Joseph Thomas Chidwick: A Detailed Biography
Private Joseph Thomas Chidwick, no. 32046, 2nd Battalion, Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment), was born at Dover, Kent, in early 1887 and was killed in action in France on 22 March 1918. [1][2][3] He is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial to the Missing of the Somme and also remembered in online databases dedicated to First World War casualties. [1][4][3]
Early Life and Family
Joseph Thomas Chidwick was born in Dover, Kent, before 27 April 1887, his birth registered in the Dover registration district (volume 2A, page 1003, line 226). [1] He was the son of Francis Thomas Chidwick and his wife Mary Ann, née Marsh, and was baptised at St John Mariner, Dover, on 27 April 1887, confirming his family’s ties to that parish and to the town’s maritime community. [1]
By the 1891 census Joseph was living at Hougham, Kent, recorded as a four‑year‑old son in his parents’ household. [1] This rural parish just outside Dover suggests a childhood spent between town and country, typical of working families whose livelihoods were connected to both agricultural and urban employment. [1]
Early Life and Family (Work and Home)
In the 1901 census Joseph appears back in Dover at 130 Clarendon Place, aged 14, still living as a son in the parental home and working as an under gardener, probably in domestic service or on a local estate. [1] By the 1911 census he is at 9 Montrose Cottages, Manor Road, Maxton, Dover, his occupation given as carter, indicating experience with horse‑drawn transport and local delivery work. [1]
By 1915 Joseph, then aged about 28, was recorded at 31 Kitchener Road, Dover, as head of household (“self”), still rooted firmly in the town where he had been born and raised. [1][4] A later service‑record abstract from the Dover War Memorial Project confirms this address and describes him as a carman, underlining his status as a skilled working‑class man employed in transport before joining the Army. [4]
Military Service
During the First World War Joseph served in the Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment), the county regiment which recruited mainly from South Lancashire but also absorbed men from other parts of Britain as the war progressed. [1][5] His specific unit is given as the 2nd Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment, and his rank as Private, with the regimental number 32046, placing him among the wartime drafts that reinforced the regular battalion on the Western Front. [1][3]
The 2nd Battalion South Lancashire Regiment was a regular battalion which went to France in August 1914 and served continuously on the Western Front. [6][7] Sources describing the regiment’s Great War service show that by early 1918 the battalion was engaged in front‑line duty in France and Belgium and was caught up in the German Spring Offensive launched on 21 March 1918, a massive assault along the Somme front. [6][8] Contemporary and later summaries of the battalion and associated units note heavy casualties during this period, with fighting and withdrawals through places such as Lagnicourt, Albert and other villages east of the old Somme battlefields. [9][10][7]
Circumstances of Death
Joseph’s individual report gives his date of death as 22 March 1918, in France, with no specific battlefield named. [1] On that date the German Spring Offensive (Operation “Michael”) was in its second day, with British units forced into rapid retreat, suffering large numbers of killed, wounded and missing as they attempted to hold rearguard positions and delay the enemy advance. [10][8] A modern roll of casualties for 22 March 1918 lists “Private 32046 JOSEPH THOMAS CHIDWICK, South Lancashire Regiment” among the fallen of that day, confirming his death in action. [2]
Other sources relating to the 2nd Battalion South Lancashire Regiment and to men killed or taken prisoner on 22 March 1918 suggest that the battalion was engaged in defensive and delaying actions in the battle zone around the Somme sector, though detailed battalion‑level war diaries for that exact day are not cited in the brief secondary summaries available. [9][7] The fact that Joseph has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial indicates that his body was either not recovered or could not be identified after the fighting, a common fate in the chaos of the March 1918 retreat. [1][3]
Burial and Commemoration
Joseph has no known grave and is therefore commemorated by name on the Pozières Memorial, which honours more than 14,000 British and South African servicemen who died on the Somme between 21 March and 7 August 1918 and have no known burial. [1][3] His entry in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database records him as “Private JOSEPH THOMAS CHIDWICK, 32046, 2nd Bn., South Lancashire Regiment, who died on 22 March 1918, France, commemorated on the Pozières Memorial”, confirming the unit and date of death. [1]
