Selected Biographies

Whent, Arthur Edward – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 20.1.1889.[1]  Parents: Harry Walter Whent (Coachman) and Katherine [née Manning].  Family Connections: Brother to Percy Harry Whent [b1892] and Reginald Victor Whent [b1898]; also, nephew of James Whent [b1876].  Home: High Street, Long Melford (1891), The Green, Long Melford [1898], Church Terrace, Long Melford (1901), Home for Working Boys in London, Rossie House, 16 Queen Square, Holborn, London (1911), Pinetoft Lodge, Rushmere Road, Ipswich, Suffolk [1915], 22 Grove Villas, Poplar, London (1921), 5 Newby Place, Poplar, London [1922 to 1924], 22 Grove Villas, Poplar [1926 to 1939], 29 Pellatt Road, East Dulwich, London [1946 to 1961].  Occupation: Hospital Hall Porter (1911), Labourer (1921), Blacksmith’s Mate (1939).  Married: Mary Jane Heritage [d1930] in 1920.  Service Record: Arthur was conscripted on 13.11.1915 as Ordinary Seaman N^o. Z/3983 with the Royal Navy, attached to ‘B’ Company, 1^st [Drake] Battalion.  He was posted to France from 9.9.1916 as part of 189^th Brigade, 63^rd [Royal Naval] Division, seeing action at the Battle of the Ancre in mid-November, one of the last engagements of the Somme Offensive of 1916.  He received bullet wounds on three separate occasions: to his neck on 4.2.1917, to his thigh on 23.4.1917 and to his left eye on 30.12.1917.  The dates of Arthur’s later injuries can be tied to specific incidents; in April to the Second Battle of the Scarpe when the Division captured German positions at Gavrelle, and at the end of December when enemy troops dressed in white camouflage led a surprise attack on British positions along the snow-covered crest of Welsh Ridge.  At least five other Melford man were defending the Ridge on that day: Ernest Ambrose [b1878], Hubert Roy Barnes [b1898], Bertie Alfred Piper [b1893], George Henry Sansum [b1892] and Owen Charles Sewell [b1897].  Their stories are to be found elsewhere in this Roll.  Following his injury at the end of 1917 Arthur was invalided to England and was still receiving hospital treatment up to the end of March 1918.  He does not appear to have received his discharge however until August 1919.[2]  Died: East Dulwich, London on 28.8.1961.

Whent, Ernest James – Born: Alpheton, Suffolk on 12.3.1888.[3]  Parents: Enoch Whent (Horseman on Farm) and Sarah [née Sutton].  Home: Bridge Street, Long Melford (1891 and 1901).  Occupation: Machinist [1907].  Service Record: Ernest enlisted in 1907 as Pte.14719 with the Royal Marine Light Infantry, serving on the Bellerophon-class battleship HMS Superb from 6.5.1913 to 23.7.1915.  On 26.1.1916 he transferred to 1^st [Royal Marines] Battalion, being posted to France from 12.5.1916, as part of 188^th Brigade, 63^rd [Royal Naval] Division.[4]  Died: Private Whent was killed in action by a rifle grenade on 3.8.1916 and is buried in Tranchée de Mecknes Cemetery [grave ref: 1.H.13], Aix-Noulette, Pas-de-Calais, France.  He is commemorated on the Memorial Plaque in St Peter and St Paul Church, Alpheton, Suffolk and the Long Melford War Memorial.[5]

Whent, James – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 11.5.1876.[6]  Parents: George Whent (Agricultural Labourer) and Anna [née Horrex] (Horsehair Weaver).  Family Connections: Uncle of Arthur Edward Whent [b1889], Percy Harry Whent [b1892] and Reginald Victor Whent [b1898]; also, brother-in-law of William Thomas Snell [b1868].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1881 and 1891), 93 Tulip Street, Camden Town, London (1901), 58 Edenbridge Road, Mark Hill Park, Enfield, Middlesex (1911), 9 Collage Crescent, Hampstead, London (1921), 48 Durham Road, Brentford, Middlesex (1939) to [1950].  Occupation: Painter (1891), Draper’s Clerk (1901 to 1939).  Married: Maud Snell of Long Melford in 1916.  Service Record: James was conscripted on 27.11.1915 as Pte.17691 with 2^nd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, later transferring to 4^th [Extra Reserve] Battalion, East Surreys.  On 24.10.1918 he was issued with a Silver War Badge and discharged because of his wounds.  His injuries may have been sustained during the Salonika campaign where 2^nd Battalion was posted as part of 85^th Brigade, 28^th Division from December 1915.[7]  Died: Isleworth, Middlesex on 25.12.1950.[8]

