Since the publication of our book, many new facts have emerged about the men featured therein, and here we present them. Included is the important news of an additional WW1 casualty discovered since November 2007, the 129th from the town - Private John James Coles - full details below.
And although we sincerely hoped that our tome contained no errors, either factual or grammatical, it was inevitable that a small number will have snook through the proof reads.
So also listed below are the inaccuracies made known to us to date and for which we apologise.
Page 8a, a new page for a newly identified Raunds-born casualty:
Private, 267114, Arthur Abbott, 2nd/7th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment). Killed in Action, 21 March 1918, Commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France.
Arthur Abbott was born in Raunds on 7 January 1881, the son of John and Sarah Jane Abbott of Marshall's Road. By 1901, the family had moved to Hargrave and Arthur was working as a Army Shoe Closer.
He enlisted at Northampton and on 21 March 1918, his unit, the 2nd/7th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters, found themselves in the white-hot atmosphere of the first day of the German's final offensive of the war, "Der Kaiserschlacht" after which no identifiable trace of his body was found.
37 year old Arthur Abbott is remembered on the Arras Memorial, Bay 7, and also on the Hargrave War Memorial though not on the War Memorial at Raunds. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Page 19, John Henry Bamford: He was an active member of Raunds Athletic Football Club.
Page 31, Arthur Burton: His sister Flora married Enos Owen Coles (see below) in the Summer of 1910 and so subsequently lost both her husband and brother in the Great War.
Page 40, Jack Chapman Coles: He was born on 23 December 1898, however, he is NOT, as we previously believed, the J J Coles named on the town War Memorial. He therefore becomes the 22nd additional casualty of the Great War from Raunds.
Page 40a, the J J Coles named on the Raunds War Memorial is now confirmed as being:
Private, G/13879, John James Coles, 1st Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). Died, 29 March 1921, Buried in Raunds Cemetery.
John James Coles was born in Ringstead in 1883, the eldest of the five children of William and Elizabeth Marie Coles. In 1903, after his father died, his widowed mother moved the family to Raunds and married John Parker, who already had four children.
John first worked as a shoehand but then joined a company of travelling amusement caterers as a showman and was in this occupation when he enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment before transferring to the 1st Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment).
He was still with The Buffs when he received an honourable discharge in March 1919, but by now he was suffering the savage effects of the war as he had been admitted to the Upton Military Hospital, Northampton in January of the previous year, and it was here, 3 years 3 months and 23 days after admission, that he died, on the 29 March 1921, aged 38. The details on his death certificate suggest that he was a victim of the extreme symptoms of what has popularly become known as "shell shock".
He was brought home to Raunds and buried in the Cemetery, grave plot 315, block 1, on 1 April, the grave is unmarked. His death was the last of the men named on the Raunds War memorial. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
His brothers, Enos Owen Coles, Luther William Coles (page 41), and step-brother, Ernest Parker (page 86) were also Great War victims, thus making his mother's composite family the hardest hit in Raunds, losing four out of six serving sons!
Our thanks go to John J's nephew, also named John Coles, formerly of Raunds, and now of Kettering, for providing us with much of the above information.
Page 49, Arthur Llewellyn Fairy: He is also named in the Great War Memorial Book of Church Bell-Ringers on display in St Paul's Cathedral, London.
Page 53, Stanley Oswyn George: He is also named on the War Memorial at St Peter's Training College, Peterborough.
Page 57, Horace Francis Gunn: He was born in Raunds and not Higham Ferrers as erroneously stated on "Soldiers Died in the Great War".
Page 64a, a new page for a newly identified Raunds-born casualty:
Private, 18151, Edgar Jarvis, 1st Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment. Killed in Action, 24 November 1916. Buried at Serre Road No.2 Cemetery, France.
Edgar Jarvis was born in Raunds in the summer of 1895, the son of Joseph and Emma Jarvis, of Napleton Cottage on the Napleton Lodge estate.
He joined the Northamptons in 1915 embarking for France on 8 December 1915. Soon after the final conflicts in the Somme area in 1916, his battalion were to be found at Eaucourt L'Abbaye and it was here that Private Jarvis was killed by a trench mortar.
By the outbreak of the war his family had moved to Stanwick which is why his name appears on their War Memorial and not that of Raunds. Edgar Jarvis is buried in Serre Road No.2 Cemetery, grave reference XLI.H.5 and was awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War and Victory medals.
Page 70, Jesse Lawman: He was born in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, not Stapleford, Cambridgeshire - this was incorrectly assumed by enumerators during a 1901 Census transcription.
Page 75, Arthur March: His unit should read as the 1st/15th Battalion, London Regiment.
Page 81, Frederick Norris: His full name was Thomas J Frederick Norris.
Page 90, Jack Pentelow: The date of death should be 14 September 1920, and not 24 September 1920. We have also now confirmed that his is not the last death commemorated on the Raunds War Memorial as a result of discovering the information on John James Coles (see above).
Page 106, Richard Smith: He, like Cornelius Robins (page 100), was also one of the 1905 Raunds Bootmakers Marchers to London.
Page 109, William James Askham Smith: He was born in Kettering, not Raunds - see also the note below, ref Page 180, regarding his recently identified photograph.
Page 119, Percy Watson: Percy's middle name was Newman, his mother's name was Harriett Elizabeth (not Mary), and he was born in Kettering on 5 February 1892.
Page 133a, a new page for a newly identified Raunds casualty:
Able Seaman, R/6470, Edward WILLMOTT Hawke Battalion, Royal Naval Division Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Killed or Died as a direct result of enemy action, 28th September 1918
Born
in the town on 1 October 1899, the younger brother of Albert James (see
above), Edward Willmott is the only Royal Navy Great War casualty from
the town. Shortly after his death he was buried in a grave 11.75 miles
north east of Bapaume, the location of the grave, however, was
subsequently lost.
Able Seaman Willmott is commemorated on the
Vis-en-Artois Memorial to the Missing, France, on Panels 1 and 2, and
like his brother, he is not named on the Raunds War Memorial.
Page 135a, a new page for a newly identified Raunds casualty:
Private, 2815, John WRIGHTING 3rd Battalion, The Rifle Brigade Died of Wounds, 1st January 1915
Born
in Raunds in 1886, the younger brother of William (see below), and
husband of Florence Ellen Brockliss, John Wrighting was a career soldier,
having first joined the Colours in May 1908. He was wounded in late
1914 and died on New Year's Day, 1915. At the time of his death he and
his wife were living in Irthlingborough and he is remembered on their
War Memorial.
Having no known grave, Private Wrighting is
commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium, Panel 10 and was
awarded the 1914 Star, British War and Victory medals. Like his brother,
he is not named on the Raunds War Memorial.
Page 156, Kenneth Roy Johnson: He is also named on the Stanwick War Memorial.
Page 168, John Tansley was born in Paris, France not Raunds.
Page 171, Keith Webb lived in Park Avenue not Park Road.
Page 180, the 3rd photograph on the second row has now been identified as William James Askham Smith who is featured on page 109.
Our thanks go to Mrs Eileen Todd, the grand-daughter of WJAS's widow, for solving this mystery.
