The Men Who Came Home

It is difficult to calculate with any accuracy just how many men from Brimington signed up to fight in the Great War.  The official 'Electoral list 1914-1918' for the village lists less than 300 men away on Military Service during that period,  yet some figures show around 750+ enlistments from the village.
 

We know that many British army regiments recruited constantly in Brimington and the area to entice its young men to 'take the Kings shilling'  throughout the war. So there were many men who are deemed to  be from Brimington, but had never actually lived in the village – just enlisted there. 
 

So the list below is therefore just a "snap-shot"  of some of the men who returned from the war – and who had resided in Brimington at some time.

 

 

Rank

Name

Regiment

Army no

Known to have lived

Private

William Ernest Allen

ASC

143785

Heywood Street   

Private

John Bernard Roden Allen

Leicesters

18317

33 Heywood Street

Private

Frederick Atherton

Roy Scots Guard

44708

18 Burnell Street

Private

Joseph Lewis Barlow

Sherwoods

14977

Brimington Common

Private

Rueben Baxter

Leicesters

11073

Heywood Street

Private

William Fred Bishop

General Service

78075

14 Princess Street

A/Corp

John James Brelsford

RFA

-

24 Coronation Road  

A/Corp

Leslie Brelsford

RFA

203591

62  Princess Street,

Sgt

Vernon Brelsford

Durham Light Inf

2897

62  Princess Street,

Private

Claude Henry Briggs

RFA

21618

Heywood Street

Private

Clifford Higton Brown

Gren Guards

32182

 21 High Street

Private

Albert Brown

Lincolns

11984

 142 Station Rd  

Private

Norman Butler

Sherwoods

203524

18 Princess Street   

Gunner

Ambrose Cantrell

RFA

84802

Born in Brimington

Private

John E Cappendell

Lincolns

11203

King Street

Private

Wallis Cappleman

Labour Corps

-

60 High Street    

Private

William Chamberlain

Sherwoods

-

Station Road  

Gunner

Daniel Davenport

RGA

43747

Brimington Common

Private

Harold Davies

ASC

 

Heywood Street

Driver

Sydney John Duckmanton

ASC

55050

Church Farm, Brimington  

Gunner

Jack Eaton

MGC

27345

67 Victoria Street

Private

John Wilfred Edinboro

Tunneling Comp

-

 Church Street   

Driver

Arthur Edwards

RFA

-

13 Ringwood Road

Private

Birsha Edwards

Royal Fusiliers

1620

38 Burnell Street

Private

Charles Harold Evans

Yorks & Lancs

4981

3  Drakes Terrace

Gunner

John Thomas Fry

RGA

55445

 50 Foljambe Road

Private

Harry Gregg

Royal Garrison Art

 

21 Heywood St   

Private

Frank Hardy

Lincolns

61645

8 Burnell street  Brother

Private

Walter Hardy

Sherwoods

26876

8 Burnell street Brother

Private

Alfred John Harvey

ASC

116642

Coronation Road,

Sapper

Ernest Harvey

RE

65823

Heywood St & Foljambe Rd 

Private

Alfred Hawes

Coldstream Guards

14769

14 Cemetery Terrace

Private

Reuben Henry Henson

Royal Warwicks

65313

Coppress Farm 

Private

Walter Henson

RFA

22139

Coppress Farm 

Driver

Frederick Hoole

RFA

21151

Fidlers Lane, Brimington

Sapper

George Arthur Howard

RE

76300

193 Southmoor Road

Private

Benjamin Hutson

MGC

102371

74 Victoria Street

Private

John Jakins MM

Leicesters

12985

 9 Grove Lane Brimington    

Gunner

Bernard Lewis

Royal Artillery

21607

Farm, High Street Brimington  

Private

Ernest Reginald Lowe

Coldstream Guards

86666

47 Ringwood Road

Private

Joseph Lygo

Leicesters

14326

 Station Rd 

Private

Thomas Lynam

Seaforth Highlanders

 

70 Victoria Street

Private

Samuel Hermann Marsh

Sherwoods

23892

122 Brimington Common

Private

Burton Moore

Sherwoods

240083

110 Station Road 

Rifleman

Richard Henry Philipps

Rifle Brigade

7711

Victoria Street

Private

Arthur Revill

General Service

6582

74 Northmoor Road

Private

James Henry Reynolds

 

 

John Street

Private

William Rice

Scottish Rifles

22886

Newbridge Lane

Private

Albert James Scotney

ASC

81461

26 Foljambe Road

Private

Fredrick Smith

Sherwoods

24017

Cotterhill Lane

Private

Albert Victor Sperring

Yorks & Lancs

11988

26 Queen Street 

Sapper

Anthony Starbuck

 R E

60986

The Farm, High Street,

Private

Ivan Steele

Lincolns

52093

63 South Moor

Sapper

David Stevenson

RE

18296

Station road

Private

Frederick Strong

Durham Light Inf

105658

Station Terrace, Station Road

Private

Ernest Swift

Durham Light Inf

 

