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Research ongoing
 Thomas Hefferon’s Medal Index Card incorrectly names him as “John”. It lists his entitlement to the British War Medal and Victory Medal and also records his previous service with the South Lancashire Regiment  Thomas Hefferon’s CWGC headstone in Prescot Churchyard. The stone includes the inscription “Also commemorates Francis Hefferon, beloved husband of Nancy, died Jan 14 1927 aged 37 years”. This refers to Thomas Hefferon’s younger brother.
Shoeing Smith (Trooper) 251938 John HENRY
Picture courtesy of John Henry’s great-grandson, also John Henry
Service Record John Henry initially served as a Shoeing Smith with the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Hussars as Private 977. His low service number indicates pre-war service, perhaps with the Territorial Force. He first arrived in France on 9th November 1915. It is not clear at which point he transferred to the Warwickshire Yeomanry, although it would seem to be after the Warwick’s had been withdrawn from Gallipoli to take part in the Palestine campaign. After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the Warwickshire Yeomanry took part in many actions in the Palestine campaign with the Division, part of the Desert Mounted Corps. In April 1918, they left the Brigade as dismounted troops, and formed (with the South Notts Hussars) "B" Battalion, the Machine Gun Corps. They suffered loss of 93 men when their ship HMT “Leasowe Castle” , taking the unit from Egypt to Italy was torpedoed by submarine UB51 on 27 May 1918. She was travelling in a convoy 104 miles north-west of Alexandria and sank within 90 minutes. Over 2,800 men managed to survive the sinking. One survivor told the tale of the sinking as follows, “The "Leasowe Castle" was one of a convoy of six transporters and they were accompanied by a number of destroyers. The weather was good, the sea was calm and a brilliant moon shone in the night sky. At 1.30 am on May 27th 1918 when the ship was about 104 miles from Alexandria, the "Leasowe Castle" was struck by a torpedo on the starboard side. The engines were immediately stopped. The troops mustered to their stations, rolls were called, boats lowered and rafts flung overboard. The Japanese destroyer "R" stood by, while the remainder of the convoy continued on their journey at full speed. We are informed that perfect order was maintained on board, the men standing quietly at their stations as if on parade, while those detailed for the work assisted in lowering the boats. Lifeboats were launched in the course of forty five minutes and the rescue attempt continued smoothly. The "Leasowe Castle" remained fairly steady, though sinking a little at the stern, with a slight list to port. All of 'B' (Warwickshire Yeomanry) Company of the Battalion went over the port side and were picked up in the water. About 1.45am. HM sloop "Lily" appeared having turned back from the convoy to assist in the work of rescue. She ran her bows up to the starboard side of the "Leasowe Castle" and made fast, so that troops were able to pass quickly on board. Meanwhile the Japanese destroyer put up a smoke screen for protection. Suddenly about 3.00 am. a bulkhead in the aft part of the ship gave way, and with a loud noise the "Leasowe Castle" sank rapidly. The "Lily" had a narrow escape, as the hawsers connecting her with the sinking ship were cut with an axe just in time. Most of the remaining men on board were carried down with the ship and not a single body was picked up.” The remainder of the battalion eventually landed in Italy on 21 June 1918 and moved to France where Battalion became 100th Bn, Machine Gun Corps. The Parish Magazine of 24th September 1918 reported “Trooper John Henry, 36, of 11 Bretherton Road is now to be numbered amongst those who were lost in the sinking of the transport “Leasowe Castle” on 27th May. He has left a widow and 5 children. Private Henry’s Medal Index Card, shown below, records his service with the Lancashire Hussars as well as the Warwickshire Yeomanry. It shows his medal entitlement to the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Private 22292 Michael HENRY
Service Details The 13th Battalion of the Regiment was formed on 30th September 1915 at Drenwydd Camp, Oswestry, as an additional “feeding” battalion for the Service Battalions of the Regiment. As such, it would supply officers and men to replace those lost in battle, whether killed, wounded or captured. Michael Henry's service number is from a range issued around October of 1915. In that October, the Battalion moved to the Park Hall Hutments in Whittington and then in November to the Watch Works in Prescot, where it remained until April 1916, by which time private henry had died. He is recorded by SDGW as having “Died”, as opposed to being “Killed in Action” or “Died of Wounds”, which means he will have either fallen victim to sickness or an accident. He had not seen any overseas service. He appears to have been of Irish descent, with his residence shown as Roscommon in Ireland, and in all likelihood, he would not have had any local family. He rests in Prescot Churchyard.
