Name
Arthur John Saunderson
1882
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
16/11/1916
34
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
40399
Lincolnshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 1 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Nuthampstead Plaque, St Mary Magdalene Church, Barkway, Not on the Barkway memorial(*1), Bardwell War Memorial, St Peter & St Paul's Church, Bardwell, Suffolk
Pre War
Arthur John Saunderson (sometimes known as John) was born in Nuthampstead, Hertfordshire in 1882, the son of Joseph and Sarah Saunderson.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Whites Farm, Barkway, Herts where his father was the farm foreman. His mother died in 1893, aged 42, and in 1901 his widowed father and siblings Sarah, Joseph and William were living in nearby Anstey village, with his father working as a farm foreman. John had moved out of the family home and was living at the home of Thomas Baker, a grocer, and his wife and family in High Street, Barkway, Herts, with 18 year old John working as a grocer's porter.
His father was living at the Bury Farm, Nuthampstead, in 1911, and working as farm bailiff, with John's sister Sarah described as housekeeper. Meanwhile, John was a visitor at the home of Timothy and Mary Ann Woollard at Croft Cottage, Wattisford, Diss, Cambs, and was working as a grocer's assistant. He married Ethel Maud Woollard in Stow, Suffolk later the same year.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk and initially joined the Suffolk Regiment under reg. no. 334779, later transferring to serve as Lance Corporal with the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment.
He was killed in action on 16 November 1916 at the end of the Battle of the Somme, aged 34, but has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £2 15s 10d. She was also awarded a pension of 13s 9d a week, later increased to £1 1s 0d a week. She later lived at Pump Farm, Hinderclay, Diss, Cambs
Probate was obtained on his estate by Albert Edward Filby, Private, H M Army, in London on 10 July 1917, with effects of £87 6s 8d. John's home address was recorded as Manor Farm, Bardwell, Suffolk.
*1 The memorial for the Nuthampstead men is in the church in Barkway.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild
