1st cousin 3x removed – Mike's Cousins

Arthur James Lilley: His Service in the Royal West Kent Regiment

Private Arthur James Lilley, born in October 1893 in Teynham, Kent, served with the 8th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment during World War I. He fought on the Western Front from 1915 until his death on September 9, 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres. Lilley is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

Private Arthur James Lilley was a Kentish carman who served with the 8th (Service) Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), during the First World War. He fought on the Western Front from 1915 until his death in Belgium on 9 September 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres. Because his body was never identified, his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing. [1][2]

Arthur Lilley’s service carried him from Teynham and Chatham into a battalion that fought at Loos, on the Somme, at Vimy Ridge, Messines and Passchendaele.

Early Life and Family

Arthur James Lilley was born in about October 1893 at Teynham, Kent. His birth was registered in the Faversham district, although the registration appears under the variant spelling “Lily”. He was baptised on 17 January 1894 at St Mary’s Church, Teynham, providing a further record of his origins and of the name used by his family. [1]

Arthur was the son of Alfred Stephen Lilley and Rosetta Gurr. In the 1901 census he was living at 51 Queens Road, Chatham, as an eight-year-old son in the family household. By 1911 he was still in Chatham and was recorded as an eighteen-year-old son. The census entry preserves the family’s connection with the Medway towns, an area strongly associated with the Royal Navy, the Army and military industry. [1]

By 1915 Arthur was living at 16 First Avenue, Luton, Kent. His occupation was recorded as a carman on 9 December 1915. A carman was a driver or transport worker responsible for moving goods, often by horse-drawn cart or early motor vehicle. This was skilled and physically demanding employment, and it would have given Arthur practical experience of transport and logistics before and during his military service. [1]

No spouse or children are recorded in the supplied family report. He was the first cousin three times removed of the researcher, and his memory has survived through civil registration, census material, pension records, military documents and the commemoration of his death in Belgium. [1]

Military Service

Arthur served under the number G/11937 as a Private in the 8th Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment). The battalion was a wartime Service battalion formed at Maidstone on 12 September 1914 as part of the Third New Army, commonly known as K3. It joined the 72nd Brigade in the 24th Division and trained first at Shoreham and Worthing before returning to Shoreham and later moving to Blackdown. [1][3]

The battalion mobilised for overseas service in August 1915 and landed at Boulogne on 30 August. From that point it became an operational infantry unit on the Western Front. Its job was to occupy front-line trenches, conduct patrols and raids, attack enemy positions, consolidate captured ground and withstand counter-attacks. As a Service battalion, it contained many wartime volunteers who had trained together in Britain before being committed to the battlefield. [1][3]

The 8th Royal West Kent’s operational history was extensive. In 1915 it fought at the Battle of Loos. In 1916 it took part in the German gas attack at Wulverghem and in the Somme battles of Delville Wood and Guillemont. During 1917 it fought at Vimy Ridge, Messines, Pilckem Ridge and Langemarck, before later taking part in the Cambrai operations. These repeated engagements meant that Arthur’s battalion had endured several years of attritional warfare before he was killed. [1]

Unit Context at the Time of Death

Arthur died on 9 September 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, often known as Passchendaele. The battle began on 31 July 1917 and continued until November, as British and Commonwealth forces attempted to break through the German defences around the Ypres Salient. The campaign was fought in difficult conditions of mud, shell-damaged drainage systems, heavy rain and intense artillery fire. [1][4]

The 8th Royal West Kent had already fought at Vimy Ridge and Messines earlier in 1917 before moving into the Ypres sector. The Battle of Pilckem Ridge opened on 31 July, and the Battle of Langemarck followed from 16 to 18 August. These operations were designed to push eastwards from the Ypres Salient and capture the German defensive positions protecting the approaches to the high ground beyond Passchendaele. [1][5]

Although Arthur’s official date of death falls after Langemarck, the battalion remained within the continuing Ypres offensive. Even when a battalion was not making a major assault, its men could be exposed to shelling, raids, machine-gun fire, gas, patrols and the dangerous work of relieving troops or holding newly captured positions. The date therefore places Arthur within the continuing attritional struggle around the Ypres battlefield rather than at a moment of quiet or withdrawal.

The battalion’s role at this stage was that of front-line infantry. It formed part of the wider British effort to hold and extend the front in Flanders, moving between trenches, support positions and reserve areas as operations required. The unit’s previous battle history shows that Arthur was serving in an experienced but heavily used formation that had been repeatedly exposed to the conditions of the Western Front. [1][6]

By September 1917 the 8th Royal West Kent had become a veteran battalion of the Western Front, carrying the experience and losses of Loos, the Somme, Arras and the opening battles of Passchendaele.

