1894 -1918

The Farm Labourer

He Died Nobly³⁷

Born in July 1894¹³, in the Union Workhouse of Ellesmere, Robert Edge was the son of Matilda Evans, a Domestic Servant¹².  Unable to care for him, it had fallen to her older sister Georgina¹ and her husband, John Stone², to take him in as part of their own family in nearby Cockshutt².

A bricklayer² by trade, John would have worked hard to support his family, picking up contracting work whenever he could⁴⁰; it would have been a life dominated by hardship.  In all likelihood, money was tight, subject to the vagaries of the weather and availability of work⁴⁰, whilst living conditions in their small, three-bedroomed house² would have been cramped.  Even so, with his nephew in need, John had given him a home and taken him under his guiding hand.

Growing up in the close-knit “flourishing agricultural”³⁴ parish, Robert would have spent much of the time carrying out domestic chores, such as splitting wood and collecting water from the village pump³⁹.  At the earliest opportunity, he would have taken-on small jobs around the farms and village so as to help with the family finances³⁹.

With few opportunities for play³⁹, Robert would undoubtedly have enjoyed taking part in the various “parochial sports” and “games”⁷, such as those held in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee²⁵, which led to over-zealous merrymaking and “considerable drunkenness”, much to the chagrin of the “disgusted Vicar”²⁶.

After leaving school Robert worked as a farm labourer². But, as war broke out, the die was cast; his destiny once again in the hands of others.  As the carnage on the battlefields intensified and the death toll increased, so the demand for enlistment escalated.  By the end of 1915, Robert Evans Stone (possibly reflecting the close bond between uncle and nephew) had enlisted with the 6^th (PALS) Battalion of the KSLI¹¹; he entered the France & Flanders Theatre of War in 1916⁶.

Private R Stone (as he was officially known) 32922¹¹, served a long, hard war; as surviving Service Records²⁴ reveal, he would have progressively weakened and deteriorated, with at least one admission into hospital.  During his time of active service, Robert was deployed with his Battalion, to the battlefields of Ypres and the Somme in 1916²², Langemarcke, the Menin Road Ypres and against the Hindenberg Line in 1917²².

With the onset of Spring 1918, the Germans launched their “Spring Offensive” against the Allied positions on the Somme⁴², the intention being to end the war before “The Americans can throw strong forces into the scale”³⁵.  As the attack began on 21^st March, the Germans launched over one million shells in just five hours (3,000 shells every minute)³⁵.  Over 38,000 casualties were sustained, 8,000 of whom were killed in action; it was the second worst day of losses in British military history¹¹.

On 22^nd March 1918, Private R Stone 32922 was reported missing and subsequently identified as a Prisoner of War²⁴.  Seriously injured, he was reported as being cared for in a German “Feldlazarett”²⁴ (Field Hospital) where he died of wounds⁴³ on 24^th March 1918¹¹.

Posthumously awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal⁶, his final resting place is at St. Souplet British Cemetery, France¹¹.

We Will Remember Him.

Private R Stone 32922,  6^th (PALS) Battalion, KSLI

Died of wounds, in hospital on 24^th March 1918

St. Souplet British Cemetery, France

France You would not know him now …
But still he died
Nobly, so cover him over
With Violets of pride
Purple from Severn Side³⁸.