Private Frederick Stevenson

I was born at 11am on the 11th of November into a family with a long history of military service. My father was on attached service with the Royal Engineers at the time  and I was named after my maternal grandfather who had died from the effects of gas inhalation at Passchendaele.  As a result I have always felt inextricably linked to Armistice Day.

Although Chailey is, as in 1914, a relatively sparsely populated parish, some  378 Chailey men are known to have undertaken military service during the 1914-18 war and it suffered disproportionately high losses. Sixty-four of those who served were killed in action, died of their wounds or from illness. Of the 64 only 26 have a known grave, others are named on vast memorials to the missing. I have visited many of the cemeteries and memorials over the past ten years. 


Lieutenant Gerald Ingram was the first casualty from the village; he was killed at Ypres in October 1914. Cecil Langridge was the youngest, just 16 when he, along with Sidney Bristow also from Chailey, were among the 1,020 men lost when HMS Invincible was sunk at Jutland in May 1916. Nine Chailey men - all from the Royal Sussex - were killed on the Somme in July and August 1916, including brothers Henry and George Saunders who died on the same day at Bazentin le Petit. Albert Padgham and Albert Plummer also died in the battle to take the ridge at Bazentin le Petit.  The latter was the eldest of three Plummer  brothers killed in action. Ernest Plummer  also died on the Somme, in September 1916. Owen Plummer, the youngest of the three, died near Douchy-les-Ayette in April 1917, one of 18 Chailey men that died in 1917, mostly at Arras and at Ypres where 14 were lost. And in 1918 twenty more were to die, most in the last 100 days, including three who died in the week of the armistice. 
  
My blip for today is the Commonwealth War Graves headstone of Private Frederick Stevenson, the only one of the 64 who is buried in the village, in the churchyard of the now redundant St Mary's Church. I was pleased to find that the CWGC have recently cleaned the headstone. Private Stevenson joined the Royal Fusiliers in 1916 but was later transferred to the Labour Corps. Initially reported as having died in France on 11th April 1918 he actually died at home on the 12th April 1918. Such is the fog of war.