Private Samuel Richard Whitfield, Brook Lane, Halghton
Private 1575 Welsh Horse, (Card – Transferred 9th Lancers); 25850 E. Surreys
Joined January 1916 (Card- pencil note says 20 Dec 1915)
Samuel was born 4th August 1892 in Bronington to parents Richard Whitfield & Ellen Dimelow. He was baptised in Holy Trinity Church 4th September.
He attended Hanmer school.
1901 with parents & siblings at Moss Side, Hanmer
1911 farm worker at Lane Farm, Penley
His death was ‘presumed’ on 23rd March 1918, no known grave. Commemorated on Arras Memorial
Notes from Rev Clive Hughes:
SDGW states born Bronington, enlisted as Trooper 1575 in the Welsh Horse at Whitchurch. Later transferred as Private 25850 in the 12th Battalion East Surrey Regiment, with whom (according to his Medal Index Card) he first entered a theatre of war. No known grave – commemorated by name on Bay 6 of the Arras Memorial, France. [Two other soldiers from this general area started off as troopers with the new Welsh Horse Yeomanry raised in part by Lord Kenyon, and were transferred to the 9th Lancers (actually, the Cavalry reserve in the UK and not the regiment in France) before proceeding to the East Surrey Regiment’s 12th or 13th battalions. The 12th (Bermondsey) Battalion was originally raised in May 1915 and served in the 41st Division in France from May 1916. It served during the Battle of the Somme in Sept-Oct 1916; the operations at Messines June 1917, and the Third Battle of Ypres esp. against the Pilckem Ridge July-Aug 1917 and the Battle of the Menin Road 20-25 Sept 1917. During 12-18 November 1917 the Division was transferred to the Northern Italian Front where it served on the front behind the River Piave, northwest of Treviso from 30 November until 28 February 1918. Expecting the Germans to launch a major western front offensive, it was then moved back to France by 9 March. The attack was launched on the Somme on 21 March (The First Battle of the Somme 1918), and the Division was engaged at the Battle of St.Quentin 21-23 March; the Battle of Bapaume 24-25 March, then the First Battle of Arras 1918 on 28 March. These consecutive actions were effectively a fighting retreat in the face of overwhelming enemy numbers, and those casualties who were not captured had to be buried by the Germans, their graves often not being recorded.]
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/776968/whitfield,-samuel/
Hanmer WW1 