An associated memorial entry on Find a Grave (Memorial ID 16081789) also preserves his details, ensuring continued online remembrance. [1] The Dover War Memorial Project includes him under reference “13582 – Chidwick Joseph Thomas – South Lancashire Regiment” with details of his pre‑war trade as a carman and home address at 31 Kitchener Road, Dover, linking the name on a distant battlefield memorial back to a specific street and community in his home town. [4]
Legacy
Within his extended family Joseph is linked to the wider Chidwick and Marsh family lines via his FamilySearch profile (ID GM54‑CN2). [1] Online remembrance projects such as the Imperial War Museums’ “Lives of the First World War” identify him as “Joseph Thomas Chidwick, born 1887, died 1918, British Army 32046 Private, South Lancashire Regiment”, ensuring that his service and sacrifice are documented in national as well as local memory. [11][12]
The combination of civil records, census entries and military memorials paints a picture of a Dover‑born working man whose life followed a typical late‑Victorian and Edwardian pattern until interrupted by global war. [1][4] His death on 22 March 1918, at the height of the German Spring Offensive, and his commemoration on the Pozières Memorial, place him among the many whose individual graves were lost in the fluid and violent fighting of 1918 but whose names endure on stone and in digital records. [1][2][3]
Key External Links
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Private Joseph Thomas Chidwick:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1578705/joseph-thomas-chidwick/ [1] - Dover War Memorial Project – Service notes for Joseph Thomas Chidwick:
http://doverwarmemorialproject.org.uk/Casualties/WWI/Service%20Notes/ChidwickJ.htm [4] - A Street Near You / casualty databases (includes entry for Pte 32046 Joseph Thomas Chidwick):
https://astreetnearyou.org/regiment/251/South-Lancashire-Regiment [3]
Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-Joseph-Thomas-Chidwick.pdf
[2] Today’s Fallen Heroes Friday 22 March 1918 (4242) – Scribd https://www.scribd.com/document/372944297/Today-s-Fallen-Heroes-Friday-22-March-1918-4242
[3] South Lancashire Regiment – First World War Casualties https://astreetnearyou.org/regiment/251/South-Lancashire-Regiment
[4] Notes on Service Records – THE DOVER WAR MEMORIAL PROJECT http://doverwarmemorialproject.org.uk/Casualties/WWI/Service%20Notes/ChidwickJ.htm
[5] South Lancashire Regiment – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Lancashire_Regiment
[6] The Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/the-prince-of-waless-volunteers-south-lancashire-regiment/
[7] South Lancashire Regiment – Men on the Gates https://menonthegates.org.uk/maf_army/south-lancashire-regiment/
[8] South Lancashire Regiment https://vickersmg.blog/in-use/british-service/the-british-army/south-lancashire-regiment/
[9] The Plumb brothers from Antrobus, Cheshire – Great War Forum https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/299675-the-plumb-brothers-from-antrobus-cheshire/?do=findComment&comment=3143832
[10] British Entrenching Battalions of 1918 – The Long, Long Trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/british-entrenching-battalions-of-1918/
[11] Search for “Chidwick” in lastname | Lives of the First World War https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/searchlives/field/lastname/Chidwick/filter
[12] Search for “South Lancashire Regiment” in unit | Lives of the First … https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/searchlives/field/unit/South%20Lancashire%20Regiment/filter/?page=162
[13] THE HEROIC ACTIONS OF PRIVATE JACK COUNTER In the month … https://www.facebook.com/JerseyHeritage/posts/the-heroic-actions-of-private-jack-counter-in-the-month-of-remembrance-our-lates/1264712125696019/
[14] South Lancashire Regiment | Death and Service https://deathandservice.co.uk/category/regiment/south-lancashire-regiment/
[15] [PDF] Personal History He was living at Stalybridge, Cheshire when he … https://mlfhs.uk/images/wm-biogs/966-49.pdf
[16] REGIMENTS IN THE GREAT WAR | Lancashire Infantry Museum https://www.lancashireinfantrymuseum.org.uk/regiments-great-war
[17] Private R Taylor South Lancashire Regiment. Died Friday 22 March … https://astreetnearyou.org/person/254946/Private–Taylor
[18] My father’s elder brother, James Algernon joined the army on the 20 … https://www.facebook.com/groups/lancashireinfantrymuseum/posts/10158068594584910/
[19] 1/5th Battalion, http://www.prescot-rollofhonour.info/Documents/SLR_1-5Bn_WarDiaryV3.pdf
[20] 20654 Private Thomas Price, S. Lancashire Regiment – UBIQUE https://www.reubique.com/20654.htm
[21] 201805.pdf https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/media/5558/201805.pdf
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