The CWGC headstone for Pte. Henry in Prescot Churchyard
Private 3305 Mathew HEYES
Service Details The 5th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment, had just started its annual training in camp when war broke out in August 1914. It was sent to Edinburgh until October, then moved to Tunbridge Wells until February 1915. It was then ordered to France, sailing on the 13th aboard s.s. King Edward. Arriving at Le Havre the same day. Over the next few days the battalion marched to billets at Le Bizet, and then undertook instruction in trench warfare. The system was for companies from a battalion to be attached to other battalions for spells in the line, before the sector was allocated to the battalion on its own. In addition to the trench duty, the battalion undertook its share of pioneer work and training in rapid fire. The Battalion was moved around regularly without seeing action, until 28th April when it was moved to Vlamertinghe, Belgium in readiness to take part in the 1st Battle of Ypres, which had started on the 22nd. On 2nd May, the Germans launched a violent attack, accompanied by a cloud of chlorine gas, and the battalion was moved into the line for the first time. On 3rd May, it was moved to the new line in front of Wieltje, and then on the 4th it was again moved to Shell Trap Farm. At dawn, they engaged the Germans but by 4pm the enemy was within 400 yards of the British lines, from where they began a heavy bombardment of the British lines. More shell fire continued through the next day, culminating in heavy concentrated fire about 5 p.m. which resulted in a considerable number of men being buried, many of them killed and wounded. The enemy fire continued until midnight and four attempts were made by the Germans to take the farm, but all were repulsed. At 2 a.m. on the 6th, the Battalion was relieved and moved to La Brique, having incurred considerable casualties. On the 8th May, the battalion was once more sent up to the Wieltje sector as it was thought that the enemy had broken through, but it proved to be a false alarm and on the 9th it returned to La Brique, leaving “C” Company and a machine-gun detachment at Wieltje. Early on the 10th, the battalion moved to the bank of the Yser canal where it remained until the 13th, when it was moved back to the support lines. After 25th May, there were no more serious offensive actions from either side as all parties were exhausted. The battalion were billeted at Forceville in mid-Jul to early August, when it moved to trenches in the Auchonvillers section. They remained her, with rest billets at Maillly-Maillet, until 29th October when they retired to Bertencourt for training and work party assignment. The casualties suffered in this period were a result of the intermittent artillery and mortar fire, as well as constant sniping. Private Heyes was one of the casualties of this period. His body was never identified and he is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the Somme.
Private 12615 Samuel Thomas HEYES
Service Details The 6th (Service) Battalion was formed soon after the outbreak of war from the first thousand men who answered Kitchener’s call to arms “Your Country Needs You”. These units were afterwards known as “K1” units. The battalion commenced training at Tidworth in Wiltshire in the barracks recently vacated by the 2nd Battalion, which had joined the British Expeditionary Force in France. Final “polishing” took place at Blackdown, near Aldershot. In April 1915, an Expeditionary Force landed on the shores of Gallipoli as part of the Dardanelles campaign, with the ultimate aim of capturing Constantinople. The landings were not the success that was first hoped for, and reinforcements were brought in. This took place on 7th July and included the 6th Battalion, South Lancs., landing at Helles. The next few weeks were spent learning trench warfare, and included several spells in the front line before being withdrawn to Mudros on the Greek island of Lemnos on 31st July for a rest period. On 4th August, the battalion returned to Gallipoli, this time landing at Anzac Cove. On the 8th, it was ordered to follow the 9th Royal Warwickshire Regiment in an assault on the slopes of Chunuk Bair. This took place, although the assault came under withering Turkish fire. The attackers eventually dug in late in the evening about 100ft below the summit. Actual casualty numbers and details are not known. Pte. Heyes was killed on this date. It was originally thought that he might have been a victim of the action mentioned above, but the family legend referred to below suggests a different cause of death. He has no known grave and is remembered on the Helles memorial.
Private Heyes Medal Index Card, held at the National Archives and reproduced above, shows that he first entered the Gallipoli theatre on
Samuel Heyes inscription on the Helles Memorial I am indebted to Jimmy Smith, grandson of Samuel Heyes, for some additional information on the family story. Firstly, he advises that the family story concerning the death of Samuel Heyes is that he was walking along the beach leading pack mules when a shell exploded nearby. No trace of his body was ever found. The census entries for the family show that Samuel had a twin sister, Charlotte Ann Heyes. She married William Thomas Burrows in Prescot early in 1903 and they had two children; William John in 1904 and May in 1906. Shortly after the birth of their daughter, they emigrated to In 1914, they were returning to They booked passage on the "Empress of Ireland" which left
The Empress of Ireland Passenger List, including the Burrows family
Lance Corporal 4960 Herbert H HIND
Inscribed on the panel of the civic memorial which lists those men who died after the initial panels had been inscribed, this man is listed as “Hind, H. H.”.
Checking the online CWGC register, one “H H Hind” is reported. He died on 7th February 1921 and is buried at Eccleston (Christ Church) Churchyard. The database reports that he served as Lance Corporal 4960 with the 2nd/5th Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment, seconded to the Labour Corps with service number 258260. I think that his LR service number of 4960 was issued around February or March of 1916. So my first assumption is that this CWGC entry relates to the men commemorated on the Prescot Civic Memorial. Checking at the churchyard, his headstone (pictured below), shows him as “Herbert H Hind”, the husband of Lily Hind, also showing his age as 32, therefore being born sometime around 1889. A check of the men listed on the memorial at the Methodist Church (see here), shows an entry for “Herbert H Hind”. At this point in time, I have no details of Herbert’s service or the reason for his death. I will obtain his death certificate in due course.  Herbert Hind's headstone in Eccleston  Herbert Hind's Medal Index Card (above) shows his entitlement to the British War Medal and Victory Medal, and also confirms that he did not go overseas prior to 1916 Rifleman Frederick Hugh HITCHCOCK
Research ongoing
 Rifleman Hitchcock’s Medal Index Card noting his arrival in  Fred Hitchcock's headstone at Woburn Abbey Cemetery
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