Selected Biographies

Sillett, Arthur Bertie – Born: Harleston, Norfolk on 14.6.1887.[1]  Parents: James Frederick Sillett (Engine Driver at Cornard Flour Mill) and Elizabeth [née Wisken]].  Family Connections: Brother to Ernest William Sillett [b1886], Herbert Sillett [b1890], Leonard Albert Sillett [b1894], Percy Frank Sillett [b1896] and Horace Sidney Sillett [b1898].  Home: Station Road, Harleston, Norfolk (1891), 5 Girling Street, Sudbury, Suffolk (1901), 23 Plough Lane, Sudbury (1911) to [1920], 4 Orchard Place, Church Street, Sudbury (1921), 23 Plough Lane, Sudbury (1939).  Occupation: Bricklayer’s Labourer (1911), Builder’s Labourer (1921).  Married: Laura Baldwin.  Service Record: Arthur enlisted on 2.9.1914 as Pte.46632 with the Suffolk Regiment, transferring to 36 Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps on 11.9.1914, then on 26.1.1915 as Gnr.13979 to 24^th Reserve Battery, Royal Field Artillery attached to 12th Divisional Ammunition Column until his discharge in March 1919.  During this time his unit had seen action on the Western Front at the Battles of Loos in 1915, the Somme in 1916, Arras and Cambrai in 1917 and the Hindenburg Line and Final Advance in Artois in 1918.  Not content with civilian life he re-enlisted in May 1919 as Pte.696612 with 712 Company, Labour Corps.[2]   Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1966.

Sillett, Ernest William – Born: Harleston, Norfolk on 30.11.1886.[3]  Parents: James Frederick Sillett (Engine Driver at Cornard Flour Mill) and Elizabeth [née Wisken].  Family Connections: Brother to Arthur Bertie Sillett [b1887], Herbert Sillett [b1890], Leonard Albert Sillett [b1894], Percy Frank Sillett [b1896] and Horace Sidney Sillett [b1898].  Home: Station Road, Harleston, Norfolk (1891), 792 Fulham Road, Fulham, London (1921), 17 Astell Street, Chelsea, London (1939).  Occupation: Postman (1921) to [1945].  Married: Maude Annie Barker in 1912.  Service Record: In December 1945 Ernest was awarded the Imperial Service Medal for Home Civil Service.[4]  Died: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire in 1956.

Sillett, Herbert – Born: Harleston, Norfolk on 16.6.1890.[5] Parents: James Frederick Sillett (Engine Driver at Cornard Flour Mill) and Elizabeth [née Wisken]].  Family Connections: Brother to Ernest William Sillett [b1886], Arthur Bertie Sillett [b1887], Leonard Albert Sillett [b1894], Percy Frank Sillett [b1896] and Horace Sidney Sillett [b1898].  Home: Station Road, Harleston, Norfolk (1891), 5 Girling Street, Sudbury, Suffolk (1901), 23 Plough Lane, Sudbury (1911), 93 Elm Grove Road, Barnes, Middlesex (1921).  Occupation: Fishmonger (1911), Packer at Harrod’s Depository (1921).  Service Record: Before the First World War Herbert served as Pte.4437 with ‘C’ Company of 5^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment [Territorials] based in his hometown of Sudbury.  He was conscripted on 23.2.1916 as Pte.21437 with 3/5^th [Reserve] Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, receiving his discharge in the following July as ‘unlikely to become an efficient soldier on medical grounds’.[6]  Died: Surrey Northeastern district in 1936.

