No.L/11399, Sergeant, William MOTHERSOLE
Aged 34
|
Born in 1881 (2nd qtr Bury St.Edmunds 4a617) son of Thmoas and Mary Ann MOTHERSOLE (née GAME)
1881 census...Aged 2 weeks he was at 15 Etna Road, Bury St.Edmunds with his grandparents Charles and Mary GAME; his father Thomas MOTHERSOLE [22] a watchmaker; his mother Mary [19] and brother Thomas Mothersole[1]. His parents and brother were born in Bury St.Edmunds. His father died before the 1891 census (5/4/1891) 1891 census...Aged 10, he was at 131 Eastgate Street, Bury St.Edmunds with his widowed mother (needlewoman; brothers Thomas and Percy [4]; sisters Ellen S [7]and Florence [6]) 1901 census...Aged 20, a floor cloth labourer, he 27 York Road, Edmonton lodging with the SPOONER family. Still at 131 Eastgate Street were his mother; sisters Ellen and Florence; brother Percy (errand boy); boarder widower Frederick HUNT [43] carter born Rougham and his son Frank [12] errand boy born Bury St.Edmunds. Brother Thomas was also in Edmonton, another floor cloth labourer, lodging at 8 Leopold Road . In 1903 his mother married Frederick HUNT. 1911 census...not found in this census. His mother, stepfather and sister Ellen were at Stanchils Farm, Hengrave. The pension card has his mother, Mary Ann HUNT at 17 Horringer Road, Bury St.Edmunds |
|
He enlisted in Stratford. The following appeared in the Bury Free Press on 2nd October 1915:- NATIVEOF BURY MISSING - SERGT.W.MOTHERSOLE " A GOOD N.C.O."..... Mrs Mothersole, late of 131 Eastgate Street, Bury St.Edmunds, has received intimation as to her second son, Sergt.William Mothersole, a native of Bury, of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. It was in June last that the mother had a communication from the War Office stating that he was posted as "missing". It is believed that he was at the Dardanelles. Mrs Mothersole's youngest son, Coy Qtr Mstr Sergt P.E.Mothersole, who is fighting in France, received the following letter, which he forwarded to his mother: 2nd Battalion RoyalFusiliers 3-8-15 Dear Qtr Mstr Sergt - Your letter regarding your brother has been passed to me. I am afraid none of us are able to give you definite information regarding his fate, but I will describe briefly the engagement after which he was reported missing. I will do this because, although we all sincerely hope he was taken prisoner and is still alive, it is not fair to raise such hopes in the minds of his relatives. You being a soldier will quite understand what I mean On the night of the 22nd May his Company had order to advance about one hundred yards to the front of our original line and dig in, with the object of straightening out our line. They were told not to fire, but use cold steel only to turn out some Turks who were occupying a trench about ninety yards or so to their front. They went splendidly and commenced digging in. The Turks in the first trench however did not wait but must have retired and informed their main line what was happening. At about 2 am a very heavy machine gun and rifle fire was concentrated on our advanced party, and at the same time under cover of some dead ground a line of their bomb men advanced and threw bombs into our line. In spite of them however, our people held their ground until about 4am, although suffering heavily. The order was given to retire and those who could came back to our own line.I questioned several of Sergt. Mothersole's platoon, but save knowing that he advanced all right with them, I could get no other information. Nobody saw or knew whether he had been hit. We advanced a few days afterwards, and in fact got much beyond the line we had intended occupying that night. Many of our fellows were found and buried, but no trace whatever could we find of poor Mothersole and up to date nothing has been sent in by other units. So there are only two possibilities open; one is that he may have been taken alive, and we would all sincerely hope that such is the case;and the other is that he may have been knocked over in the advance and been buried by the Turks. I know how you feel, and your poor old Ma must feel because of the uncertainty of his fate, and I feel doubly grieved because I know none of us can give you definite information. He was a good N.C.O. and did his work fearlessly and well and although it is poor consolation for his relatives it may perhaps ease their minds even a little to know that we all deeply sympathise with you in his loss, because as |I say, he was a good N.C.O. and popular with all his comrades. Trusting you will pull through the war quite safely, and hoping you will convey our deepest sympathy to his mother. I remain, Your sincerely F HUBAND Sergt Major.
click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
