Sidney Foster 1892- 1916

1892:  Born Carrington

1901: Aged 9, lived at Old School Lane, Carrington

1911: Living with Grandmother, 34 Heyes Rd, Cadishead

1915: Enlisted to Grenadier Guards, 3rd Battalion  Service Number: 21794 

1916: Post to Flanders and France with 3rd Grenadiers

1916: Aged 23, Died in Lesboeufs, France 14 September

Burial: Serre Road Cemetery No.2, CWGC Cemetery/Memorial, Somme,France

A few days before he died he wrote a cheerful letter to his aunt and elderly and sick grandmother in which he said there was no likelihood of his getting leave granted, as some of his comrades had been out since the Battle of Loos in 1915 and had not been home.   

He was sorry to read that several local soldiers had been taken prisoner,but hoped they would not have too bad a time:  "I don't think anybody knows how long or how short the war will be. It is getting terrible out here, but that's all I know about. The guns are roaring like thunder night and day.  Don't be alarmed if you don't hear from me for a few days.   We have had a brass band playing selections for us at night. I hope I shall see you before long, and that this terrible war will be over.  We have travelled a lot, and I have seen thousands of soldiers from all over England but no one that I knew. I have seen some of the Cheshire's. I wish I was there or close to it"    (Cheshire is only across the Ship Canal from Hayes Road where he lived).   In another letter home he said, "I hope my luck will stick to me, I think it will in answer to my grandmother's prayers".  Sadly this was not to be the case.

On 14th September 1916, the battalion was in assembly positions east of Ginchy on the Somme.   At 6.20am on the following day they advanced as part of the Guards Brigade attack towards Lesboeufs, but before the battalion had reached and cleared the first objective it had sustained heavy casualties.   On 16th September the battalion was relieved and withdrawn to Bernafay Wood.   It had suffered 412 casualties during this period.  Official records list Sydney's date of death as Thursday, 14th September 1916, however, it has never been exactly established when he died.   He was certainly killed in the above attack, sometime between 14th and 17th September 1916 at the age of 23.   He is buried in the Serre Road Cemetery No. 2, Beaumont Hamel, Somme, France, but the exact location of his grave within the cemetery is unknown. He is therefore commemorated on a special memorial headstone which states "Buried near this spot".  The local newspaper reported that "he was deservedly held in high regard by all who knew him".   His death was keenly felt by his relatives and friends.   His grandmother was then 81 years old and in feeble health.     Medal Entitlement: 15 Star Trio

Joseph Leeming  1886 - 1916

1886:  Born in Carrington

1891: Aged 5, Living at Rose Cottage, Father Alfred and Mother Alice, five sisters and two brothers

1901: Aged 15, Family moved to Northwich

1911: Aged 25,  Llysfaen, Caernarvonshire, Wales, a farmer labourer

1915 Enlisted into the 12th Battalion, London Regiment on the 9th December 1915 | Service number: T.F.9555 

1916 Transferred to: Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex) Regiment, 1st 7th Battalion on 31st July 1916

1916 Admitted into a Field Ambulance on the 21st August 1916.  Discharged 28th August 1916

1916: Died in Flanders and France on 16th September. No grave marker, commemorated at Thiepval Memorial.

Arthur Atkinson  1898 - 1918

1898: Born in Carrington, Parents: William  and Sarah Atkinson

1901: Census:  25 Liverpool Road, Irlam

1911: Census - 17 Liverpool Road, Irlam.

1917: Drafted to France - Regiment: Manchester Regiment , 2nd/5th Battalion  Service Number: 202296 

1918: Died 14th October, Flanders and France. Taken prisoner and died as a Prisoner of War

Burial:  Erquelinnes, Arrondissement de Thuin, Hainaut, Belgium

Thomas Albert Barlow 1900 - 1918

1900: Born 3 August in Northwich 3rd August 

1901: Lived in Plumbley, Cheshire

1911: Aged 10, Living on School Lane, Carrington

Regiment  The King's (Liverpool) Regiment ,  53rd Graduated Battalion 

Service Number: 85965 

1918 Died 22 Oct  at home from wounds, aged 18. Buried at St George's graveyard, Carrington

James (Jim) Holt 1891–1916

1891: Born in Carrington 11th August , Parents Joseph Holt III and Emma Brown. The Holt family records in Carrington go back to 1775.

1901: lived at Back Lane, Carrington [area of School Lane M31 4AQ] 

1911: Occupation Printer's compositor. Address: Back Lane, Carrington. 

1913: Completed his apprenticeship at A Megson & Sons on 1/9/1913. Megson's printing works was on the NE corner of Cambridge Street & Chester Street, Manchester [M1 5GF].  A Megson & Son was run in 1911 by Clarence Henry Megson, brother-in-law of Amy Winifred Noar, friend and Carrington neighbour of Jim's sister Amy Lois Holt. 

1914: Enlisted in Manchester Regiment, 18th Battalion.(Manchester Pals) 

Service number: 10027. Grey eyes. Dark brown hair. 6'. 150 lb. Skin rash (psoriasis) both legs.  Home address: Moss Cottage, Carrington [area of Moss Green M31 4BE]. 

1916:  20th April died of broncho-pneumonia at No. 8 General Hospital, Rouen, France . 

Buried: Bois Guillaume Communal Cemetery, CWGC Cemetery/Memorial, Seine-Maritime,France, I.D.15

Commemorated on the private family gravestone in St. George's, Churchyard. "A beautiful memory left behind". 11 AUG 1

Henry (Harry) S Stoddard 1899 - 1918

1899 Born in Mere

1901: Aged 2, lived at Hall Cottages, Manchester Road 

1911: Aged 9, census just Carrington, Manchester

Attended Partington Weslyan Mens Bible Class - one of four members of that Class that died on active service.

1916 Aged 25, Enlisted in the Cheshire Regiment. No. 50029  . Served with the 113th Brigade, 38th (Welsh) Division.

1918: Aged 27, Killed  in Action France  Memorial: Bois-Des-Angles British Cemetery