Sillett, Horace Sidney – Born: Harleston, Norfolk on 2.5.1898.[7]  Parents: James Frederick Sillett (Engine Driver at Cornard Flour Mill) and Elizabeth [née Wisken].  Family Connections: Brother to Ernest William Sillett [b1886], Arthur Bertie Sillett [b1887], Herbert Sillett [b1890], Leonard Albert Sillett [b1894] and Percy Frank Sillett [b1896].   Home: 5 Girling Street, Sudbury, Suffolk (1901), 23 Plough Lane, Sudbury (1911 to 1921), 5 Southgate Street, Long Melford (1939) to [1967].  Occupation: Engine Stoker (1921), Malt Roasting Engineer (1939).  Married: Mabel Johnson in 1929.  Service Record: Although no definitive military record has been found, Horace may have enlisted as Pte.39843 with The Queen’s [Royal West Surrey] Regiment.  If this assumption is correct then he was transferred as Pte.65696 to 13^th [Service] Battalion, Royal Fusiliers [City of London] Regiment, then to 10^th [Service] Battalion, Royal Fusiliers and finally as Pte.70220 to the Suffolk Regiment.  Both Royal Fusilier battalions mentioned saw action on the Western Front.[8]  Died: Long Melford, Suffolk on 18.6.1967.[9]

Sillett, Leonard Albert – Born: Harleston, Norfolk on 19.3.1894.[10]  Parents: James Frederick Sillett (Engine Driver at Cornard Flour Mill) and Elizabeth [née Wisken].  Family Connections: Brother to Ernest William Sillett [b1886], Arthur Bertie Sillett [b1887], Herbert Sillett [b1890], Percy Frank Sillett [b1896] and Horace Sidney Sillett [b1898].  Home: 5 Girling Street, Sudbury, Suffolk (1901), 23 Plough Lane, Sudbury (1911).  Service Record: Leonard enlisted in 1915 as Pte. G/3199 with 7^th (Service) Battalion, The Buffs [East Kent Regiment], being posted to France on 28.7.1915 as part of 55^th Brigade, 18^th [Eastern] Division.[11]  Died: Leonard was listed as killed in action on 1.6.1916 in the attack on German trenches at Montauban during the Battle of Albert on the opening day of the Somme Offensive.[12]  He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial [pier & face 5D], Thiepval, Departement de la Somme, Picardie, France and the War Memorial in Sudbury, Suffolk.[13]

Sillett, Percy Frank – Born: Harleston, Norfolk on 2.5.1898.[14]  Parents: James Frederick Sillett (Engine Driver at Cornard Flour Mill) and Elizabeth [née Wisken].  Family Connections: Brother to Ernest William Sillett [b1886], Arthur Bertie Sillett [b1887], Herbert Sillett [b1890], Leonard Albert Sillett [b1894] and Horace Sidney Sillett [b1898].  Home: 5 Girling Street, Sudbury, Suffolk (1901), 23 Plough Lane, Sudbury (1911).  Occupation: Agricultural Labourer (1911).  Service Record: Percy enlisted as Pte.20073 with 2^nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, being posted to France on 7.12.1915 as part of 76^th Brigade, 3^rd Division.[15]    Died: Private Sillett was listed as missing believed killed in action on 2.3.1916 when his division attacked a mound called The Bluff near St Eloi, three miles south-east of Ypres.  He is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial [panel 21], Ypres, Belgium and the War Memorial in Sudbury, Suffolk.[16]

Notes – [1] 1939 Register.  [2] Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363].  [3] Baptism Register of 11.11.1881 for St Johns Chapel, Redenhall, Norfolk.  [4] Supplement to The London Gazette 11.12.1945.  [5] Baptism Register of 14.7.1890 for St Johns Chapel, Redenhall, Norfolk.  [6] Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363].  [7] 1939 Register.  [8] For details of the movements of 13^th and 10^th Royal Fusilier battalions see War Diaries [WO 95/2532/2 and WO 95/2538/3] and [WO 95/2532/1] respectively.  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372]. [9] National Probate Calendar.  [10] Baptism Register of 14.6.1894 for St Johns Chapel, Redenhall, Norfolk.  [11] Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 [11/D/73048].  For details of the battalion’s movements see The Buffs’ War Diary [WO 97/2049].  [12] For a view of the day in question see Chris McCarthy The Somme: The Day-to-Day Account [London: Brockhampton Press, 1998] pp.16-18.  [13] Commonwealth War Grave Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 [ref: 343267].  [14] 1939 Register.  [15] Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329], Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372] and Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 [11/D/73048].  [16] Commonwealth War Grave Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 [ref:274208].