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SAYRES, Captain Hugh Winfield


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From today's Leicester Mercury

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news...il/article.html

First World War revolver handed into charity shop

Saturday, February 07, 2009, 09:30

For years it gathered dust – maybe in an attic or a shed somewhere, possibly in a box on top of somebody's wardrobe.

Somehow, a First World War pistol was scooped up in a pile of clothes and handed into a charity shop.

Now, the gun – a prized possession of Captain Hugh Winfield Sayres, who died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme – is finding a new home in a museum.

The discovery of the pistol – a Wilkinson Webley revolver – was made when staff at the Earl Shilton shop rummaged through a bag of old clothes.

They immediately called in Leicestershire police who sent in their weapons team to retrieve it.

Normally, the working gun would have been deactivated and dismantled, but after hearing of the discovery, amateur history enthusiast Sergeant Rich Matlock, of Loughborough police station, stepped in to save it.

He said: "I found out about it through a chance conversation with our firearms officers. It's a remarkable story, and every time I look deeper into it, it comes up gold."

His investigation unearthed the story of a dedicated officer, with a distinguished military career, who fought and fell alongside the men he led.

Sgt Matlock discovered that Captain Sayres was born in 1888 and came from London. He joined the Army as a "gentleman cadet" in 1909. After passing out at Sandhurst, Sayres joined the Lancashire Fusiliers.

The gun was bought privately in 1912 at Wilkinson Firearms, in London's Pall Mall, and inscribed with his name.

Capt Sayres was posted to India in 1912 and in 1915 was shot in the right shoulder while landing in Gallipoli.

After recovering, he was posted to France and promoted to acting major, but asked to return to his battalion as a captain so he could fight with his soldiers.

Aged 27, he was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme – July 1, 1916 – with his dog, Nailer.

Sgt Matlock said: "He could have remained an acting major but chose to return to his men and was sent 'over the top' at Beaumont Hamel in the mistaken belief that the Germans posed little threat.

"Of course, the opposite was true and 19,000 men died that day. All his affects, including his gun, would have been sent home to his family who had it engraved again, this time in his memory.

"It is unusual for a gun to have been used in Gallipoli and at the Battle of the Somme, which is what makes it so rare."

Sgt Matlock will never know why the gun was handed in to the shop, or how it ended up in Leicestershire.

Later this month it will be presented – along with all Sgt Matlock's research and photographs – to the Lancashire Fusilier Museum, in Bury.

Curator Lieutenant Colonel Michael Glover said it would take pride of place in the collection.

He said: "The key thing for us is that regimental museums are about the people who served, not the war.

"It is part of the magic of the museum game that items turn up from the most obscure places."

Sgt Matlock urged anyone who knows any more about Hugh Winfield Sayres to call him on 0116 222 2222 or e-mail:

richard.matlock@ leicestershire.pnn.police.uk

There has been discussion about this officer on the Forums in the past

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Interesting story - thanks.

Just to clarify, a slight mistake by the newspaper on his middle name: it was Wingfield, not Winfield.

For what it's worth (not a great deal of info), here's his death report from The Times:

The Times, Saturday, Jul 08, 1916

DEATHS

FALLEN OFFICERS

CAPTAIN HUGH WINGFIELD SAYRES, Lancashire

Fusiliers, who was killed on July 1, aged 27, was the

only son of Mr. and Mrs. W. Borrett Sayres, of 98(?),

Kensington Mansions, S.W. He was educated at

Allen House, Guildford, Army House, Bradfield

College, and Loudwater, Westgate. He entered

Sandhurst in 1908, received his commission in Novem-

ber, 1909, and served with the Lancashire Fusiliers

in India till the outbreak of war. He was severely

wounded a month after the landing at the Darda-

nelles on April 25 on the spot now known as "Lanca-

shire Landing." More recently he had served else-

where as brigade major for three months.

As an aside, it seems he was descended from the royal house of Plantagenet:

"Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal", By Marquis of Ruvigny & Raineval, marquis de Melville Henry.

Originally published: London : T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1907

P.249

..

5c. Ellen Harriet Wingfield, m. 9 Oct. 1884, William Borrett Sayres (2 Marl-

borough Road, N.W.); and has issue 1d to 3d.

1d. Hugh Wingfield Sayres, b. 2 Dec. 1888.

2d. Millicent Anna Sayres, b. 23 Aug. 1885.

3d. Winifred Ethel Sayres, b. 20 May 1892.

Earlier Wingfields are also mentioned in this book.

regards,

Martin

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  • 3 months later...

