2nd Lieutenant, Lionel Hugh FLETCHER-WOODS
Aged 31
Killed in Action on Tuesday 14th November 1916
FLETCHER-WOODS, Lionel Hugh
2nd Lieutenant, Lionel Hugh FLETCHER-WOODS
Aged 31
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He was born in Stechworth on 9th November 1885 [Newmarket 3b:526] to Charles Fletcher and Mary Elizabeth WOODS (née EMMOTT), of
"The Laurels", Stetchworth. His father had first married Mary Elizabeth GEORGE in Bedford in 1865 (Eleanor's mother) and then in Poole in 1880 married Mary Elizabeth EMMOTT. 1891 census...Lionel (entered as Luriel) [5] was at the Laurels with his father Charles F. [40]Architect/Surveyor born Woburn, Beds; his mother Mary E. [39 born Gomeldon, Salisbury, and his half sister Eleanor [22] born Woburn, and brothers Rollo C F [9] born Waveden, Bucks and Cyril F F [3] born Stetchworth. 1901 census...Lionel and brother, Rollo, were working as Government clerks and lodging at 32 Connaught Road, Willesden, London. His parents and brother Cyril were now at "Ellerslie", Rous Road, Newmarket, (the enumerator has moved Kingwood Beds to Hampshire !).His father died in 1905, his mother died in 1910. 1911 census...Lionel was clerk in Customs & Excise, still with his brother Rollo, lodging at 32 Connaught Road, Willesden. The family surname is sometimes Fletcher-Woods, and sometimes simply Woods with Fletcher as a given name. Lionel is on the Roll of Honour of All Saints School, with his brother Cyril, but not on the town memorial or All Saints Church roll for some unknown reason. possibly as he was living away for some time. Cyril's notification of Lionel's death appeared in the Newmrket Journal on 10th November 1917. His elder brother Cyril died in 1918.. see here His brother Rollo Charles married Edith Amy BRUCE in West Ham in 1911, and he drowned in the Thames near Kew Bridge on 15th May 1919. |
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Lionel was killed leading a bombing attack near Butte de Warlencourt and was re-buried in Warlencourt British Cemetery. The 14th November was near the end of
the Battle of the Somme, and the Butte de Warlencourt was a mound from which the Germans overlooked the British postions. It was not taken by the British until
late 1917 despite frequent attempts to capture it. It is now owned by the Western Front Association. "The Butte de Warlencourt had become an obsession. Everybody wanted it. It loomed large in the minds of the soldiers in the forward area and they attributed many of their misfortunes to it. The newspaper correspondents talked about 'that Miniature Gibraltar'. So it had to be taken. It seems that the attack was one of those tempting, and unfortunately at one period, frequent, local operations which are so costly and which are rarely worthwhile." Lieutenant Colonel Roland Bradford VC, 9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, report of attack on the Butte de Warlencourt, 5 November 1916, Durham Light Infantry Museum and Art Centre He was fond as shown below, and re-interred in Warlencourt in 1920 |
Family plot Newmarket Cemetery Old Ground E:293 © Chris & Jean Cosgrove (Scotland) via Pierre Vandervelden www.inmemories.com
© Commonwealth War Graves Commission
click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details