Christ Church Warleigh Dikoya Sri Lanka

[ShirlD]

While on our brief and exhilarating trip to Sri Lanka 2 weeks ago, we found a bronze honour roll memorial in the little Anglican Church on the side of the reservoir in the hill tea country. It was difficult to photograph, but have managed to make out the names and starting to find out a bit more about the men. Woe is me, in my experience Honour Rolls are very tricky.

These are the names:

TAA Emerson

AK Chaytor

AP Godfrey

CWF Finch-Noyes

RM Treadwell

LW Tuttier

AC Guthrie

L Gliddon

AD Chalmers

AP Godfrey and L Gliddon are buried in the churchyard.

There is an AK Chaytor listed with the 3Btn Worcester Regiment who died age 24 on May 26

Found information on CWF Finch-Noyes, whose half brother was a tea planter in this area

FINCH-NOYES.—Killed in action, on the 3rd Sept., 2nd Lieutenant Charles W. F. Finch-Noyes, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, son of the late Lieut.-Colonel Augustus Finch-Noyes, A.P.D.

Only just started looking at this, but thought someone might be interested anyway

Cheers

Shirley

[Moriaty]

Thanks for the posting Shirley.

By coincidence, my great grandfather Felix James Taylor Brown who died in 1888 is buried in the churchyard of Christ Church, Dikoya, he was a tea planter.

I would be most interested to see any photographs you might have of the church.

Moriaty

[ShirlD]

Have sent you a pm, will try and upload a couple of photos anyway

Cheers

Shirley

[ShirlD]

hoping this might work!

[ShirlD]

This was the brass plaque Honour Roll that was difficult to try and photograph, so I am pleased with the way it has worked out.

[Moriaty]

Many thanks to ShirlD for the photographs of the church.

Moriaty

[ShirlD]

My pleasure, it is hard to describe the feeling when you discover an unexpected connection to your ancestors

Regards

Shirley

[Moriaty]

I wonder if L W Tuttiet is Captain Laurence William Tuttiett, 12th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, died 3 September 1916, aged 26, only son of Laurence Rayner Tuttiett and husband of Frances Alice Tuttiett of 89 The Avenue, West Ealing, London. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, on the Bexhill on Sea memorial and on the memorial of the Catholic church of St Mary Magdalene, Bexhill.

I havent found an Ceylon/Sri Lanka connection, but he was educated at Lancing College and they have both a biography and photograph of him:

"Laurence William Tuttiett was born at the Rectory, Westley, Newmarket in Cambridgeshire on the 3rd of June 1891 the only son of the Reverend Laurence Rayner Tuttiett, Rector of Kevedon Hatch, and Jesse (nee Champion) Tuttiett of Avenue House, Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex.

He was educated at Lancing College where he was in News House from September 1904 to July 1906.

He left for South Africa, and on the 5th of May 1908 he enlisted as a Trooper in the British South African Police until the 16th of July 1911 when he was discharged due to being medically unfit.

Following the outbreak of war he applied for a commission on the 14th of December 1914 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 6th Battalion Dorset Regiment on the 18th of December 1914. He was due to report for training at Cambridge.

He wrote to the War Office on the 19th of December to tell them that he had been offered a commission with the rank of Lieutenant with the 12th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment which he had accepted and requested that they cancel his other appointment. He reported for a medical examination and was passed fit for general service on the 1st of March 1915.

He was married at All Saints Church in Ealing on the 10th of April 1915 to Frances Alice (nee Clarkson). They had a son, Laurence Anthony, who was born at Princes Gate, Knightsbridge on the 3rd of March 1916.

The battalion embarked for France at Southampton on the 4th of March 1916 and landed at Le Havre at 2am the following morning. They disembarked at 7am.

On the night of the 2nd of September 1916 the 12th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment moved forward to Mesnil on the Somme where it had been ordered to provide carrying and working parties during 116th Brigade's attack at Hamel which was scheduled for the following morning. The attack began at 5.10am on the 3rd of September and the assaulting troops managed to gain their objective of the enemy's third line but found it impossible to hold and were forced back to the enemy's first line where they held onto a small section of it until they fell back to their start line at 6pm.

After the attack the battalion assembled at Hamel and were relieved by the 1/6th Battalion Cheshire Regiment. During these operations one officer was killed and three were missing; one of the missing officers was Laurence Tuttiett.

