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 6th (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 21st 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 22nd 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 24th 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.
STONE_R
Private R Stone 32922, 6th (PALS) Battalion, KSLI
Died of wounds, in hospital on 24th 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.