As some of you will have seen in the local newspaper ‘All the Kingsley Men’ has so far raised in excess of £1200 in donations. We are down to our last dozen books or so with a couple already waiting to go out.

We are delighted that the effort put into writing the book and the research behind it will benefit the current generation of our community. The money raised will be split four ways with equal shares going to Kingsley Village Hall, St Werburgh’s Church, Kingsley Royal British Legion and Kingsley Holt Chapel.

The first of the donations saw a cheque presented to Ivor Lucas Chair of Kingsley British Legion at the village hall earlier this week.

Ivor is pictured with the two authors of the book.

We continue to receive some very kind words about the book and the latest really is worth sharing. It is from a relative of George Wheawall who died in 1917.

She writes ‘I’ve just had a quick look at the book, it’s so much more than I expected. Just a wonderful book its made me cry. Thank you so much for your time and effort that you have put into this book. We will treasurer it’

Kind words indeed.

We have also been contacted by a  relative of Charles and Hamlet Hulland and eagerly await any feedback and hopefully some photographs to be included in our second edition which will be an Ebook published in 2018.

And not forgetting why we share.

The project clearly focuses on Kingsley Parish and its contribution to World War One.

Much of our research overlapped into other areas especially Cheadle and the villages surrounding and whilst much of the information never made the book due to not being relevant we have always been all too willing to share our research freely.

After the book launch in April, we came into possession of numerous photo’s courtesy of a local man. Several were unknown but on the basis that they might be Kingsley men and relevant to our work efforts were made to identify them.

One was identified by a friend to the project as Enoch Hoyland from Cheadle who died in 1916 on the Somme.

All our photos as well as being on the website were shared with a website called www.ww1photos.org to ensure these men’s memories and stories were not lost and were shared far and wide.

A few weeks ago the website owner made contact to say that a relative of Enoch Hoyland from Warwickshire who was searching for information on him had come across the site and our photo of Enoch. They did not have photos of him during his service and are naturally delighted to now have a photo from his time in the army.

Research locally has revealed newspaper articles relating to his death (which include the above photo) and later to the death of his brother George who died in captivity as a POW in 1918.

Enoch was just 19 when he died, his family came from the Green in Cheadle. Remarkably his death is recorded in a book called ‘A Gunner’s War’ written by Ian Ronayne from the memoires of Enoch’s friend Clarence Ahier who was present when he died.

Below is an extract from the book relating to Enoch, if you click on it then it will open in a fresh browser tab.

This site and the project it is linked to is all about World War One, the various centenaries and the men and woman who served in that conflict.

However 25 years after the start of WW1 the second World War commenced and we are now seeing 75 year anniversaries of Dunkirk, the  Battle of Britain, Al Alamein and the like and local men and woman were involved.

Today is 75 years since the raid at Dieppe in France, where a mainly Canadian force landed in what was an attempt to take pressure off the Russian’s on the Eastern Front and also to test how to carry out amphibious landings.

Many called it a disaster and in excess of 4000 men were either killed, taken prisoner or wounded. The Royal Navy transported the men to the beaches on large ships and in small landing craft once offshore. The landing craft were crewed by men of the Royal Navy.

One such man was 18 years old George Flanagan who was the son of James Flanagan a WW1 veteran who featured on this site and features in our book All The Kingsley Men. The family lived ultimately at 7 and later 48  Sidney Drive Kingsley Holt after living in Kingsley for a spell.

George worked at Bolton’s who had once again moved over to war work producing munitions and as such he was in a reserved occupation and unlikely to be called up.

However, he wanted to join the navy and did so as soon as he could. All we know is that George was on a landing craft and as such would have been on the frontline and in great danger as his craft took men and machines to the beaches.

The Royal Navy lost 33 landing craft and over 500 men were killed or wounded. George was one of those killed and was posted missing and his family notified. His mother always thought he would return one day, so much so that she left his coat hanging up on a peg by the door.

It was only after the war that they discovered he had been killed and buried under the name of his sweetheart Sarah Winton. It seems that prior to him going off to war they both had bracelets made with each other’s name on. One can only imagine why those burying his body did not recognise it to be that of a man.

How this came to be found out is a fascinating story. Jim Flanagan was hurt in a factory accident and as compensation Bolton’s gave him a better-paid job. He saved this additional money and used it to visit the Dieppe area to tour the cemeteries with his wife Mary in the hope of finding George’s grave.

After several unsuccessful visits, Mary found a grave marked with Sarah Winton’s name on and realised it was George’s grave. George’s body was exhumed and reburied with the correct name – initially, the marker was a wooden cross but later it was marked by the traditional CWGC headstone.

Jim as he was known and his wife Mary visited their son’s grave into the 1950’s and are pictured with it. They also visited Brown’s Copse Cemetery also in France where Mary’s brother George Wheawall is buried having lost his life in 1917, indeed the centenary of his death was marked very recently on the site.

George’s name is commemorated on the Wayside Cross in Dovedale Road Kingsley and also on a tablet in St. Werburgh’s Church.

As the war intensified so the casualty rate amongst Kingsley’s men increased. George Wheawall was the sixteenth man with links to die in the war which was by that time into its fourth year.