A few days later Frances Tuttiett received the following telegram dated the 8th of September 1916:-

"Regret to inform you Capt L.W. Tuttiett Royal Sussex Regt reported missing Sept 3rd. This does not necessarily mean that he is either wounded or killed. Any further news if received will be posted immediately."

In 1920 a letter arrived at the War Office in London dated the 28th of May 1920 (spelling, English and punctuation as in the original letter):-

"To the Military Government in London.
Enclosed I send 3 photos wich I got from a dying English captain. He is the man, left on the offizerphoto X. I found him dying and was present, when he closed his eyes forever. It was impossible, to give this officer a resting place, because the fire was too strong the following days. This arguments give me occasion to think that the fallen held is signed in the lost list as missing. Therefore I beg the government, to send to the wife, left behind. Her husband was captain in the Sussex Regiment and I hope, that the government will find the adress of the wife on hand of the pictures. The officer is fallen on the Ancre on the 3rd of September 1916. I hope it is possible for the government to find the adress of the wife and please will you send her the letter and pictures, that she is informed."

I remain
J Muller
Stanfenstrasse 1
Schwenningen,
a.N. Wurtt.

On the 3rd of June 1920 the War office passed the letter and photos on to Frances Tuttiett at "Rosebank", Tatsfield in Surrey. Following some research, they had established that Laurence Tuttiett was the only missing Royal Sussex officer from the 3rd of September 1916 who was married.

On the 11th of June 1920 she replied confirming that the officer in the photo was her husband and requesting that they send her the address of Johannes Muller so that she could write to him.

On the 24th of June 1920 the War Office wrote to her to tell her that her husband's name was being removed from list of missing and that he was now officially considered to have been killed on the 3rd of September 1916." Copyright Lancing College

[Moriaty]

An "L Gliddon" is listed on a Ceylon Tea plantation website as the Assistant Manager at Norwood (presumably a plantation) in 1917, as Gliddon/Glidden is buried in the cemetery he may have died post war.

LATER: See the later post on Ernest Frank Leslie Nevill Gliddon who died of wounds in France in June 1918. At Christ Church he is on the Roll of Honour rather than buried in the churchyard.

[Moriaty]

A K Chaytor is 2nd Lieutenant Alban Kingsford Chaytor, 6th attached to the 3rd Battalion Worcestor, he died of wounds on 26 May 1915, aged 24. He has an entry in De Ruvigny plus a photograph.

He was the second son of the Rev Charles Chaytor, Rector of St Helens and St Albans with St Michael's Worcester. [His mother was Madeline Hamilton Kingsford].He was born in Worcester on 23 October 1891, educated at King's School (Cathedral) Worcester where he was successively captain of cricket and of the boats. At Worcester College Oxford he held the Worfield Scholarship and the Inge Exhibition. On leaving there he took up tea planting in Ceylon, and was a member of the Volunteer Defence Force, and on the outbreak of war joined the Ceylon Rifle Corps. Early in 1915 he came to England, obtained a commission in the County Regiment on 6 February 1915 and (hilst serving later with the 3rd Bn) was severely wounded in the trenches near Ypres on 24 May 1915 and died in a field hospital two days later. Unmarried. His colonel and brother officers wrote of him as "a most promising soldier", a "born soldier", "always ready to volunteer on any dangerous venture". He was buried in the churchyard of La Clytte.

He is commemorated in the churchyard of St Edmunds church in Stoulton, on the Worcester Guildhall memorial and on the stained glass windows in Worcester Cathedral commemorating King's School.

As the school captain of cricket, his name is listed in Wisden's Lives of Cricket's Fallen. He had also played for a Worcestershire Second XI (minor counties championship 1907).

[ShirlD]

That is excellent detailed information.

It is interesting what information comes to light, we thought we had all of Chris's dad's information, then picked up on a small newspaper cutting

'2nd Lt OT Durrant, wounded late of Culloden, Neboda, member Milward Cont. Enlisted Royal Fus. Commission East Lnncashire Regiment. Served Mesopotamia, wounded March 1917'

It filled out the story we understood of him leaving school, going to Ceylon to be a rubber planter, war broke out so he returned to England and joined up. I wonder if this may have been a pattern - young men attached to local forces, then enlisted into Regiments as they returned to UK.

This seems to be similar to AK Chaytor's experience. I havent found a similar story for the other names, tried with LW Tuttiet. I think it would be the same man, as it is an unusual name, with particular initials.