Circumstances of Death

Arthur was killed in action in Belgium on 9 September 1917. The supplied records do not identify the precise trench, village or operation in which he died. However, his battalion was serving in the Ypres Salient during the Third Battle of Ypres, and the timing places his death within the sustained fighting that followed the battles of Pilckem Ridge and Langemarck. [1][4]

There are several possible circumstances in which a soldier of the 8th Royal West Kent might have been killed at this stage: during front-line occupation, an artillery bombardment, a local attack, a patrol, or the consolidation of ground gained in earlier operations. Without the battalion war diary for September 1917 or a surviving service file giving the exact action, it would be unsafe to claim a more specific event.

Arthur’s death was recorded as killed in action rather than as death from wounds or illness. The continued fighting and the landscape of Flanders also help explain why no identified grave survived. Shellfire frequently destroyed battlefield burials, and many bodies could not be recovered or identified after the front moved on. [1]

Burial and Commemoration

Arthur is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, on Panels 106 to 108. The memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery near Zonnebeke, north-east of Ypres, and records almost 35,000 officers and men from United Kingdom and New Zealand forces who died in the Ypres Salient after 16 August 1917 and have no known grave. [1][7][8]

The date of Arthur’s death is significant in relation to the memorial. The Tyne Cot Memorial was used for those missing from the later phases of the Ypres fighting, after the cut-off associated with the Menin Gate Memorial. His name on the memorial therefore identifies him as one of the men lost during the continuing Passchendaele campaign, when the battlefield was increasingly dominated by mud, shell holes, broken roads and shattered villages. [8][9]

His post-war recognition included the British War Medal, Victory Medal and Memorial Death Plaque. These awards were issued despite the absence of an individual grave and provided his family with tangible evidence of his service. Arthur is also listed in Find a Grave under memorial number 11950448, while the Imperial War Museums’ Lives of the First World War includes his medal-index information. [1][10]

Legacy

Arthur James Lilley’s life connects several Kentish communities. He was born at Teynham, grew up in Chatham, later lived in Luton and enlisted into a regiment formed at Maidstone. His military identity was therefore strongly rooted in Kent, even though his service took him to the battlefields of France and Belgium. [1][3]

His occupation as a carman offers an additional insight into his civilian life. Before the war he was part of the transport workforce that moved goods through Kent, but in uniform he became an infantry private whose daily responsibilities included carrying equipment, occupying trenches and advancing under fire. The transition from civilian transport work to front-line soldier reflects the enormous social and occupational changes imposed by total war. [1]

Arthur’s battalion history shows the scale of his experience. Between 1915 and 1917 he was associated with a formation that fought at Loos, Wulverghem, Delville Wood, Guillemont, Vimy Ridge, Messines, Pilckem Ridge and Langemarck. These battle names represent not only military operations but also months of training, movement, trench duty, fatigue, danger and the loss of comrades. [1]

His name on the Tyne Cot Memorial ensures that Arthur is remembered among the missing of the Ypres Salient, but family history restores the details that a memorial alone cannot provide. He was the son of Alfred Stephen Lilley and Rosetta Gurr, a former resident of Chatham and Luton, a carman, a Kentish recruit and a member of the 8th Royal West Kent who died during the 1917 fighting in Flanders. [1]

Further research may reveal more about his final days. The National Archives catalogue lists the 8th Battalion war diary, and a study of the September 1917 entries could establish the battalion’s exact location and activity on 9 September. Until that research is undertaken, the most reliable account is that Arthur was killed while serving with the 8th Royal West Kent in the Ypres Salient during the continuing Third Battle of Ypres. [11]

Sources and Further Reading

Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Private Arthur James Lilley
Find a Grave: Arthur James Lilley
The Long, Long Trail: Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)
The Wartime Memories Project: 8th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment
The National Archives: 8 Battalion, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment war diary
Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Cemeteries and memorials of Ypres and West Flanders
Imperial War Museums: Arthur Lilley
Every One Remembered: Arthur James Lilley
Compiled family report: Individual Report for Arthur James Lilley, including civil registration, census, occupation, military service, medal and commemoration details.

Tragic Fate of HMS C34: Remembering Playford

William George Playford, born on March 30, 1894, in Kent, served as a stoker in the Royal Navy during World War I. He died on July 21, 1917, when HMS C34 was torpedoed by a German submarine. Commemorated at the Chatham Naval Memorial, Playford’s sacrifice highlights the dangers faced by submariners.

