No. 103419, Private, Arthur ARNOLD
Aged 23
(enlisted as No.13696, 9th Battalion Suffolk Regiment)
Killed in Action on Monday 22nd April 1918
He is not named on the Newmarket War Memorial
ARNOLD, Arthur
No. 103419, Private, Arthur ARNOLD
Aged 23
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There may well be some confusion over his mother's history Born in Exning in Q3-1899 [Newmarket 3b:510] to 23 yrs old Caroline ARNOLD, a Soham girl, whose parents Charles and Rosanna ARNOLD (née PECK) had moved from Soham to Exning by 1891. 1901 census...Aged 1, he was with his mother at the Workhouse, Exning Road, Newmarket. 1911 census...Aged 11, he was still at the workhouse with his mother and it appears he now has brothers, Reginald [4] and Stanley George [10 months] His mother, at the time of his enlistment, was still in Exning Road, Newmarket, sometime after his enlistment she became Caroline WOOLLARD, Waterloo Farm Cottages, Great Stukeley, Huntingdon. This was her name and address on the pension card. No Arnold/Woollard marriage has been identified. She seems to be the Caroline WOOLLARD who died Oundle in 1928. Arthur was very much under age on enlistment on 8th September 1914, probably why he enlisted in West Row. His medical form comments on his immaturity. Later military records appear to have amended his age to something more like the truth, but still not accurate. It looks like he had added at least 4 years to his age. On enlistment he was 5'7" (170.2 cm)high and weighed 132 lbs(60.1 kg). He one time made Lance Corporal (19-5-1917 but was demoted for misconduct on 3rd April 1918. He was wounded (cheek) on 15th May 1916 and again, more seriously, (left leg and neck) on 14th September 1916. His records are part of the burnt records and as such are not all clearly legible. It appears he spent time in England at Birmingham War Hospital, then convalescing in Epsom. Then he was transferred to the Bedfordshire Regiment, but only for days, before ending up in the Sherwood Foresters only 15 days before being killed in action. |
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On the night of 26-27 March, the Germans entered Aveluy Wood and by 5 April it was mostly in their hands, in spite of the stubborn defence
of the 12th (Eastern), 47th (London) and 63rd (Royal Naval) Divisions. The wood was attacked in vain by several divisions before it was
finally cleared at the end of August. 20 men of the 10th Battalion died on 22nd April 1918, plus 22 of the 15th Battalion, mainly buried in Varenne or Aveluy Wood Cemeteries. Those unidentified are named on the Pozieres Memorial |
click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details