This of course is the problem I have discovered with Honour Rolls, they do not always list who died, was wounded or survived.

[Moriaty]

I found a little more Ceylon/ Sri Lanka information on 2nd Lieutenant Charles William Fabin Finch-Noyes, 9th Battalion, The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, died 3 September 1916, commemorated on Thiepval. He is also commemorated on the memorial outside St Margaret's church north Oxford, but the www.headington.org.uk web site which contains a good biography of him suggests that although he did not live in the parish, he ad his aunt must have attended the church.

His sister Phyllis Joan Katherine Finch-Noyes had married Charles William Finelli by 1916 and lived in Maskeliya, Ceylon during World War One and in 1920 sailed for New York.

His half brother, John Arthur Douglas Finch, worked in Ceylon in the tea business, first as a planter, managing the Maskeliya estate and then as a Director of Eastern produce. John was in Ceylon from 1898 until 1935. His daughter Audrie was born in Ceylon in 1915. His son Anthony won an MC in Italy during World War Two whilst serving with the Irish Horse.

Charles' record is in the National Archives: WO 339/46351

Incidentally, a Diana Finch Noyes is commemorated in All Saints' Church, Maskeliya, Sri Lanka

[Moriaty]

A D Chalmers is Lieutenant Archibald Douglas Chalmers, 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who died in Salonika on 9 December 1918. He is buried in Mikra British Cemetery, Kalmaria, Greece, grave 882. He was the son of Mr and Mrs Archibald Chalmers of Kipp, Dalbeatie, Scotland.

The village hall at Kippford and its car park are on land gifted to the Community in memory of Lt A D Chalmers (information on the Scottish war memorial discussion forum). Their web site says that he was born in Ayr in 1880, the son of Archibald and Anne Jane Cowan nee Cowan of Kipp House, Kippford, Dalbeattie. He was educated at Merchiston Castle, Edinburgh and went to Ceylon in 1913 to work as a tea planter. He returned to the UK in February 1916, trained at Gailes OTC and was gazetted as a 2nd Lieutenant in the A&S in August 1916. He joined the battalion in Salonika in September 1917. His death in December 1918 in the No 28 General Hospital was from enteric fever.

The Scottish war memorial discussion forum has photographs of both the village hall and a portrait in oils of Lt Chalmers.

[kenmorrison]

Moriarty - thanks for the tip-off about this thread.

The link to the portrait is http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/warmemscot-ftopic6141.html&highlight=kippford

Archibald is named on the Colvend Parish War Memorial (which covers the adjacent village of Kippford) and the link to that is

http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/warmemscot-ftopic549.html

Ken

[ShirlD]

Really delighted to discover details of the lives of men remembered in a beautiful, isolated corner of the world.

Thank you

Shirley

[ShirlD]

So far there is information on

AK Chaytor (2nd Lieutenant Alban Kingsford Chaytor, 6th attached to the 3rd Battalion Worcestor, he died of wounds on 26 May 1915, aged 24)

CWF Finch-Noyes (2nd Lieutenant Charles William Fabin Finch-Noyes, 9th Battalion, The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, died 3 September 1916, commemorated on Thiepval

LW Tuttiet (Captain Laurence William Tuttiett, 12th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, died 3 September 1916, aged 26)

AD Chalmers (Lieutenant Archibald Douglas Chalmers, 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who died in Salonika on 9 December 1918

AP Godfrey (buried in churchyard)

L Glidden (buried in churchyard)

Finding it difficult to trace the other names

I have found 1 AC Guthrie, Arthur Calderwood Guthrie, Royal Flying Corps, but as yet no connection to Ceylon, or family details

Nothing on TAA Emerson, or RM Treadwell

Signing off tonight

Shirley

[Moriaty]

Shirley, I think it is RN Treadwell rather than RM Treadwell. If this is the case, I think our man is:

Lieutenant Robert Naylor Treadwell, MC

9th Battalion Essex Regiment and 22nd Squadron Royal Flying Corps

Died of wounds on 9 September 1917, aged 24

Buried in Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension

His MIC, presumably in connection with his medals, reads "Father entitled. OFN Treadwell. Link Hill Cottage, Sandhurst, Hawkhurst, Kent"

His probate record reads "Treadwell Robert Naylor of 90 St George's Square Pimlico Middlesex lieutenant 9th Essex Regiment attached RFC died 9 September 1917 in France Administration London 4 February 1918 to Oliver Fereira Naylor Treadwell surgeon. Effects £244 7s 5d."