William George Playford was born on 30 March 1894 at Bilsington, Kent, the son of Javan Playford and Martha Jane Godden. He was baptised at Ss Peter & Paul, Bilsington, on 20 May 1894 and spent his childhood in east Kent before moving into service work as a young man. By 1901 he was living in Aldington with his family, and by 1911 he was in Mersham, recorded on Kingsford Street as a single servant and market gardener’s assistant. [1]

Playford’s early life was rooted in the Kent countryside, where agricultural labour and local service were common first occupations for young men. He had no spouse or children, so the surviving story is carried through his parents, his naval service, and the memorials that preserve his name. His military medals were the Victory Medal, British War Medal, and Memorial Death Plaque, the standard recognition for a serviceman lost without a known grave. [1]

He was a Kent farm worker who became a stoker in the Royal Navy and was lost at sea with his submarine.

Early Life and Family

Playford came from a family established in east Kent, with his father Javan Playford and mother Martha Jane Godden named in the family record. The move between Bilsington, Aldington, and Mersham suggests a family that remained within the local rural economy rather than drifting far from home. In 1911 his occupation as a servant and market gardener’s assistant shows him still at the start of adult working life, on the cusp of the wider disruption brought by war. [1]

The picture that emerges is of a young man shaped by the land and by practical labour. That background may have prepared him physically for the demanding environment of naval engineering work, especially below decks in the confined heat and noise of a submarine’s machinery spaces. The family home remained the emotional centre of his life, even after enlistment took him into the Royal Navy. [1]

Military Service

William George Playford enlisted in the Royal Navy on 13 October 1913 and became Stoker 1st Class, serving in the engine room artificers’ branch. His service numbers K/21054 and later K/21854 identify him within the naval system, and his role would have been to keep machinery running, tend boilers and engines, and maintain the submarine’s power plant under difficult conditions. Submarine stokers were essential crewmen: the boat could not move, dive, or surface safely without them. [1]

Playford served in HM Submarine C34, a C-class submarine built for coastal patrol and reconnaissance work. C-class submarines were not large boats; they displaced about 290 tons surfaced and 320 tons submerged, were about 142 feet long, and carried a small crew of roughly sixteen men. Armed with a single 18-inch torpedo tube and just two torpedoes, they were modest in size but important in Britain’s early submarine warfare system. [1]

Unit Context at Time of Death

By mid-1917, C-class submarines like C34 were being used chiefly for patrols and reconnaissance in the North Sea and around the northern approaches to Britain. Their task was to guard key waters, watch for enemy movement, and counter German U-boats threatening Royal Navy and merchant shipping. Although small and comparatively slow, they were part of the Royal Navy’s layered response to the U-boat campaign that was strangling British trade and testing the Navy’s anti-submarine defences. [2][3][1]

C34’s patrol area off the Shetland Islands was strategically important because it lay near the routes used by both Allied shipping and German submarines moving into the Atlantic and the northern seas. In this setting, British submarines were sent out to deter, observe, and engage the enemy where possible, despite the risks of operating on the surface and the limited defensive capability of early boats. Playford’s submarine was therefore part of a dangerous and relatively new form of warfare in which the hunter could quickly become the hunted. [3][1]

C34 was a small patrol submarine, but it served in one of the most dangerous maritime environments of the war.

Circumstances of Death

William George Playford died on 21 July 1917 off Fair Isle, Orkney, when HMS C34 was lost after being torpedoed by the German submarine UC-22. Later accounts indicate that the submarine had sailed from Scapa Flow on 16 July for an anti-submarine patrol between Orkney and Shetland and was struck the following day while on the surface. The attack was swift and catastrophic, leaving C34 sunk almost at once and taking most of her crew with her. [4][3][1]

The family record notes that Playford’s body was not recovered for burial. Although one survivor was later found from the boat, the loss was still one of the grim and sudden submarine tragedies of the First World War. The official date of death recorded by the Admiralty and CWGC is 21 July 1917, reflecting the point at which the vessel was declared overdue and lost. [3][4][1]

Burial and Commemoration

Playford has no known grave and is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent. This memorial bears the names of Royal Navy personnel lost at sea with no known resting place, and it is an appropriate memorial for a submariner whose body was never recovered. His name is preserved there alongside those of thousands of other naval casualties from the First World War. [5][1]

For his family in Kent, commemoration would have come through the memorial plaque, medals, and the official notice of his loss rather than through a grave to visit. The CWGC record, together with later submarine remembrance sources, ensures that the story of C34 and her crew remains accessible today. In that sense, Chatham Naval Memorial acts as both a local and national place of remembrance for Playford and the men who died with him. [4][5][1]

