1895-1918

The Cowman³

Always with courage and loyalty³⁷

It should have been a Summer filled with expectations for a bountiful harvest in the once “flourishing agricultural district”¹¹ of Cockshutt.  Instead, as the “exceedingly unsettled” Summer weather of 1895²⁶ showed little prospect of easing, the mood of the villagers was one of increasing despondency, as they feared a poor harvest, during the difficult days of the late Victorian agricultural depression¹⁰.

It was during this miserable Summer that Ellis Humphreys was born²⁰ to parents Sarah Humphreys and her husband Richard, an “agricultural labourer”², who would have struggled to support his growing family; not only was the work sporadic⁸, but even during good times, his wage would have been less than £1 a week⁶

Circumstances were made more difficult during the “very severe winter of 1891-2”, when “great hardship was inflicted on the poor (in) the parish (which) was visited by the prevalent epidemic, influenza”¹¹ and many wage-earners became too ill to work.  As incomes plummeted, anyone who was fit and able had to find employment.  For Ellis, it would have been a tough childhood; one of abject poverty, hardship and survival.

After leaving school, Ellis found worked as a farm labourer, eventually finding work as a Cowman at Kenwick’s Park³, where his various duties would have included taking to “market many an untamed heifer which had never been haltered” and “doctor(ing) … sick cows.”⁶

By 1914, Britain’s agriculture was in serious decline¹⁸.  Despite a heavy reliance on wheat imports¹⁸, government didn’t give food production³⁹ priority status¹⁹ during the early days of war.  Poorly paid⁶ and with little prospect of improvement, many labourers found the lure of enlistment with its prospect of 1/- a day⁴⁷ difficult to resist; others such as Ellis continued working the land, upholding domestic responsibilities⁸.

But as the war progressed and became more deeply entrenched, Ellis enlisted with 6^th Battalion, KSLI³².  At some point he was subsequently attached to 6^th Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment)¹⁵.  Private E Humphreys 204948¹⁵ served for the duration of the war on the Western Front Theatre of War⁴⁴.

In March 1918 the Germans launched their Spring Offensive⁵² against the allies across the old battlefields of the Somme⁵.  Having endured months of fierce and heavy fighting, Ellis Humphreys was “instantaneously killed by shell fragments”⁵¹ on Sunday 30^th June 1918¹⁵; although the War Diary entry for that date states “Fairly quiet day”⁵⁰, records tell us that in total, twenty one men from the Battalion were killed¹⁵.

Private E Humphreys was laid to rest in Bouzincourt Ridge Cemetery, Albert, France¹⁵, alongside the others who fell with him¹⁵; in the small cemetery which stands alongside a track, there are 709 burials; 313 remain unnamed¹⁵.

Private Ellis Humphreys, T/204948, 6th Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal⁹.

We Will Remember Him.

Private Ellis Humphreys, T/204948, 6^th Bn. The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment).

Killed in action in France on 30^th June 1918.

Buried at Bouzincourt Ridge Cemetery, Albert, France. Grave I. F. 6.

When war shall cease this lonely unknown spot
Of many a pilgrimage will be the end,
And flowers will shine in this now barren plot
And fame upon it through the years descend:
But many a heart upon each simple cross
Will hang the grief, the memory of its loss⁷.