Robert is commemorated on the War Memorial at St John's Church, Isle of Wight and identical memorials at Gurnard and Marks Corner. The website www.isle-of-wight-memorials.org.uk says Robert came from Northwood, he was shot down and wounded in his back on the 11th August 1917 and died on 9th September 1917. He flew F.2b aircraft in the 22 Squadron RFC. The citation for his MC is in the London Gazette of 8 January 1918
"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Although very severely wounded during a combat, he succeeded in bringing back his machine against a very strong wind to his aerodrome, saving both machine and observer by his great pluck and determination. When lifted out of his machine he was utterly exhausted. He has been concerned in many successful patrols and bomb raids, showing on all occasions conspicuous dash and devotion to duty."

Oliver Fereira NT is Robert's father, he was born at the Cape of Good Hope in 1860, died in Woking in 1941, he was an Assistant Medical Officer of the Prison Commission and appears on a tennis web site.

In the 1911 census the family is living at Brookfield, Parkhurst, Isle of Wight. Oliver is a medical officer in the prison service, aged 51, his wife Nelly aged 46 was born in New Cross, Robert is 18, born Durham and no occupation is given. There is one servant. The property has 14 rooms.

Robert's sister Inez Nelly narried Major George Henry Walford, son of the late Lt Col HA Walford, 20th Hussars, of Foxborough Hall, Woodbridge, Suffolk. Major Walford served in the Suffolk Regiment and died on 19 April 1915 aged 36 and is buried in the Ramparts Cemetery, Lille Gate

However, I cant see any Ceylon/Sri Lanka connection for the Treadwells.

[kenmorrison]

Arthur Calderwood Guthrie born (1893) appears on the Roll of Honour of George Heriot's School in Edinburgh, where he attended 1902-08.

https://archive.org/stream/georgeheriotssch1921geor#page/100/mode/2up

He was in Ceylon in 1914 and was serving with the Ceylon Planters Riflemen Corps. He returned home to enlist in the Royal Engineers Special Brigade.

The eldest son of the late Arthur Guthrie SSC (which If I remember correctly is Solicitor to the Supreme Court - the one in Edinburgh).

GUTHRIE, ARTHUR CALDERWOOD

Rank: Second Lieutenant Date of Death: 09/08/1918 Age: 25

Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force 42nd Sqdn. and Royal Engineers

Grave Reference:IV. A. 29. Cemetery: AIRE COMMUNAL CEMETERY

Additional Information: Son of Arthur and Margaret Guthrie, of Edinburgh.

Ken

[Moriaty]

I think that T A A Emerson is 253074 Private Theodore Alexander Emerson of the 3rd (City of London) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, born 1879 and killed on 2 April 1917 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

Born in Liverpool, resided in Marylebone and enlisted in Holborn.

And there is a tea plantation connection. There are two probate records on Ancestry. The first is from 1920:

Theodore Alexander Emerson of Heawood Tea and Rubber Company near Taiping Federated Malay States private Royal Fusiliers 1/3^rd battalion died 2 April 1917 in France. Administration with will London 1 July 1920 to Charles Edward Emerson esquire. Effects £1024 10s 7d.

A further probate record of 1937 gives an English address for him of Elmfield Cottage Taunton. Administration was granted to Clarice Millicent Powell (wife of reverend Harold Herbert Powell Powell ). Effects £1043 0s 7d. Former grant PR1 July 1920

[ShirlD]

It is so good to see the names come alive, thank you for this.

I have just found though an RN Treadwell listed as buried in the churchyard, at least I presume it means buried, it is from the site Kabristan archives, Tea Country graveyards. Of course it is RN, I was working from my hastily written hand notes in the church, not double checking the photo, very careless of me!

[ShirlD]

In 1914 he was an Assistant Manager in the Dikoya District.

[Moriaty]

I think the listings on the Kabristan Archives for Tea Country Graveyards refer to both burials and names on memorial plaques, so RN Treadwell is buried at Aubigny in France and commemorated on Christ Church Dikoya's Roll of Honour.

Moriaty

[Moriaty]

L Glidden is listed on the Roll of Honour and there is reference to an "L Gliddon" on a Ceylon Tea plantation website as the Assistant Manager at Norwood (presumably a plantation) in 1917.