Legacy

William George Playford’s life illustrates the way in which ordinary rural boys from Kent entered the machinery of industrial war at sea. He began as a market gardener’s assistant and ended as a stoker in a submarine that served in the dark waters off northern Scotland. His death reminds us that the war at sea was fought not only by battleships and cruisers, but by small submarines and the men who kept them moving in cramped, dangerous spaces. [1]

He also belongs to the story of early submarine warfare, when C-class boats patrolled British waters against a growing German U-boat threat. The loss of C34 off Fair Isle shows how exposed these little boats were when operating on the surface and how quickly a patrol could turn fatal. Playford’s name on the Chatham Naval Memorial ensures that his sacrifice is not forgotten, even though no grave marks the place where he died. [5][3][4][1]

Sources and Further Reading

Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-William-George-Playford.pdf https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/141549598/4ad6cfa8-fe44-4504-bd90-f35783b5b2ab/Individual-Report-for-William-George-Playford.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=ASIA2F3EMEYE745QYHFV&Signature=GKudIGXLAqZuSTy4A%2BbH6JNprXU%3D&x-amz-security-token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEIP%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJGMEQCICLwPUIRj0Ua6zkqU34pggy1laM0Zp0cnh1AqtPATiPeAiBSkv9XDXAddz8ODGrez1Sdf1qKkGlhUE8SOLBiZE%2FAESrzBAhMEAEaDDY5OTc1MzMwOTcwNSIM0h3%2F35E9WdsgATGlKtAEoqQNXx%2BxNLRatN5oeuxaos5iJA%2B7f0rtY9V8x4OuMYysQce1lBaJGoiz1D9mywZmQu6XA3vFGBBTR0z4lvx2k9k5vUXf00A7fCHQzU%2BU13aiN3vx1L25b1Q6eUBfvD2vt2YnaX%2Br3JEnT9LQVw8ptd6dYJ9wohM9pdEyNKDX8Q7m9DVkYpQNYJJ3PRNhKt4niJrQD2gF72bn%2BJt%2B7HZXwpXUaFKN12PVk4lvTIfDoFCmJnmKFS4ogoA0a7QUx7nehw48e4g8UbsjknLVICl72gw5vLCNDQQBOcdRXSUJJUB7ZazUwfJwpnQ4uGF5FfPS9Q%2BYU0Y%2B7zImWY%2BGKtP8NO7w97Tx8HK8ETJ%2Fl94cHzjBF1ZeHfyl%2F3z0W9Q%2BI9Dyz4mTZknRQDs%2BarIqJ0kTUjaO%2B6hGY6nULJgIKwiPvZ1P%2BfiKW1PcriCW5feH5X9slVKso23%2BZfVX%2B5zJoYK82HJME%2BPdT%2F8JHXbmnCyRVo2agY9OuG9SW6weM5WX4sL1qmRpuozJ%2BdApNVnhlk0M7pOmh2zU4b8vQiLS%2FtNHiYdz109A1e5CTlVyzE0%2BREcrOrhBpdtYII118b5fs%2B0%2BqMZUYC6%2F0mN0t6LUNUK80dAsM2qpbdglVmayiYd3NSbjBkmrqz528mdnctvYtfeFzkCYWKY4j5Cff3mgC7HSMVGqtaYmNCJO4mDIl8NCRLftW3u2RvL4fl21KF7LBuHFEVwcvj5MLpvV1A%2B4fuqZo4EyQrvl%2BA6VWB2mU%2Fx870IzNk6LJupDeaawFt70haCd%2FzCAy%2BTSBjqZAQIXs3oWNdy3EzYAxJx01px8QJUXPBUqLLz4LiumFARf3YIJeURdt8ojwiYgNGCoXHOjqo5Kr8nhj%2Fb%2FzZkXbZxmkx6lP00NDmWsup6XhfE2SWTsqsm7DFe%2FBOUSyTGOGkxcxVmWI7JmOCuNiteb36JHzxeN6cTZ0l859NG%2ByvRTJ%2FXZjpr%2B8ptNViiI83RKxjdVjrDVGyQE%2Bg%3D%3D&Expires=1784228172
[2] Submarines World War 1 – Harwich and Dovercourt History https://www.harwichanddovercourt.co.uk/submarines-ww1/
[3] C 34 (I 64) https://rnsubs.co.uk/index.php?PageID=206
[4] HMS C34 (1910 – 1917) – Submarine Book of Remembrance https://submarineremembrance.uk/submarine/11383-hms-c34
[5] Chatham Naval Memorial | Cemetery Details | CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/142000/chatham-naval-memorial/
[6] Chatham Naval Memorial | CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/our-war-graves-your-history/explore-great-britain/south-east-region/chatham-naval-memorial/
[7] HMS C34 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_C34
[8] After the First World War, an appropriate way had to be found of https://www.cwgc.org/media/p1dn3uwh/chatham-naval-memorial-site-tour.pdf
[9] HMS C34 – LOSTINWATERSDEEP.CO.UK https://lostinwatersdeep.co.uk/hms-c34.html
[10] List of shipwrecks in July 1917 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_July_1917
[11] July 1917 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_1917
[12] SM UC-22 – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_UC-22
[13] Mate George Edwin TILLER – Submarine Book of Remembrance https://submarineremembrance.uk/people/32802-tiller-george-edwin
[14] HMS C34 – Submarine – NAVY – MARINE WWI – Guerre 1914 – 1918 https://milanpatrick8.wixsite.com/ww1-us-photos/hms-c34-submarine
[15] Naval Memorials – Chatham https://www.isle-of-wight-fhs.co.uk/naval-memorials—chatham
[16] SM UC-22 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_UC-22

