HARTSHILL CEMETERY WAR GRAVES

There are 91 First War graves in the Cemetery listed on the Commonwealth War Graves website.
These are spread throughout the Cemetery, except in the case of 8 Australians and 2 Canadians who
are buried together in a plot by the path from the first entrance on Queens Road to the chapels, and
are recognisable by their uniform memorials. Most died from wounds, being treated in the North
Staffordshire Infirmary or in the specially created War Hospital in A Block of what is now the
University Hospital and in the then new Childrens Hospital which were in operation from June1915, or
in other Military Hospitals, in the case of soldiers from Stoke-on-Trent. The first burial was that of
Private Walter Maclean on 12 November 1914 and the last that of Joseph Sherry on 15 August
1921 from Stoke. The cut-off date for War Grave burials was 31 August 1921, the official date of the
end of the War. In all over a third of burials took place after the Armistice, indicating the lasting effect
of the war on those who survived initially, but in the case of at least two, ended their lives in
Cheddleton Asylum, their experiences proving too much for their minds to cope. One was Francis
Keen 307 Hartshill Road, buried 4 September 1920, the other Samuel Whitterance, formerly of
Lonsdale Street in Stoke, who had tried to cut his throat while in hospital in Berkshire.
Three soldiers are listed are listed on the Hartshill War Memorial, John Brooksbank, Hartwell
Mountford and Thomas Simmons, There are other soldiers buried from an address in Hartshill,
Basford or Cliff Vale, who are not commemorated on the Hartshill War Memorial, although several of
these are amongst those who died after the War Memorial was completed, such as James Henry
Roberts of 58 Brickkiln Lane, who died in 1921, a prisoner of war, where the treatment received may
have contributed to his death and Alexander Heames, of 528 Hartshill Road, who died on 8 August
1919. He died either by accident or intent in Platts Tileries marlhole.
Those who died before that date include Harry Jenkins of Coronation Road, buried 30 August 1915,
having died in hospital in Manchester, Benjamin Ryder of Cartlidge Street, a discharged soldier, who
died in the North Staffs Infirmary and was buried 14 December 1917, having been shot in the head in
Mesopotamia in April 1916 and discharged from the Army in September 1917 with a pension of 13/9d
per week with an allowance for one child, Henry of 10/6d. The pension was increased to 19/3 just
before his death, but the childs allowance was reduced to 3/6d per week. He was a native of
Whitchurch in Shropshire and was living in Cannock in 1911, though both his wife and son were born
in Stoke-on-Trent. Curiously his death certificate says he died in a diabetic coma. William Bullock of
55 Stanley Road, buried 16 November 1918, died in Stockport.Infirmary, having suffered a gun shot
wound to the chest.
Thomas Whitehouse, another discharged soldier, of 7 Garner Street, died 17 July 1918, in the North
Staffs Infirmary, with diabetes, which was not caused by but slightly aggravated by Army service.
Walter Turner was a 48 year old recruiting sergeant, with the West Yorkshire Regiment when he died
10 August 1917, lived at 9 Helvetia Terreace, Cliff Vale, which once connected BrickKiln Lane and
Garner Street.
There are three soldiers with Basford addresses buried who are not listed on the War Memorial, all
with addresses in the original Parish of Hartshill. William Bigham, a lieutenant with the
Northumberland Fusiliers, died in hospital in London on 5 September 1915 age 21 and had lived in
Temple Street, now Hayden Street, as did Archie Bourne, who died in Fort Pett Hospital, Rochester,
Kent, age 19, on 27 August 1917. The third burial is that of Lieutenant John Taylor of the Royal
Flying Corps of Gladstone Street, who was killed while training at Upavon in Wiltshire. A soldier with
an Hartshill connection was John Kennerley Platt, whose father, Howard was one of the directors of
Platts Tiles operating at the Harpfield Tileries off Hartshill Road and Boundary Street. He was a
gunner with the Royal Garrison Artillery and died in hospital in Cardiff on 4 March 1917. He is
commemorated on the Royal Garrison Artillery Memorial in Hartshill Church, as are Herbert Easton
Daniels and Arthur Ravenscroft, whio are also buried in Hartshill Cemertery.
Of War Graves with burials of servicemen from elsewhere in the Potteries, 39 are from addresses in
Stoke, including 6 from Penkhull; 8 are from Hanley, including the brothers John and William Hulme,
from Cauldon Road, Shelton, who are buried in the same grave; 5 from Fenton; 1 from Burslem and 1
from Wolstanton, Sydney Arthur Grimwade, the son of Leonard Grimwade of Watlands Hall and the
owner of Grimwades Pottery, in Stoke Road, Shelton. He was killed in a flying accident at Southend in
1918, while training as a pilot.

Of the Australian soldiers, seven, Arthur Mowbray, George Murrowood, Harold Tarr, Andrew
Pettifer, Frank Duffy, John Butcher and Charles White all died as a result of wounds during the
First Battle of the Somme in July 1916. They all died in the War Hospital between 31 July and 20
August, possibly wounded as a result of an action in the village of Pozieres, during the Battle of the
Somme. The sixth, Alfred Clutterbuck, died in July 1919, in the War Hospital, apparently while
employed in Longton, having been discharged from the Army. His death certificate calls it the
Temporary Military Hospital, though in fact the buildings had been returned to the Guardians at the
end of May. The information from the Australian service records in the Exhibition indicate that most of
those killed in 1916 survived only a short time after their wounding. Originally buried elsewhere in the
Cemetery, their remains were exhumed in 1920 and re-buried together in their present position. In
1920 and 1921 a wreath laying ceremony, conducted by the Mayor, took place on Anzac Day 25
April.
The two Canadians, Frederick Newton and Charles Williscraft, both died in 1917. Frederick on 25
April and Charles on 24 May.
Sidney Hargreaves is not listed on the Commonwealth War Graves website and is buried in a family
grave. He survived the War but died afterwards through accident. Born in 1899, and living at 11
Riseley Road, an apprentice bookbinder, he enlisted in the North Staffordshire Regiment in October
1914 and served in France and Belgium from March 1915 until November 1915, when he was
returned to England because he was underage. He remained in England until April 1918, though in
the meantime he transferred to the Notts and Derby Regiment (The Sherwood Foresters) in July 1917
and was in France and Belgium with them from April 1918 to November 1918. While there he was
wounded in the right ankle, either by rifle fire or an enemy shell. He was demobbed in March 1919
and returned to his apprenticeship with G T Bagguley in Newcastle. However he became dissatisfied
with his remuneration and asked to be released from his indentures because he had found better paid
work at Shelton Bar as an assistant crane driver. On his first day at work, 26 May 1919, he became
trapped when the crane travelled along its track and had received fatal head injuries.