I think this is:

2nd Lieutenant Ernest Frank Leslie Nevill Gliddon

4th Battalion, attached to the 1st Battalion, Dorset Regiment

Died of wounds 5 June 1918 aged 19

Buried at Magneux British Cemetery, Gezaincourt, France, grave reference II.F.4

Son of John Ernest and Dorothy E Gliddon of 165 Tulse Hill, London

His CWGC entry ends "Native of Dorset"

He was educated at Dulwich College and his entry in the Register contains much information:

Born 10 November 1898, son of John Ernest Gliddon, 165 Tulse Hill, P&O Co; brother of Jack Nevill Gliddon born 1901 [who also attended Dulwich]. His prep school was Blundell's Tiverton where he is on their war memorial. He appears to have left Dulwich in April 1916.

There is a record of an EFLN Gliddon, born 1899, aged 17, occupation student travelling by P&O from London to Colombo, departing 20 March 1916. An Ernest Frank Gleddon, born 1899, aged 18, travelled back from Colombo to London on 26 May 1917, occupation planter. His address was given as Cornwall House, Tulse Hill.

The Dulwich Register reads "tea planting Ceylon. Great war Ceylon Planters' Rifle Corps, No 4 OCB Wadham College Oxford; 2nd Lt 4th Bn Dorsetshire Regiment November 1917; France April 1918; died 5 June 1918 at Gezaincourt of wounds."

His Medal Index card shows him as Cadet 29303 Dorset Regiment, attached No 4 Cadet Battalion, and then 2nd Lieutenant Dorset Regiment. The contact on the MIC is JE Gliddon c/o P&O Branch Service, 32 Lane Street, EC, this is amended to Mrs J E Gliddon, 165 Tulse Hill, SW2. His father had died in 1922.

His mother was the contact on the IWGC records regarding his headstone which reads "In proud and ever loving memory"

[Moriaty]

And finally A P Godfrey - he is not buried in the Christ Church grounds as he was killed in France. I believe that he is:

Lieutenant Arthur Pole Godfrey

Household Battalion

Died 11 April 1917 aged 38

Commemorated on the Arras Memorial

Son of Evelyn Augusta Godfrey of 13 Grove Court, Drayton gardens, South Kensington, London and the late Charles Arthur Godfrey

The London Gazette 18 January 1918 has an entry from his solicitor with reference to the Law of Property Amendment Act. Arthur Pole Godfrey is given as being late of Hardenhuish Estate, Dickoya, Ceylon. His executrix was Violet Annie Fletcher, wife of Charles Arthur Fletcher.

He has a very full entry in de Ruvigny, plus a photograph, it reads:

GODFREY, ARTHUR POLE, Lieut., Buckinghamshire Battn. The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, attd. Household Battn., only s of Charles Godfrey, of The Bungalow, Herne, co. Kent, by his wife, Evelyn Augusta, dau. of Philip Augustus Browne ; b. 41, Devonshire Place, Portland Place, London, W., Born 7 Feb. 1879 ; educ. at Chigwell School, and in France ; went to Ceylon in 1899, and eventually became a partner in a Tea Plantation ; joined the Ceylon Rifles, and on the outbreak of war returned to England; was gazetted 2^nd Lieut. 12 June, 1915, being appointed as Lieut,to the Household Battn. 31 Oct. 1916 ; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 3 Dec. 1915 ; was wounded in the Battle of the Somme, and was killed in action during the Battle of Arras at the south-west corner of the Hyderabad Redoubt 11April, 1917. Buried in Fampoux Cemetery. He was mentioned in Despatches by F.M. Sir John (now Lord) French (London Gazette, 1 Jan. 1916), for special services on 18 Dec. 1915. Major Kirkwood wrote: “ He was leading his men forward bravely when he was killed, like the good officer that he had always shown himself to be. He had inspired everyone with confidence, and it will be hard to fill his place ... he was in command of his company at the time"; and another officer, Col Wyndham Portal, in command of Household Battn: “he was always the same; nothing upset him. His loss to this battalion will cause a gap which will indeed be difficult to fill up, te men as well as the officers being devoted to him.” He was a good cricketer and football player, and won many prizes at tennis. Unmarried.

As he is commemorated on the Arras memorial, it appears that his grave in Fampoux Cemetery must have subsequently been lost.

[ShirlD]

A chance visit to a little church in Sri Lanka near where we were staying, making out the letters on a practically indecipherable bronze placque that I can never seem to go past, and now thanks to you we have their stories and sacrifice remembered.

I love this Forum.

Never Forgotten