17 Cotterhill Lane

Private

James Swift

Sherwoods

4965829

22 Cemetery Terrace

Private

John Edward Swinson

Labour Corps

521457

66 North Moor Road

Private

John Henry Tims

GS Battalion

52738

High Street

Private

Horace Tomlinson

RE

35726

Hillside Cottage, Station Rd

Private

William Wisbey

ASC

26542

10 Queen Street

Private

Charles William Witham

Yorks & Lancs

13913

Brimington

 

Survivors Stories

Private Frederick Smith

Photo 'Derbyshire Times'

Fred Smith was one of the village men who went to war and came back. He was born in Cotterhill Lane in 1896 to George and Annie Smith. He was a miner at Oxcroft Colliery – before and after the war. 

He joined the Sherwood Foresters in November 1915 and on 1st July 1916 on the first day of the battle of the Somme; he was shot in the jaw. A bullet entered one side of his face, smashed his teeth and lodged in his other cheek. He was taken from the field and was eventually transported to Rouen Hospital, in France where he remained unconscious until the 4th July. He wrote to his mother from there and shortly afterwards he was shipped home. 

He was my godfather and I saw at first hand the affect his war had on him. A quiet reserved man, he would spend many hours alone, and never spoke of the war. He worked as a miner until his retirement.

As we started this pilgrimage I often thought of him and I still do, for he was an exceptional gentle man with a deep rooted sense of honour and dignity despite the horrors he endured

Stuart Mullins

Brimington's Six  - Brothers in Arms

All six sons of  Henry & Jane Hill  of Church Street, Brimington fought in the Great War - all were volunteers and each of them had a different experience.    Five came home. ---

William Hill  ( born 1883) was a miner and married his American wife Sarah in 1908. He  joined the Sherwood Foresters in 1915 and served with the regiment throughout the war and saw action in Belgium and in France.  He survived the war and had three children. He died in  Brimington

Thomas Hill ( born 1885) was already a soldier when war broke out – serving the Sherwoods.  He married his wife Sarah in spring 1914,  was captured by the Germans in October 1914 and remained a prisoner of war throughout the next four years and wasn’t released until after the armistice was signed. Unfortunately during his absence his wife had given birth to a child by another man.  Thomas divorced in Dec 1919, and remained in the Brimington area for many years.

Corp Ernest Hill

Ernest Hill  (born 1893)  was a Corporal with the 6th Bn Sherwoods (Territorial’s). He went out to Belgium in early 1915 and was one of the first from his battalion to be wounded -  he received a shrapnel wound to the foot.  It is reported that Hill      '....  with characteristic pluck of a Derbyshire soldier bandaged his wound and stayed at his post day and night until he was absolutely compelled to give as septic poisoning  had set it’    He was shipped back to Derby Hospital for treatment and eventually returned to his battalion .  He survived the war and died in Chesterfield in 1960. 

Private Wilfred Hill

Wilfred Hill  (born 1896)  joined the 7th Leicester in early 1915 along side a number of other Brimington men.- many who perished.  He appeared to come through the conflict unscathed. without a single injury.  He probably died in Chesterfield around 1950.

Private Job Hill

Job Hill  (born 1888)  He joined the Sherwood Foresters  in early 1915  and won the Military Medal in  April 1917 and suffered a gunshot wound to his back and right thigh.   He wrote to his wife Isabella from a military hospital in Oxford where he was recovering from his wounds  to tell her how he had won the medal-  ‘. .....we made an attack in the early morning and were making another about dinner time.  A tank went into action with us but was badly hit and set on fire in no mans land  I and a sergeant at once went to the rescue and I am pleased to say I succeed in getting one man out and carried him to safety under heavy fire.  So you see it wasn’t much and I only did my duty’.    He survived the war and lived for many years in Coronation Road.  He died in Brimington in 1958.

 

The one brother who did not survive was L/Corp Henry Rodgers -  the eldest 'Hill' brother who used the 'Rodgers' name for personal family reasons.  He died of his wounds on 17th July 1917.  His story is told on our 'Fallen' pages

 

(Our thanks to Peter Rodgers for the Hill brothers photographs)

 

 

Not Forgotten Brimington    Not Forgotten Brimington   

If you have any further information about Brimington’s soldiers or need help from us or would like to leave feedback please see contact us page for details

THIS MONTH
WE ARE REMEMBERING

 

 Our Brimington Wreath
laid at the Memorial Gates on Remembrance Sunday
 14th Nov 2021

   Remembrance Sunday 2021

THE SOMME - 1916

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