The Royal British Legion
Staple Branch
Charity Number 219279
Henry Turner
Died on 25th September 1915 Aged 28
2nd Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment
Henry John Turner was born in Staple in 1887.
He was one of ten children born to George and Martha Turner. His parents were both born in Ash and lived there at least up to 1881, George working as a Farm Labourer. They must have lived in Staple for some time after that for Henry to be born here in 1887 but the 1891 and 1901 census finds the Turners living in Chillenden. By 1911, however, father George is seventy, still a Garden Labourer and living in Staple, next door to Walnut Tree Cottage, with his wife Martha, son Henry, now 24, daughter Daisy May and her son Edward. Henry is working as a Groom/Gardener.
In 1912, Henry marries Minnie Cozens. Minnie was born in Ickham but is working as Cook/Domestic servant at the Rectory for the Rev John Clay Worthington VALPY and his wife, the same Rev Valpy who inaugurated the War Memorial. They also had a House parlour maid in residence. I wonder if they had a Groom Gardener living out? Next to Walnut Tree Cottage, maybe?
Like almost every other young man in the country, Henry didn’t evade the siren call of the Recruiting Sergeant and joined the 2nd Battalion The Royal Sussex Regiment which went to France with the British Expeditionary Force and fought through the war on the Western Front. The 2nd Battalion, with our Henry, were engaged in the first Battle of Ypres where they were given the unofficial title of ‘The Iron Regiment’ by German prisoners captured in November 1914. The Battalion subsequently fought at the Battle of Aubers Ridge in May 1915.
During the Battle of Loos on the 25th of September 1915, the Battalion took part in an attack in front of Hulluch, in the vicinity of the Lone Tree {a notable landmark in a landscape utterly devoid of anything but mud and barbed wire}. The platoon officer was killed and Sergeant Harry Wells took command and led his men forward to within 15 yards of the German wire. Nearly half the platoon were killed or wounded and the remainder were ‘much shaken’ but Sergeant Wells rallied them and led them on. Finally, when very few were left, he stood up and urged them forward once again and while doing this, he was killed. Thus reads the citation for Sergeant Wells’ Victoria Cross. He is buried in Dud Corner Cemetery near Loos.
Henry John Turner, killed on the same day and quite possibly in the same attack, has no grave. His name is inscribed on the Loos Memorial (Panel 69 to 73).
The Royal Sussex Regiment raised 23 battalions for the war and all of them saw action with a battalion in every theatre, including Russia in 1919. The Regiment lost 6,800 men and won 4 VCs. St George’s Chapel in Chichester Cathedral was restored and furnished as a memorial and all the names are recorded on the wall – Henry John Turner’s among them.
Loos Memorial
St George's Chapel, Chichester Cathedral