Ipswich, Suffolk on 1.11.1989.[3]

Meadows, Ernest Edgar Ÿ Born: Nayland, Suffolk on 18.3.1895.[4]  Parents: George William Meadows (Corn Miller) [see military record below] and Agnes Jane [née Goddard].  Family Connections: Brother to Albert Edward Meadows [b1897].  Home: The Green, Long Melford (1901), Bridge View, Little Green, Long Melford (1911 to 1921), 37 Sidegate Avenue, Ipswich, Suffolk (1939), 46 Killerton Roade, Bude, Cornwall [1974].  Occupation: Clerk in Cycle Works (1911), unemployed Technical Assistant in the Cycle and Motor Trade for Derry & Edwards Cycle Factors (1921), Cycle Dealer (1939).  Married: Kathleen Harvey in 1922.  Service Record: Although no definitive military record has been found, Edgar may have served as Cpl.33221 with the Machine Gun Corps during the First World War, receiving his discharge in 1919.[5]   Died: Bude, Cornwall on 11.1.1974.[6]

Meadows, George William Ÿ Born: Elmsett, Suffolk on 9.10.1869.[7]  Parents: William Meadows (Miller) and Eliza [née Percy].  Family Connections: Father of Ernest Edgar Meadows [b1895] and Alfred Edward Meadows [b1897].  Home: Mill House, Whatfield Road, Elmsett, Suffolk (1871 to 1891), The Green, Long Melford (1901), Bridge View, Little Green, Long Melford (1911 to 1939).  Occupation: Journeyman Miller (1891 to 1911), Grist Miller for Frederick Branwhite & Sons of Long Melford (1921), Retired Miller (1939).  Married: Agnes Jane Goddard in 1893.  Service Record: George was a member of the Long Melford Volunteer Training Corps in 1915.[8]  Died: Long Melford, Suffolk in 1955.

Meadows, Sydney Manvers Woolner [DSO] Ÿ Born: Otley, Suffolk on 22.7.1876.[9]  Parents: George Frederic Walford Meadows (Physician and Surgeon) and Sarah Anne [née Woolner].  Home: Otley, Suffolk (1891), 12 Prince of Wales Mansions, Prince of Wales Road, Battersea, London (1911), Rose Cottage, High Street, Long Melford [1937], Falkland House, The Green, Long Melford (1939) to [1957].  Occupation: Surgeon [1901], Commandant of the Red Cross (1939).  Married: Blanche Sexton in 1903.  Service Record: Serving as a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1911, Sydney is recorded as a surgeon at Étaples in France during the Great War, being promoted from Major to acting Lieutenant Colonel in 1918.  He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order.[10]  Died: Long Melford, Suffolk on 5.11.1957.[11]  He is commemorated with a plaque in St Marys Church, Witnesham, Suffolk.

Notes – [1] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Ipswich, Suffolk and Death Index. [2] For Training Corps article see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 29.12.1915.  For details of the action see 110^th Brigade’s War Diary [WO 95/2163/6].  See also his 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. [4] 1939 Register. [5] See his proposed Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329]. [6] Date and place of death from the National Probate Calendar. [7] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Long Melford. [8] For Training Corps articles see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 10.3.1915 and 29.12.1915. [9] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Long Melford. [10] For notification of his D.S.O. see Supplement to the Edinburgh Gazette 2.1.1918 p.30. [11] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar.