Those who Served
At the outbreak of war on 4th August 1914 men who had previously served as soldiers were recalled to their regiments, this included several from the Parish and these men were soon stationed in France and Belgium. Some fought at the Battle of Mons 1914, the first major battle of the Great War. It was reported in the Wolverton Express of December 1914 that 17 out of the 23 Deanshanger Football Club players had enlisted. William Bartlett was the first team member killed in action in France , December 1914.

Soldiers in training on the brook bridge on Patrick's Lane

Soldiers of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) outside the Beehive at Deanshanger
Heavy losses were inflicted on the British Army and Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, initiated a recruiting campaign for volunteers as he didn’t believe “the war would be over by Christmas”. Men from the village joined the large queues reported outside recruiting offices and Regiments sent recruiting officers to attend local fetes, fairs and agricultural shows around the country. The campaign raised over one million volunteers who became known as Kitchener’s Army – many destined to fight at the Battle(s) of the Somme during 1915.

Services Medals and Portrait of Private 'Jack' B Hedges

Photograph of gentlemen in Deanshanger includes Billy Swannell on the right.
Heavy losses were inflicted on the British Army and Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, initiated a recruiting campaign for volunteers as he didn’t believe “the war would be over by Christmas”. Men from the village joined the large queues reported outside recruiting offices and Regiments sent recruiting officers to attend local fetes, fairs and agricultural shows around the country. The campaign raised over one million volunteers who became known as Kitchener’s Army – many destined to fight at the Battle(s) of the Somme during 1915.
A Roll of Honour posted in the Parish Church of St Guthlac’s Passenham in April 1915 listed the names of 53 men who had answered Kitchener’s ‘Call to Arms’. It also listed the death of Captain ACG Capell, a career soldier and son of the Parish Rector as killed in action on 12th March 1914 at Neuve Chapelle, France, and that two other men Captain N. B. Grounds and Lance Corporal G. Tapp were wounded.

War memorial erected in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church.

War Grave Commission headstone of 54886 Corporal W. H. Foddy of the Machine Gun Corps who was killed on 6th November 1918 aged 21.
Conscription (compulsory active service) was introduced, for the first time in March 1916, for all single men aged between 18 and 41, but exempted the medically unfit, clergymen, teachers and certain classes of industrial worker ( E & H Roberts Ltd employees did not qualify under this category); this was amended to include married men in May. ‘Trade Cards’ that had exempted skilled men from serving were abolished in May 1917 and in 1918 during the last months of the war the age limit was raised to 51. Conscription was unpopular but raised some 2.5 million men and was extended until 1920 to enable the army to deal with continuing trouble spots in the Empire and parts of Europe.
There are 15 names listed on the War Memorial in Holy Trinity Church but research has uncovered several others from the village who died. William Dumbleton’s Official War Grave Commission headstone can be found in Holy Trinity Church graveyard, he died after being returned wounded back to the UK in 1917.
“When the First World War came along I was sent off with very little training for the princely sum of one shilling a day. I was out there for four and a half years, so I remember a little about it and if I tried to describe today what conditions were like it would be useless as people would not believe it.......”
Harry G Read (Extract taken from ‘My Life as a Boy’ by HG Read)