Mount Bures Community Web Site

 

 

2014 was the Centenary of the Great War.

With such a small community as Mount Bures,
38 men joined the armed services to fight the First World War for King and Country.

LOST RECORDS

When war broke out in August 1914, the British army numbered just over 730,000 men. Unlike the other major European states, where conscription allowed huge numbers of men to be rapidly brought under arms, Britain relied on a small, professional defence force. But the scale of the conflict between the Allies and the Central Powers demanded massive increases in Britain's military manpower resources.

By the end of the war in 1918, more than seven million men and women had seen service in the British army.

Unfortunately, more than half of their service records were destroyed in September 1940, when a German bombing raid struck the War Office repository in Arnside Street, London.

This means that there is a roughly 40% chance of finding the service record of a soldier who was enlisted between 1914 and 1920.
Courtesy of National Archives

Servicemen below with no local information-
You can see that some of these names listed on the plaque, have no local information associated with them.
Unfortunately, not all Forces Records who survived the conflict list the place of birth.
For instance, there were multiple entries for most of those names making it impossible to verify which one came from Mount Bures.


Henry Smith... b 1876 Suffolk Reg No 52486
George Diggins
George Bland...
George Cudmore .b1891, Rowneys Farm, labourer
Jesse Cudmore.....b1884 ( see photo below)
William Baxter.. Killed in Action, see below
Frank Carter
Frank Banham... b1899 Staunch Farm, related to Clampins
John Miles
Arthur Bland ...b1899, Hall Road Cottages
William Diggins ..b1879 Gt Waldingfiedl then recorded 1911 in Mount Bures
Stanley Collins

Reuben Smith.. b1899, Lower Road, labourer
Harry Diggins
Oliver Bland.... b1892 Nortons farm
Robert Sawyer... b1897 ,nr Bures Hall then moved to Western Australia 1936. Royal Garrison Artillary 591147

Albert Cudmore... b1878 Northants Reg No2520
Charles Cudmore .b1899 Rowneys Farm, only 15 at start of war
David Arnold
James Reeves
Thomas Cudmore ...b1879 The Rectory. Middsx Reg No 30329
Sidney Weavers... b1891 but Listed as living in Hamlet ?
Wilfrid Clampin b1883, Staunch Farm
George Smith ..b1896 Upper Jennies, labourer
Fred White .b1901 Mount Hall Cottages

Robert Smith.
Arthur Diggins ...b1894 Craigs lane, Killed in Action, see below
Archibald French ..b1883 Nortons Farm, cowman
William Bull ....b1895 labourer, no address
Walter Cudmore ...b1899 Nr The Mill
William Cudmore
George Reeves
Charles Diggins... b1898, Craigs Lane, Domestic
George Clampin.. b1889 Water Lane, Parents Hugh and Eliza
Leonard Cresswell ..b1899 Burnt House Farm
Walter Smith.. No 11867, Golden Sq, labourer

Notes:-
The names William Baxter and Arthur Diggens also appear on the Bures War Memorial.
There is also an "F Smith" on the same memorial, but with so many Smiths killed during this conflict, I cannot substantiate if this is the same soldier

Sadly these three soldiers were Killed in Action
Frank Smith
William Baxter
Arthur Diggins

 


William Baxter records on Ancestry

Jesse Cudmore

If anyone can supply additional information on these soldiers please us the CONTACT form
This information will then be added to the soldiers name
.

updated 14/11/2017