Selected Biographies

Sargent, Charles Albert – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk in 1888.  Parents: James Sargent (Agricultural Implement Agent) and Emma Radley [née Preston].  Family Connections: Brother to John Samuel Sargent [b1895].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1891 and 1901).  Occupation: Carpenter [1915].  Service Record: Charles enlisted in 1904 as Pte.6389 with 3^rd [Militia] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, discharged as medically unfit in 1905.  It is not known if he saw service during the First World War as no definitive record has been found.[1]

Sargent, John Samuel – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 8.11.1895.[2]  Parents: James Sargent (Agricultural Implement Agent) and Emma Radley [née Preston].  Family Connections: Brother to Charles Albert Sargent [b1888].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1901), 29 Bredon Road, Camberwell, London (1911), 3 Gordon Grove, Camberwell [1915], 19 Glenbow Road, Lewisham, London (1939).  Occupation: Laundry Van Boy (1911), Painter [1914], Glazier and Glass Cutter (1939).  Service Record: John enlisted on 17.8.1914 as Pte.3/7678 with 3^rd [Reserve] Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, transferring to 2^nd Bedfords and posted to France from 1.4.1915 as part of 21^st Brigade, 7^th Division.  On 25.9.1915, the first day of the Battle of Loos, the Battalion was advancing across no man’s land to German positions at Cite St Elie when concentrated machine gun and rifle fire cut down dozens of men, including many of the senior officers.  It may have been here that he received a gunshot wound to the scalp and hand.  In addition to Loos, Private Sargent would have seen action earlier in the year at the Battles of Aubers and Festubert in May and during the Somme Offensive of 1916.  At the end of November 1916, he was transferred as Pte.3/4026 to 2/5^th The Cameronians [Scottish Rifles], then on 14.2.1918 as Pte.30735 to 2/1^st The Ayrshire Yeomanry [Earl of Carrick’s Own], Corps of Hussars.  Both the Scottish Rifles and the Ayrshire Yeomanry saw service in Ireland.  Private Sargent was issued with a Silver War Badge and discharged in April 1919.[3]  Died: Bromley, Kent in 1974.

Notes – [1] Occupation taken from his brother John’s Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363].  See also his Chelsea Hospital British Army Service Record [WO 97] up to 1905.  [2] Recorded as Samuel John in Baptism Register 19.1.1897, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [3] [3] For details of 2^nd Bedford’s movements up to September 1915 see War Diary [WO 95/1658/2].  See also his Soldiers’ Documents and Pension Claims, First World War [WO 364], Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War, Silver War Badge [WO 329] record [ref: B304182], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  John’s SDPC also gives his mother’s name as Elizabeth, not Emma as confirmed on UK Census Returns for 1901 and 1911.