Our Fallen Heroes 1914-1918
[comments and corrections are welcome]
CHARLES VICTOR BLAIN
Died, age 29, on 3rd September 1916 on the Somme.
Served in the 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment.
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Buried in Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz, France
Grave: V111 C5
Son of Annie Butterworth and the late Charles Blain.
Charles was the fifth child of Charles and Annie Blain’s nine children.
The family lived in Navigation Road, Castle, and Northwich in 1891.
Charles Blain Sen. was a Stonemason. By 1901 the family was in Boundary Lane, Lostock Gralam and young Charles was an Ironmonger’s Assistant. His Father died in 1898 and Annie married James Edward Butterworth in 1899. James Butterworth was a Clerk at the Chemical Works.
By 1911 Charles Victor was already in the Cheshire Regiment and was stationed at Chester Castle.
HERBERT HARTLEY
Died, aged 18, on 18th April 1918 on the Somme.
Served in the 1st Battalion King’s Liverpool Regiment.
Service number: 96515.
Buried in Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery Extension, France
Grave: 11 L1
Son of Mrs Priscilla Hartley (nee Keen) of Poplar View, Comberbach
Priscilla Keen was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Keen. The Keen family was an old Comberbach family. She married William Hartley, born in Antrobus and he died in 1909 aged 34.
They had eight children of whom six survived. Priscilla also cared for her brother Herbert Keen who by 1911 is described as an ‘invalid, formerly Alkali Labourer’.
PETER MADDOCK
Died, aged 35, on 29th October 1916 in Serbia
Served in the 12th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment.
Rank: Private.
Service number: 13190
Buried in Karasouli Military Cemetery, Greece
Grave: A 121
Peter was the son of Hannah E. Maddock and her late husband, Thomas E. Maddock. In 1911 Peter was a Railway Porter, living with his widowed Mother, in Senna Lane, Comberbach. She worked part-time as a General Servant. In 1891 his Father, Thomas Maddock was a Gardener’s Labourer.
In 1901 Hannah was a widow and Peter, aged 15, was a Coal Carter. By the time he enlisted, in 1914 he was a Shunter.
JOHN GILES BRAMHALL
Died, aged 24, on 1st August 1917, at Bellewaarde Ridge, Flanders
Served in the 14th Cheshire Regiment
Rank: Lance Corporal
Service number: 36583
Commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial
John Giles Bramhall was the son of Robert and Sarah Bramhall. In 1911 the family were living in the School House in Comberbach. John was born in Great Budworth and was a Domestic Gardener.
Shortly before being sent to France, in 1916, he had married Mary Alice Beswick and they then lived in Hartford at Pulcree, Chester Road, in the house of a Mrs Moreton. Robert and Sarah had also moved to Hartford by then, to Heyesmere Cottage. John suffered from shell shock but was sent back to fight again. He was killed in the third Battle of Ypres at the Bellewaarde Ridge. His widow, Alice Mary Bramhall later married again in Staffordshire and had a daughter, Joan Taylor, in 1924.
WILLIAM MILLINGTON
Died of wounds, aged 22, on the 5th August 1915, in Flanders.
Served in the 8th Battalion, Rifle Brigade
Rank: Rifleman
Service number:
Commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial
William Millington was the son of Joseph and Eliza Millington of Comberbach. In 1901 they lived at Holly Cottage, Senna Lane and Joseph was a Farmer. By 1911 he is a Farm Bailiff. William enlisted in 1914 when he was 21 and died of wounds 10 months later. His war record includes a list of personal effects. In 1919 his brother Joseph was living in Cogshall Lane and his sister Mrs Mary Robinson, on Marbury Lane (ie Marbury Road).
JOHN CYRIL RIGBY
Died aged 19, on 22nd March 1918 on the Somme.
Served in the 58th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)
Rank: Private
Service number: 116095
Commemorated on Pozieres Memorial (Panel 90-93)
Son of Thomas and Kate Rigby.
John Cyril was born at Bradley, near Frodsham. In 1901 his Father, Thomas, was a Farmer but by 1911 the family were living at Holly Bank, Comberbach and Thomas was a Clerk at a chemical works. His residence is given as Warrington in his army records.
JOHN WILLIAM TURNER
Died aged 23, on 19th August 1917 on the Somme
Served in the 15th Battalion Cheshire Regiment
Rank: Private
Service number: 14734
Commemorated at Thiepval (pier & face 3c & 4a)
Son of Peter and Mary Turner of Comberbach.
Peter Turner was a Chemical Labourer and had been born in Comberbach. Mary was from Whitley. They had nine children, one of whom had died by 1911. By then their son, John William was 17 and working as a Farm Labourer, like his brother, Peter Turner.
JAMES HENRY HULME
James enlisted in London on July 26th 1915, aged 20. He was a Farmer and seems to have gone to Canada, only to return to join up. He was the son of George Reddish Hulme and his wife, Hannah, who was born in Comberbach. George was born in Minshull Vernon and was probably not related to the Walter Hulme (born in Great Budworth) who was the Blacksmith in Comberbach. George was a Carter at the chemical works. By 1911 James Henry Hulme was working at a farm in Whitley, run by Thomas Antwis, as a Milk Boy.
RICHARD HENRY MADDOCK
Died, aged 29, on 21st May 1916 in Mesopotamia.
Served in the 8th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment.
Rank: Private.
Service number: 24208
Buried in Amara War Cemetery Part II, Iraq
Grave: XXII E 1
Husband of Fanny Maddock.
Richard Henry Maddock married Fanny (nee Gibbons) in 1908. She was born in Middlewich.
In 1911 they were living at Gibb Hill Cottage with their two-year-old son, Fred. Richard was a Groom and Domestic Gardener. He was born in Crow Nest Lane, Comberbach, to Arthur and Mary Maddock. They had a large family of nine children.
JOSEPH M. RADCLIFFE
Died, aged 25, on 19th June 1917 in Flanders
Served in the 1st Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment (Territorial Force)
Rank: Rifleman
Service number: 226914 (4549)
Buried in Loos British Cemetery.
Grave number: XIXc9
Husband of Elsie Radcliffe.
Joseph was born in Northwich, the son of John and Mary Ann Ratcliffe. In 1901, they lived at 6 Oak Street, Northwich. He married Elsie Whitby of Comberbach in 1914, and they had two daughters, Gladys (b.1915) and Margaret (b. 1916). After his death, Elsie went on to marry John Robinson in 1919; they lived in a cottage on the Moss (now demolished) and had five children: John, Thomas (who died in WWII and whose name also appears on the War Memorial), Arthur, Rene and George Robinson.
BERTIE CHARLES SUTTON
Died 1929, possibly as a result of a medical condition exacerbated by war service.
Served in the 9th South Lancs Regiment
Rank: Lance Corporal, Private
Service number: 13471
Served in France.
Discharged: 17th January 1917
Bertie Charles Sutton was the son of George Thomas Sutton and his wife, Florence nee Pennels. He was born in 1893 in Woodnesborough, Kent. The family moved to Cheshire when George Thomas Sutton was working as a Butler to the Brunner Family at Belmont Hall. Roscoe Brunner and his wife Ethel rented Belmont from 1906 until 1925. Bertie married Lily Whittaker in 1922. He died on February 9th 1929 and was buried at Great Budworth. His widow later married Fred Webster and had a daughter Denise C Webster who married Peter A. Stanway in 1957.
