'W Bullock' is Lance Corporal J.W Bullock Serial No: 14376 who was reported missing on the 8/6/1917. He enlisted in Leicester on the 7th September 1914 and saw active service until 15/6/1916 when he was 'posted to base' with 'trench fever'. He rejoined the 1/4th Battalion Leicester Regt. on the 6/5/1917 and is listed as missing one month later. His wife was Nellie Bullock (nee Harby). They married in Grantham on the 5/10/1912 and are recorded in his military records as having a son Frances Edward. Nellie Bullock, as next of kin, is also recorded as living in 'Muston, Bottesford'. In the dispassionate terms of the military record, the '22-3-1918' is listed as the date of 'acceptance of death for official purposes'. William's personal effects were returned to Nellie on the 28th May 1918 to 'Mrs Nellie Bullock, Barkestone Lane, Bottesford'. His campaign medals were forwarded on the 8th November 1920 and their receipt acknowledged by Nellie on the 11th December 1920. Nellie married William E. Pinfold in Grantham in 1922 (sometime between April to June). The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorial Certificate carries for following inscription:
In Memory of
Lance Corporal JOHN WILLIAM BULLOCK
14376, 1st/4th Bn., Leicestershire Regiment
who died on 08 June 1917
Husband of Nellie Pinfold (formerly Bullock), of 2, Barker's Place, Hinckley, Leicestershire.
Remembered with honour
ARRAS MEMORIAL

Private I Johnson, Northumberland Fusiliers: October 21st 1918

An 'Isaac Johnson' is listed in the 1901 census (DOB 1890; Parents John and Annie E. Johnson). Neither the CWGC Debt of Honour Register nor various military records on Ancestry.co.uk list an 'I' Johnson as a casualty in the Northumberland Fusiliers for that date. Scanning all 742 Johnsons, who are listed as casualties for 1918, still did not produce a record - need to do that again with a fresh eye. We will also go and look at the Grantham Journal for 1918 - this gives comprehensive entries for casualties in the weekly Roll of Honour during WW1.

Private I Johnson, Northumberland Fusiliers

Whilst we have not been able to trace Isaac Johnson in any military records nor in the CWGC register we have found the following report in the Grantham dated 9th November 1918. The date of his death in the article is given as the 20th October and he was buried in Muston Church yard, possibly on November 2nd 1918

Death of a Muston Hero - Still another Muston soldier has given his life for King and Country, viz., Pte. Isac (sic) Johnson, who enlisted in the Royal Engineers on July 19th, 1917, and was attached later to the Northumberland Fusiliers. He went to France in January, 1918, being wounded five months later at Armentieres. He was removed to England to Hospital at Newcastle on August 12th, 1918, later being removed to the University College Hospital, London. Pte. Johnson had suffered very much from his wounds, so that the sad news of his death on October 20th was not unexpected. The funeral took place on Saturday, at Muston, several of his former workmates and friends following him to the grave to show their tribute of respect to him. Before the war, Pte. Johnson was a platelayer on the Sedgebrook length of the Great Northern Railway, Much sympathy is expressed to Mr. and Mrs. J. Johnson and family in their sad bereavement. Their other soldier son, Pte. D. Johnson, is on his way home from India. He has also been suffering from dysentery and malaria.

Private I Johnson, Northumberland Fusiliers

A photograph of Isaac Johnson taken in 1902 alongside the pupils of Muston School can be found on the following page :
http://www.bottesfordhistory.org.u/page.aspx?id=549&path=

Following on from the Muston School photo of 1902, I have now found this page and note that I Gale (presumably Isabel) lost not only her son, Cyril, but in Pte Pritchett, her nephew too. The loss of so many men from such a small community was repeated all across the UK but at the time must have torn the village apart with such sadness.

Sapper Ernest Jones was born in Wilmslow. Wilmslow Community Archaeology group has been researching the lives of men commemorated on local war memorials for the past two years. In preparation for this year's publications I have been endeavouring to compile a list of all those who died and who were associated with Wilmslow Parish. Aggregating those from seven war memorials I have about 220 names. I am trying to connect each man to the corresponding Commonwealth War Graves Commission record. But for Sapper Jones I had only "E Jones" – no first name, no rank and no regiment. A search of the 1911 census found two Ernest Jones. Both were born in 1890 and both describe themselves as "painter and decorator". One of these household entries was unusual. A 50-year-old widow, Ellen Jones, had a household of married children – but with no sign of the children's spouses. The other entry was just Ernest Jones and his wife Sarah Lily Jones. I am now convinced that Ernest Jones got counted twice in the 1911 census – once in his mother's household and secondly in his own. I wonder where he actually spent the night of Saturday 2 April 1911! Sarah Lily Jones gave her place of birth as Belgrave, Leicester. A search of the 1901 Census for a "Sarah Lily", surname unknown, born in Belgrave, found her living with her father Richard H North in Lincolnshire. But the street address was Muston, Bottesford, Notts. I had never heard of Muston so Googled that name, which brought up the Bottesford history pages. I had come across these before in connection with brickmaking – so intrigued, I selected that website – and bingo! There was Sapper Ernest and his wife Sarah Lily on the Muston War Memorial. I would never have expected a Wilmslow painter and decorator to join the Australian Engineers.

Thank you for your comment concerning Ernest Jones. We do hope that you have now located the memorial certificate on the CWGC Web site. Please do let us know when your work identifying all those who served from Wilmslow is published. We have been trying to compile a list of the all those who served from Bottesford and Muston in addition to those listed as casualties on the war memorials. We have the following information concerning Ernest and Sarah Jones. They emigrated to Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia sometime after 1911. Heidelberg is now a residential suburb of Melbourne.  They are listed in the 1914 Australian Voting Register as living in Heidelberg. Ernest was working as a painter and decorator. However he enlisted with the Australian Engineers, 2nd Section of the 6th Field Company on 20th July 1915 as a bricklayer. His enlistment papers also indicated he was the father of two children. Red Cross records of his death on 1st December 1916 also sadly report that he had learnt of the death of one of his children whilst serving in Egypt between December 1915 to March 1916. Eye-witness accounts given in March and April 1917 from members of his section describe how around midnight on the 1st December a high explosive shell hit 'a large tent' in which 'around 50 soldiers', were encamped in the area of the Somme near Longeval in France. 8 soldiers were injured and up to four others, including Ernest, were instantly killed. The Red Cross sought out 11 witnesses account of this calamitous event. His wife Sarah Lillian Jones and his surviving daughter Lillian Elizabeth Jones are listed in pension records after Ernest's death. Initial official correspondence to Sarah is to the Heidelberg address in Australia. However, by February 1918 Australia House in London is given as the forwarding address. Sarah and Lillian must have returned to the UK to be with her parents in Muston, Leicestershire sometime after Ernest's enlistment.