Selected Biographies

Messenger, Charles – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 1.1.1886.[1]  Parents: William Messenger (Railway Goods Foreman) and Margaret [née Haywood].  Family Connections: Twin brother of Walter Messenger [b1886] and brother of William Harry Messenger [b1884]; also, brother-in-law of Thomas William Chinnery [b1887].  Home: Station Road, Long Melford (1891 to 1911).  Occupation: Stockman (1911).  Service Record: Charles enlisted as Pte.G/14922 with 1^st Battalion, The Queen’s Royal [West Surrey] Regiment, being posted to France as part of 100^th Brigade, 33^rd Division. Th battalion saw action during the Battles of the Somme in 1916, and in 1917 the Arras Offensive of April and May, and the Third Battles of Ypres from the end of July.[2]  Died: Private Messenger was killed in action on 25.9.1917 at Veldhoek on the Ypres–Menin Road, during a fierce German counterattack.[3]  He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing [panel 14 to 17 and 162 to 162a], Belgium and on the Long Melford War Memorial.[4]

Messenger, Walter – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 1.1.1886.[5]  Parents: William Messenger (Railway Goods Foreman) and Margaret [née Haywood].  Family Connections: Twin brother of Charles Messenger [b1886] and brother of William Harry Messenger [b1884]; also, father of William Walter Messenger [b1914] and brother-in-law of Thomas William Chinnery [b1887].  Home: Station Road, Long Melford (1891 to 1901), lodging with George Southgate in Margaretting, Essex (1911), 17 Theatre Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk (1921), Station House, Marlesford, Woodbridge, Suffolk (1939) to [1974].[6]  Occupation: Signalman for the Great Eastern Railway (1911) [see photograph in Part I], Railway Porter (1939).  Married: Christabel Mary Hilling in 1912.  Service Record: Although no definitive military record has been found, Walter is believed to have served on the Western Front, the unit however is unknown.  Died: Marlesford, Suffolk on 9.5.1974.[7]

Messenger, William Harry – Born: Marlesford, Suffolk on 3.11.1884.[8]  Parents: William Messenger (Railway Goods Foreman) and Margaret [née Haywood].  Family Connections: Brother of Charles and Walter Messenger [b1886] of Long Melford; also, uncle of William Walter Messenger [b1914] and brother-in-law of Thomas William Chinnery [b1887].  Home: Marlesford, Suffolk (1891), Station Road, Long Melford (1901), lodging with Sarah Beckett at 16 Lower Baxter Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1911), 84 Northgate Street, Bury St Edmunds (1921 to 1939). Occupation: Railway Porter (1911), Engine Shunter for the Great Eastern Railway (1921 to 1939).  Married: Florence Ellen Beamise in 1919. Service Record: It is not known if William served during the First World War as no definitive military record has been found.  Died: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in 1951,

Messenger, William Walter – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 10.12.1914.[9]  Parents: Walter Messenger (Railway Porter) [see above for details] and Christabel Mary [née Hilling].  Family Connections: Nephew of William Harry Messenger [b1884].  Home: 17 Theatre Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk (1921), 15 Deben Road, Woodbridge, Suffolk (1939), Station House, Marlesford, Suffolk [1990].  Occupation: Assistant Manager of a Coal Merchants (1939).  Service Record: William enlisted in 1941 as Gnr.1596890 with the Royal Artillery.[10]  Died: Marlesford, Suffolk on 11.1.1990.[11]

Related Biography

Chinnery, Thomas William – Born: Foxearth, Essex on 13.6.1887.  Parents: William Chinnery (Rural Postman) and Charlotte [née Nice] (Postmistress).  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of William Harry Messenger [b1884], and Charles and Walter Messenger of Long Melford [b1886].  Home: Post Office, Foxearth Street, Foxearth, Essex (1891 to 1911), 5 Station Road, Long Melford (1939).  Occupation: Errand Boy (1901), Brewer’s Bottler (1911 to 1939).  Married: Mary Ann Messenger of Long Melford in 1912.  Service Record: Thomas enlisted in 1915 as Pte.3727 with ‘D’ Company, 1/5^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  He was posted to Gallipoli from 10.8.1915 as part of 163^rd Brigade, 54^th [East Anglian] Division and within hours of his unit landing in Suvla Bay it was moved forward into frontline trenches on the south face of a steep and rocky hill called Karakol Dagh.  At dawn two days later the Suffolks and the three other untested battalions of 163^rd Brigade were ordered to secure the heights to the east.  Advancing nearly a mile through a hail of Turkish artillery and machine gun fire, by the end of the day the enemy had been held at bay and a secure forward defence line established.  When Thomas and his companions were finally relieved by fresh troops after three gruelling days, they were found in a sorry state, having baked under the searing heat they had run desperately short of drinking water and been plagued by swarms of flies attracted by the dead and dying around them. When the Roll was called it was found the Suffolks alone had lost 186 men either dead or wounded with a further 150 laid low by dysentery.  In December 1915 his unit was evacuated to Egypt, where much of the following year was spent in guarding the Suez Canal against possible attack by the Ottoman Turks.  In 1917 Chinnery was issued with a new service number as Pte.241216 and in March together with his Battalion he took part in the Palestine Campaign, seeing action at the three battles of Gaza and the Battle of Sharon in September.  He fell ill with sand fly fever in October and was sent to 19 General Hospital in Alexandria for treatment.[12]  Died: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in 1981.

Notes – [1] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 2.3.1886, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [2] Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372]. [3] For details of the action see 1^st Royal West Surrey’s War Diary [WO 95/2430/1]. [4] Commonwealth War Graves Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 583505]. [5] 1939 Register. [6] Address confirmed via birth date on the 1939 Register for Blyth Rural District. [7] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar. [8] 1939 Register. [9] 1939 Register. [10] Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942. [11] National Probate Calendar. [12] Admission and Discharge Book for 19 General Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt [TNA – MH 106/1249].  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].