Whent, Percy Harry – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 9.1.1892.[9]  Parents: Harry Walter Whent (Coachman) and Katherine [née Manning].  Family Connections: Brother to Arthur Edward Whent [b1889] and Reginald Victor Whent [b1898]; also, nephew of James Whent [b1876].  Home: The Green, Long Melford [1898], Church Terrace, Long Melford (1901), The Street, Drinkstone, Suffolk (1911), Rushmere Road, Ipswich, Suffolk [1915] to (1939).  Occupation: Agricultural Labourer (1911), Warehouseman [1915], General Labourer at the Co-operative Bakery (1939).  Married: Violet Mary Durrant in 1918.  Service Record: Percy was conscripted on 26.10.1915 as Dvr.1596 with III East Anglian [Howitzer] Brigade, Royal Field Artillery being discharged on 24.3.1916 as medically unfit.[10]  Died: Ipswich, Suffolk in 1943.

Whent, Reginald Victor – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 14.4.1898.[11]  Parents: Harry Walter Whent (Coachman) and Katherine [née Manning].  Family Connections: Brother to Arthur Edward Whent [b1889] and Percy Harry Whent [b1892]; also, nephew of James Whent [b1876].  Home: The Green, Long Melford [1898], Church Terrace, Long Melford (1901), The Street, Drinkstone, Suffolk (1911).  Service Record: Reginald was attested as Pte.31488 with 1/4^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, being posted to France as part of 98^th Brigade, 33^rd Division.  This battalion saw action during the Somme Offensive of 1916 and in 1917 at the Second Battle of the Scarpe and Third Battle of Ypres.  At the action on the Scarpe on 23.4.1917 the Suffolks lost 315 men in gaining its objective at Guémappe.[12]  Died: Private Whent died of wounds from enemy shellfire during the Third Battle of Ypres on 24.9.1917, while his battalion was moving up to takeover frontline trenches at Bellegoed Farm, east of Ypres.  He is buried in Locre Hospice Cemetery [grave ref: III.A.5]. Heuvelland, Belgium and commemorated on Long Melford War Memorial.[13]

Notes – [1] Baptism Register 28.2.1889, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [2] For details of Drake Battalion’s movements on the Western Front see War Diary [WO 95/3114/1].  See also his Royal Naval Division: Records of Service [ADM 339/1/40915] and Medal and Award Rolls [ADM 171/129].  For an impression of the conditions on the day of the assault on Welsh Ridge see John Nash’s painting Over the Top at the Imperial War Museum in London.  [3] Date of birth from his RM Record.  [4] Royal Marines: Registers of Service [ADM 159/187] and corroborated by the Admiralty file [ADM 242].  For details of 1^st Royal Marines movements see War Diary [WO 95/3110/1].  See also Medal and Award Rolls [ADM 171/171].  [5] Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.  Ernest Whent’s entry on the Long Melford Roll of Honour lists him a being a member of the Machine Gun Corps which is at variance with the extant documents.  It is possible that he was transferred to his Brigade or Divisional Machine Gun Company after his arrival on the Western Front.  Alternatively, his Royal Marine Light Infantry Record may have been misread when the Roll of Honour was being produced as it gives his occupation as ‘Machinist’.  [6] 1939 Register for Ealing District in Middlesex. [7] Rank and Battalion given on Marriage Register 15.7.1916, All Saints Church, Hampstead, London.  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War, Silver War Badge [WO 329] record [ref: B49835], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372]. [8] National Probate Calendar.  [9] Baptism Register 6.3.1892, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [10] Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363] and Soldiers’ Documents and Pension Claims, First World War [WO 364].  [11] Baptism Register 5.6.1898, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  [12] For details of 1/4^th Suffolk’s movements around the time of Reginald’s death see War Diary [WO 95/2427/2] and Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. R. Murphy, The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927 [London: Hutchinson and Co, 1928], pp.225-28.  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [13] Commonwealth War Graves Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 564269].