3rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. Regimental number GS/14575.
Samuel was born in Keighley on 9th August 1892, his parents were Samuel and Hannah Elizabeth Ambler née Tillotson who were married at Keighley in the second quarter of 1889. In the 1891 census they had been living at 11, Sloe Street in Keighley and father Samuel was a worsted warp dresser, but by the time of Samuel’s baptism on 25th September they had moved to 9, Ivy Street in Keighley, which is off North Street at the other side of town. Samuel senior was then working as a lathe borer.
He died in early 1892 which must have been a terrible shock for Hannah, especially as Samuel was just 29 years old when he died and Hannah was still pregnant with Samuel junior.
By 1901 Hannah and her two children Annie and Samuel were living at 66, Mornington Street, Hannah must have been made of strong stuff because she was now a grocer/shopkeeper on her own account and also had a 16 year old boarder and domestic groom called Harry Hood living with them to increase the family income. Hannah’s aunt Alice Wright was also living with them, aged 72. Samuel was eight years old at this time and probably attending a local school with his eleven year old sister Nancy.
By 1911 they had all moved to 19, Sand Street in Keighley which is just at the other side of North Street from Mornington Road, Ivy Street. Hannah aged 53 was not employed but Nancy was a 21 year old piece mender and 18 year old Samuel was a grocer’s assistant, plus they still had paying boarder Harry Hood, a domestic groom now aged 25 to contribute to the household budget.
War service:
There no Army service records available for Samuel but his medal records show that he served with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers with the service number GS/14575 (the GS prefix indicates a General Service enlistment). The index card just shows an entitlement for the British War Medal and Victory Medal but the medal roll for these shows he was serving in several war theatres with them. The details are:
Theatre 1a (France/Flanders) from 5.10.15 to 24.10.15;
Theatre 2a (Balkan Theatre including Greek Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgaria) 25.10.15 to 3.7.18;
Theatre 1a again from 4.7.18 to 11.3.19.
These show he was serving with the battalion for the whole time between 2th October 1915 to 11th March 1919 when the war had finished and the men were dispersed to the UK via Dieppe. The use of theatre codes (1a, 2a etc) also suggests he had overseas service before 1st January 1916, after which they were not used in medal records.
Because of this we would expect to see an entry for him for the 1914-15 Star, but he is not listed in the medal rolls for this medal, which is strange because the evidence would suggest he was entitled to one.
He is also not listed in any local newspaper archives, suggesting that he just served and came home, with nothing notable enough happening to him in the war to warrant his name in the paper.
WO-95/2279; WO-95/1941 and WO-95/2381. War diaries of the 3rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers:
The short period from 5th to 24 October 1915 suggests he was part of a draft of 300 men who arrived on 10th October with the 3rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers at Vermelles, or a smaller draft of 100 men arriving a few days later on 14th October. Either way on 22nd October the battalion including both drafts of men marched to entrain at Fouquereuil Station and set off for Marseilles where on the 25th October they embarked on HT HMS Royal George and sailed for several days, arriving on 30th October at Sidi Bishr at Alexandria in Egypt, where they served for a few years in Egypt and Salonika until the 3rd of July 1918. We can imagine this voyage was fascinating for a young lad in his early twenties who had been sent to France to fight in the trenches then finding out they were going to Egypt. As far as we know, he’d never left Keighley prior to this.
The war diary for the Royal Fusiliers between Oct 1915 and Jul 1918 is not digitised, so we have no information about their activities for this period.
The 3rd Battalion then returned to France, embarking on the French Transport ship ‘Timgad’ which sailed from Itea in Greece on 3rd July 1918 and headed for Taranto in Italy where they disembarked and entrained for Serqueux in France, where they took the East Coast route, arriving at Serqueux on 9th July.
His medal record indicates he ended his overseas service on the 11th of March 1918 meaning he probably returned to the UK at that point.
Samuel was discharged from the Army on the 9th of April 1919.
Post war:
A Pension card states that on the 20th of August 1920, Samuel died of aortic stenosis and regurgitation, which means his aortic heart valve was diseased and allowing blood to pass through when in the closed position.
We are not aware of it being caused by or attributable to, his war service.
He was buried on the 24th of August at Utley Cemetery in Keighley.
He was a very similar age to his father when he died, both being in their late twenties at death.
Samuel’s name is in the Borough of Keighley 1914 – 1918 Great War roll of honour at Keighley Library although he may not have died as a result of the war. He is not commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and was not in Army service when he died. The absence of an Army Service record means we have no evidence to suggest the war was the cause of his death.
Hannah and Samuel’s sister Nancy were still living at 19, Sand Street in Keighley in the 1921 census. Hannah died aged 74 in 1932, registered at Keighley.
There are five Pension cards for Samuel, suggesting that Hannah was his next of kin and she applied for a dependant’s pension. One of the cards indicates that she received the sum of 12s 7d per week for life, dating from the 25th of August 1920.
In the 1939 register, Nancy was living with her Aunt Emma Ambler at 12, Stanley Street in Bingley. She was aged 49 and employed as a clerk and cashier for a Draper. Emma was aged 61 and employed as a measurer of faults in burling and mending.
Nancy died aged 76 in 1967, registered in the Worth Valley.
Information sources:
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915.
1891 England Census.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915.
West Yorkshire, Non-Conformist Records, 1646-1985.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915.
1901 England Census.
1911 England Census.
British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920.
World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920.
The Long, Long Trail website.
UK, World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007.
National Burial Index For England & Wales.
1921 Census Of England & Wales.
1939 England and Wales Register.