Hello all

My reasearch continues into how this item ended up in Leicestershire and who may have had it since 1916.

I wonder if anyone with access to Ancestry could do me a big favour ? i beleive that you can get death certificates from the site to see where his relatives ended up and possible decendents.

Huge had two sisters

Millicent Sayres born 1885 (never married)

Winifred Ethel Sayres born 1892 married Meredith Magniac in 1916 he died in 1917 so i dont know which name she then used.

His father William Borrett Sayres 1853-1917 I would love to know what he died of , he wasnt serving

His mother Ellen Wingfield dont know date of birth married 1884 so then used Sayres last name (know as nellie)

At the time of Hugh death and his fathers the family lived in London

I appreciate that i am asking a great deal but any further info would again help me to pick up the story which i hope to one day fully publish

Thanks so much Rich M

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I wonder if anyone has had any joy with these if so send me a message , if not please recommend someone who can help even if this costs

Thanks again Rich M

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Rich

1901 census - you may already have seen this - has the following about the family (living at 2, Marlborough Road, St Marylebone - they are also there in 1891 and probably in 1911 - though as I am currently at work, I can't access the 1911 census downloads).

SAYRES, William B Head Married M 48 1853 Bank Clerk

Cold Ashton, Gloucestershire

SAYRES, Ellen H Wife Married F 43 1858

Market Overton, Rutland

SAYRES, Millicent A Daughter Single F 15 1886

West Hampstead, London

SAYRES, Winifred E Daughter Single F 8 1893

St Johns Wood (Marylebone), London

TILLEY, Elizabeth Servant Widow F 65 1836 Nurse (Domestic)

Exton, Rutland

ROSE, Emma Servant Single F 21 1880 Cook Domestic

Exton, Rutland

THOROLD, Margaret A Servant Single F 17 1884 Housemaid Domestic

Huntingdonshire

Interesting (in connection with the story) to see the connection with Rutland through the wife's family.

William Borrett (Barrett is shown in 1861, not Bennett, my mistake) Sayres seems to have been the second son of Edwards Sayres, Rector of Cold Ashton, Gloucestershire - the 1861 census has William B living at the Rectory.

William B is then found boarding with John Fox Allen at St Peter Alley, St Peter On Cornhill, London in 1871 (JF Allen's occupation is not recorded but is there a banking connection, in view of William B's later occupation?)

I can't find William B in the 1881 census (on a quick search - transcription error?).

He married Ellen Harriet Wingfield in Oakham, Rutland in the last quarter of 1884 (Oakham 7a 603)

William B Sayres looks to have died in the Kensington district in the second quarter of 1917 (Kensington 1a 184).

I'll try to get on to Ancestry at the week end.

Robert

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The Rutland connection could be the link to Leicestershire, neighbouring county.

cheers Martin B

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Thanks all for this , i had a possible link to Rutland from some other work, interesting that they have servants from Rutland as well ? , i would love to know what his dad died of as this was only a year after his death , i would also love to see when and where the mother and sisters died as I think they may have returned to Rutland after the deaths so again this would be another led.

Thanks again and i await any further info with baited breath

Rich M :D

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Some information from the Times on the sister, Winifred Ethel. She married (as Winifred Ethel Magniac) Donald James Boyd, C I E Indian Civil Service of Fir Crest, Rye, in Bombay in 1932. She died in London 9/10/1950.

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His father, William Borrett Sayres, "died suddenly" at 28 Kensington Mansions, London SW on 14/6/1917. To find out any cause of death you would need to order his death certificate.

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Brilliant, so she re married ? i wonder if they had any children ? how would i go about ordering a death certificate, thanks again top team and keep it comming.

Rich M :blush:

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Rich

Various other snippets :

Edward Henry Carleton Sayres is listed in the clergy list for 1896. He is MA Oxon (so you could find out his college) and becomes rector in 1888 - succeeding, it would appear, his father Edward Sayres (Hugh's grandfather).

There are a whole stack of manuscripts in the West Sussex County Archives relating to property transactions undertaken by the rector of Cold Ashby (Edward Sayres senior) - which refer (in 1878) to a "William Boviett Sayres, of 37 Fleet Street, London, gent". This could be Hugh's father.

Ellen Harriet Wingfield is staying with her brother-in-law, Folliott L Salusbury, Rector of Llangibby at Llangibby Rectory, Llangibby in Monmouthshire in 1881. In 1861 and 1871 she is in the Rectory, Market Overton, Rutland, with her parents, Harry Lancelot Wingfield and Sophia Anna Wingfield. Harry is the Rector. She appears to be their oldest child.

