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 6th Battalion, KSLI32. At some point he was subsequently attached to 6th 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 30th 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.
HUMPHREYS_ELLIS
Private Ellis Humphreys, T/204948, 6th Bn. The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment).
Killed in action in France on 30th 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.