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Wickhamford residents who served in WWI

Tom Locke has researched details of all those with a Wickhamford connection who served in World War I.  If you can provide more information or photographs about Wickhamford men and women who served in please email: wickhamford@badsey.net.

In addition to the ten men recorded on the War Memorial in the church, and others who had moved away before the War and are recorded on other memorials, the people recorded below who fought in the Great War of 1914-18 were all connected with Wickhamford at some time during their lives, before, during or after the war.  They were living in the village for the various censuses or were known to have lived in Wickhamford at some point in their lives.  Some were born or baptised there but their families moved away, some were married in the Church of St John the Baptist and some were buried in the churchyard or cemetery.

All available sources have been examined to find people who served and were associated with the village, including electoral rolls, the Parish Magazine, The Evesham Journal, the Register compiled in 1939 at the outbreak of WW2 and many family contacts.  The online sources include Ancestry, findmypast, Worcestershire Regiment Roll of Honour and the Commonwealth War Graves.   Ancestry is the most comprehensive source, with a Military section revealing the men’s Enlistment, Service, Casualty and Medal documents.  Many such papers were destroyed by fire and most files are incomplete, with some pages burned in parts.    Family members of the servicemen have been very generous in supplying photographs for the research.

The vast majority of the men were volunteers, most of them serving in infantry regiments, particularly the Worcestershire Regiment, others in the Artillery, Machine Gun Corps or Yeomanry; most were Privates.  Others were in the Royal Navy, the Royal Flying Corps the Royal Naval Air Corps and RAF.  A few had left Wickhamford for a life in Canada and returned with the Canadian Army.  There is one record here of a woman who served in Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps. Some men went before Military Tribunals and were instructed to enlist or told to join the Volunteer Training Corps for Home Defence. 

In addition to the list of men below, others had Wickhamford connections and details of their service can be found in other parts of the World War One section.  They are Horace Albert HALFORD (1887-1917), John Brooks GISBORNE (1892-1918), Victor James BAILEY (1896-1917), Alfred George HAYMAN (1884-1916), Henry Victor SANDEL (1898-1916), Frederick SMITH (1877-1916) and John WESTWOOD (1876-1916).  As mentioned above, details of the ten men recorded on the War Memorial in Wickhamford Church can be seen in that section - Robert Neale Menteith BAILEY (1882-1917), Vincent COLLEY (1894-1916), Frank COX (1898-1916), Roger Gillespie DRYSDALE (1888-1915), Ernest FALLON (1883-1915), Joseph HARRIS (1895-1916), Albert William HOLLAND (1898-1918), George MASON (1891-1917), Irvin Godfrey WILCOX (1886-1918) and Thomas WILLOUGHBY (1885-1917).

So far, details have been found of 180 people with Wickhamford connections who served in the Great War.