I suspect the chance of descendants from Winifred is slim given that she'd have been 40 by the time of her remarriage; the Leicestershire link may be more likely to have come through the Wingfield family.

Robert

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Thanks again

I aggree , i wonder if mother returned to Rutland after the death of her son and husband i wonder if anyone can find out where she ended up and finally died ?, it makes sense that she had the gun , happy continued hunting

Rich M :ph34r:

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Rich

What an interesting family this research is revealing.

Hugh's mother (Ellen Harriet Wingfield) was the oldest (certainly the oldest living) child of Harry Lancelot Wingfield and Sophia Anna Shaw.

The Wingfield family is connected (by marriage) with Confederate General Robert E Lee and related to the Powerscourt family (big house just outside Dublin). One of her brothers (Alfred Lancelot) was caught up in the siege of Ladysmith during the Boer War as a Trooper in the Natal Carabiniers (and had a letter smuggled out past the Boers to a cousin from the Powerscourt branch). Other family members (Lilian Sophia and George Folliott) also emigrated to South Africa. George is said to have died there in 1903.

Ellen's next sibling (Hary Robert Shaw Wingfield) is another bank clerk, like her husband (I suspect the title meant rather more than it may do now) living in London in 1901 and her nearest sister (Cicely Margaret) moved back to Market Overton with her husband Folliott Lynch Salusbury,when he succeeded her father as Rector (prob when Harry Lancelot Wingfield died in 1891). Another brother (Lewis William) also went into the church, while her youngest sister married somebody called Powles in west London in 1905. Not sure where she went after that.

Harry Lancelot, incidentally, has an entry in Burke's Peerage...

Looks as if the principal Wingfield family home in the area (Tickencote Hall) may have been broken up just after the war - there is a sale of family pictures recorded as having taken place in 1947 - and the big house was demolished shortly thereafter (great pity, it looks as if it was lovely) - though this was not, of course, where Ellen lived as a child; the family was at the Rectory.

Still no joy on tracking Ellen's death down, though. I'll keep trying.

And I haven't started on the Sayres.....

Robert

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Amazing job getting the pistol in the museum rather than destroyed, Rich!

This story is getting very interesting!

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It was Isobel Grace Wingfield who married Lewis Charles Powles in 1905. They had 2 sons. Powles was a landscape and portrait painter and he died in July 1942.

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Oh yes.

And I see that the Archive Centre at King's College Cambridge has correspondence from Lewis Charles to Roger and Margery Fry, along with letters from Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, Virginia Woolf, etc!

Robert

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Thanks everyone and keep looking, as stated what a family, also so sad , from my limited reasearch the mother lost a son son in law husband and brother in law all with in a year, showing the loss that the great war meant to so many, the new stuff about mothers side is amazing, i hope one day to write a book about it all, so all of this will add so much, thanks again and keep it comming you clever people.

Rich M :D

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  • 1 month later...

Hello again all , has anyone managed to look at the census post 1911 to see where Hughs Mother and sisters ended up ? I would love to take this as up todate as possible

Thanks again Rich M :blink::ph34r:

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  • 7 years later...

On the off-chance anyone is still following this. Just discovered that Ayres would be a distant cousin of mine.  There is a memorial to him in the church at Market Overton where his Wingfield grandfather was vicar for many years http://www.iwm.org.uk_www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/58269

 

Magniac seems to have been CO of 1st Lancs Fusiliers at the time of his death http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/249275/

Edited by David_Underdown
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2 hours ago, David_Underdown said:

On the off-chance anyone is still following this. Just discovered that Ayres would be a distant cousin of mine.  There is a memorial to him in the church at Market Overton where his Wingfield grandfather was vicar for many years

 

IMG_7376.jpg

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Dear GWFs,

On the subject of Sayres, I have the medals of a relation of Hugh Wingfield Sayres.

This was the erstwhile Lieut Edward Hamilton Sayres, IARO attached 33rd Queen Victoria's Own Light Cavalry, and 25th Cavalry (Frontier Force), IA, and a long-serving Calcutta Light Horse Trooper (Volunteer Long Service Medal awarded 1928).

Educated in England, he spent most of his life in Calcutta as a Tea Broker (Carritt, Moran & Co). E. H. Sayres (1889-1967) was latterly a Steward of the Royal Calcutta Turf Club (1944-45), and settled near his brother, Capt Alexander Callender Sayres (also late Cal. L.H. and Ind. Cavy.), in Jersey...

Kindest regards,

Kim.E. H. Sayres namings.jpg

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