Another nine men were to die in the next 14 months of the war and a further four would die afterwards as a result of their service

George was shot by a sniper whilst bring in a wounding man in the Arras area. In the spring of 1917 the area was at the centre of the battle for Arras and the cemetery where he is buried (Brown’s Copse) is another of those stunningly sad and beautiful sites cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The project team were honoured to visit Georges final resting place last year and to place a poppy cross on behalf of the community and his family.

Further tragedy was to befall the family as George’s wife died in 1918 in the great flu pandemic and his two boys were looked after by George’s sister Mary and her husband Jim Flanagan, who himself was a veteran.

George’s full story can be read HERE

The photo adjacent is a fascinating then and now picture of Brown’s Copse comparing it in the war to more recently.

The project team had until last year being in touch with George’s descendants, Mandy Jones and her father but we have lost touch recently. If they read this or you know the family please ask them to get in touch via this page.

Today is also 99 years since George Ramsell lost his life in 1918.

The centenary commemorations of the First World War see not only those of large battles and significant events, they also commemorate the deaths of men like Thomas Barker.

There was some doubt as to the date of death, the Commonwealth War Graves lists it as 5th August, there are two entries in successive days in the war diary of his unit and the plaque in St. Werburgh’s dates his death as 8th August.

From research, we are confident that the date of his death by drowning was 5th August.

He has relatives still living in Kingsley but to date we have been unable to locate a photograph of him.

His life story can be found HERE 

Last night, Sunday 30th July 2017 saw a most moving ceremony in the Belgium town of Ypres where the Last Post was played as it is on every single night, in the presence of the Royal families of both Great Britain and Belgium.

The event which was shown live on the BBC commemorated the eve of the centenary of the Third Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele as it is also known.

Not unusually Kingsley has a link to that battle in that Frederick Capewell (standing in the picture to the left) who was serving with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and was as far as our research shows present at the battle, in the later stages at least.

Those of you who watched last night will have seen historian Richard Van Emden talking about Harry Patch who is well known as the ‘last fighting Tommy’ as he was the last surviving man to have served in the trenches of World War One.

Harry was also in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and served in the same Battalion as Frederick.

Throughout our research, we have continued to find that the men of Kingsley were present at many of the great battles of the War be it at the Marne, on the Somme, at Jutland and now at Passchendaele.

These men provide a local link to the horrors of World War One and ensure that we do not forget that this was a conflict that affected every community and every family within those communities.

Frederick’s story and that of his brothers can be found HERE 

The commemoration events since August 2014 have been all about centenaries, the start of the war, the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Arras and next year the end of the war.

However, it is also about centenaries of many men’s deaths and the latest Kingsley man whose centenary it is, is Edward Bradshaw.

Edward lived at Haste Hill Cottage at the top of what is now Haste Hill Avenue and joined up in early 1916  and found himself serving in a Scottish Regiment.

He was a brave and well-liked soldier and before his death had spent a whole day in a shell hole tending to his platoon commander who had been badly wounded. He was, it is believed in line for an award for his actions but was to lose his left before anything was done and his officer had also lost his life succumbing to his wounds.

Edward continues to be remembered and as you read this his descendant, Janet Walton and her husband Phillip will be at his grave just outside Arras in France.

To read about Edward click HERE for his story and HERE for transcripts of his letters home.

Whilst the book is not in effect being sold, more exchanged for a charitable donation it is still very pleasing to report that around 275 copies from our run of 300 have now found homes.

In turn, we have raised in excess of £900 for the identified local causes which is a fantastic amount and will make a difference when distributed.

Books have gone as far north as Sheffield and Manchester, to Wales and south to Cambridge and Stevenage as well as a copy to Belgium.

Today, Monday 15th May saw the first of our donations with Cheadle Library being the recipient of a copy for their reference section. We hope those who come to refer to the book find it a useful resource.

Further donations to St. Werburgh’s School and the Stoke on Trent and Stafford Archives are planned in the coming weeks.

Subscribers to this site will as normal receive an email in their inboxes detailing this post. If any of you wish to have a copy of the book and have yet to request one please do so before we run. Postage and packing is just £2.50 in addition to a donation (average is around £5)

The project team are delighted to announce that over 200 books have now found homes in return for donations of more than £750.

If anyone wishes to have a copy in return for a donation please do make contact.

As a result of the book launch, we have now sourced photographs of Joseph Tideswell, Frank Shaw, Enoch Wood and Roland Beardmore. They will be shared in due course. Another survivor has been identified (William Wood) and we have two more possibles that we are working on at present.

We have also sourced photographs of several men who are believed to have Kingsley connections but we don’t know who they are. It’s highly likely that these same photos are in albums and picture frames in people’s homes. These men may be already subjects in the book or possibly not but we would very much like to know who they are.

If you know who they are please do contact us via this site.

The feedback on the book has been very heartening. A selection of reviews are as follows:

“an excellent book that is a well-deserved result of all your hard work”

“The book is wonderful & I am so looking forward to reading it. We went to the war memorial & the church & it has really inspired us to look further into our family history”

“What a book!   It is excellent.  Well put together and I was really impressed by George William Hood, my Great Uncle, on the level of information that had been found since you first started.  It was great.”

“You have done a first class professional job on the book which is excellent.”

“thank you, both for all your hard work researching the book.”