Another Non Com? Mersham, Kent

[Neil Clark]

Here is another case I'm working on. I need to find his burial site. Has anyone any ideas? If I can't find it then I suppose his name will have to be placed on the Brookwood Memorial to the missing or a headstone will be erected stating buried in this cemetery. Obviously it would be much better if the exact position could be found.

6. MACLAREN A.L

Mersham War Memorial

Private M/339407 Andrew Liddell MACLAREN. 10th Company, Army Service Corps (Mechanical Tranport) (ASCMT). Died of Blood Loss consequential to a Stomach Ulcer 1st March 1918 aged 46 years at Fargo Military Hospital, Durrington, Amesbury, Wiltshire. Enlisted London. Resided Stone Gate, Mersham, Ashford, Kent. Buried in the Fargo Hospital Cemetery, Durrington, Amesbury, Wiltshire. Grave reference: not known. Durrington Cemetery contains burials of both wars. The 204 First World War burials were mostly from nearby Larkhill Camp. Many of the graves are of Australian servicemen and there is a separate Australian memorial in the cemetery. The Second World War burials number 22. In addition to the war graves, there are a number of post-war service graves in the cemetery, mostly of the Royal Air Force.

No Trace on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website which is surprising because his name DOES appear on Soldiers Died Great War!

We have checked the GRO indexes of Great War Deaths (1914-1920) and cant locate his name on the registers! His name was however recorded on the normal civilian GRO death indexes

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DEATH CERTIFICATE

March Qtr, 1918, AMESBURY, 5a, 230 (aged 46 years)

Andrew Liddell MACLAREN

Private, 10th Coy, Army Service Corps (MT)

1. Ulcer of Stomach

2. Hematemosis

3. Exhaustion

Death reported by Private E Fort on 4th March 1918 (causing the body to be buried Fargo Hospital, Durrington).

Occupation - Serving soldier in the 10th Company, Army Service Corps (MT)

_____________________________________________________________________________

We have seen his surname spelt in 5 ways (correct spelling is in fact MACLAREN)

Maclaren A.L

McClaren A.L

MacClaren A.L

MaClarren A.L

McClarren A.L

His name was possibly forgotten because he died in the UK. We have found that sometimes mens deaths were not always properly recorded by the authorities when a man died of wounds or of attributed illness on the UK mainland. We are confused however by the fact his name DOES appear on Soldiers Died Great War and on the civilian GRO death indexes his occupation is clearly and prominently recorded as a SERVING SOLDIER!

Kyle Tallett

This man had a stomach ulcer, he also had Haematemesis, which means vomiting blood. This would occur if the ulcer was bleeding heavily, basically you would chuck up blood until you collapsed and your heart packed up. (nowadays you would have a transfusion). The fact he was a serving soldier when he died means that this man is entitled to a CWGC commemoration.

This soldier was entitled to have his name registered as a war casualty. He died of Exhaustion whilst still serving which means he caught the disease whilst serving in the British Army. The fact his name does appear on Soldiers Died Great War also supports this case.

Durrington is somewhat unusual community in that it is small village that has grown to the size of a town because of a large army camp that has been in the parish since the early 20th century. Perhaps, however, it would be fairer to say that it is Larkhill Camp that has the appearance of a town while the original village has been extended so that it now covers a similar area of land, between the Netheravon Road and the river Avon, as is occupied by Amesbury, further south. Larkhill Camp lies to the west of the village on the downs. Although the parish has the population of a small town the separate communities, lack of cohesive infrastructure and no centre means that this is not really an urban development. Without the army presence Durrington would probably have developed into a medium sized village based on an ancient settlement in the Avon valley. The changing epoch began in 1898 when much of the parish was acquired by the army. From 1899 the part of Salisbury Plain to the north west of the village was used for artillery practice and a camp was set up on Durrington Down. By the beginning of the First World War there were three tented camps known as Durrington, Larkhill, and Fargo Camps. In 1914 the Larkhill light military railway was built from Ratfyn in Amesbury to Fargo Camp and a large military hospital was built at that camp. During the war the tents at Larkhill Camp were replaced by huts and in 1916 the Stonehenge Inn was rebuilt by the Portsmouth United Brewery, who had acquired it. The war memorial was built on the base of the ancient cross. From 1920 Larkhill Camp became the headquarters of the School of Artillery and permanent brick building were put up. Fargo Military Hospital was demolished between 1985 and 1993. Nothing now remains of it. At the present time we dont know what happened to the hospital cemetery and the graves.

We feel this case is quite straightforward and fully expect the MoD to APPROVE this case for a belated commemoration once we have the full documentation.

[Neil Clark]

Just got this additional info -

Following your findings about Andrew L Maclaren I thought I'd try & get a photo of his grave for you. I went to the Durrington web site & mailed the parish clerk. As you will see from his reply there appears no trace All very odd, still we all may be getting somewhere bit by bit.. I did the same for Hills one of the Brabourne ones buried in Wiltshire & had some lovely photos sent. Do you want me to forward them? All a very lazy way of getting the photo but a journey to Wiltshire just for one photo would be very costly & now with digital cameras it's so easy to take the photos & E-mail them.

.................. has passed your enquiry to me for action.

First of all Mrs ........ could find no record of Private Maclaren on our register.

Yesterday I went to the cemetery to confirm and have looked at all the War Graves we have and unfortunately no headstone bearing details of Private Maclaren exists. The nearest name to that is a 2606 Private J J Mccallam of the 3rd Australian Pioneers died 9 March 1917. Photos attached.

I don't believe this is the gentleman you are enquiring about but I will keep on looking for you.

Around the 1918 Larkhill was home to thousands of soldiers post war. Infact a lot of the soldiers who died in 1918/9 died at Larkhill during the flu epidemic that bad winter. Larkhill was a mass of tents and tin huts covering vast square miles.There were a number of field hospitals spread over the Plain Fargo being one. There were also churches of different denominations scattered over the area. I am looking thro the archives to see if any of the churches had their own cemetery and perhaps the body of Private Maclaren was not transferred to the War Graves in Durrington when all the camps were disbanded.