The Story of Edward Godden: A Royal Fusilier’s Journey

Private Edward William Godden, a gardener from Mersham, Kent, enlisted in October 1914 and served with the 8th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. He was killed in action on 24 March 1916 during trench warfare near Vermelles, France. Buried in Vermelles British Cemetery, he is commemorated for his sacrifice in World War I.

Edward William Godden: A Detailed Biography

Private Edward William Godden, no. 7126, 8th (Service) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), was a gardener from Mersham, near Ashford, Kent, who enlisted in October 1914 and was killed in action in France on 24 March 1916. [1][2][3] He lies in Vermelles British Cemetery, Pas‑de‑Calais, and is commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. [1][4][5]

Early Life and Family

Edward William Godden was born in the East Ashford registration district in the December quarter of 1891 (volume 2A, page 773), the son of Alfred Godden and Jane (née Gower). [1] He was baptised at St John the Baptist, Mersham, Kent, on 1 November 1891, confirming the family’s residence in this rural parish just south‑east of Ashford. [1]

In the 1901 census Edward appears at The Street, Mersham, aged 9, described as a scholar and son in his parents’ household. [1] By 1911 he was still living in The Street, Mersham, aged 19, single, and working as a gardener, a typical occupation in a village environment where estate and domestic gardening provided regular employment. [1] Within the wider family tree he is recorded as a first cousin three times removed of the compiler, linking him closely to local Godden and Gower kin. [1]

Early Life and Family (Physical Description and Character)

Surviving enlistment data give a brief physical sketch of Edward. He was recorded as 5 feet 6½ inches tall, with grey eyes and brown hair, features typical of many men of his generation but made distinctive by the precise measurements preserved in recruitment registers. [1][6] The Surrey Recruitment Register, cited in external research on “G” surnames, confirms that “E. W. Godden” was born in Ashford, attested at Epsom on 21 October 1914 and joined the Royal Fusiliers, aligning exactly with the details in the individual report. [1][6]

Although no personal letters or anecdotes are quoted in the compiled material, this combination of village upbringing, gardening work and early voluntary enlistment suggests a man accustomed to physical labour and outdoor life, who responded promptly to the wartime call for recruits. [1][6]

Military Service

Edward enlisted at Epsom, Surrey, on 21 October 1914, joining the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) as a private, with the number G/7126 (often rendered simply as 7126). [1][6] He was posted to the 8th (Service) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, a New Army battalion raised in 1914 which became part of 36th Brigade in the 12th (Eastern) Division. [1][2][3]

The 12th (Eastern) Division assembled in England and moved to France in late May and early June 1915, taking over a sector of the line in the Loos area and gradually becoming involved in front‑line fighting. [1][2] The 8th Royal Fusiliers fought in the Battle of Loos in September 1915 and remained in the Loos–Vermelles–Hohenzollern Redoubt area over the winter of 1915–16, a sector characterised by mining, trench raids and frequent artillery and trench‑mortar bombardments. [4][2][3]

Military Service (Hohenzollern Redoubt and Vermelles)

In early 1916 the 12th (Eastern) Division was ordered to carry out operations against the Hohenzollern Redoubt, a strongly fortified German position near Loos. [4][5] On 2 March 1916 British tunnellers exploded a series of large mines under the German lines, and the 8th and 9th Battalions, Royal Fusiliers, led the assault into the crater field, capturing new and existing craters and sections of trench at heavy cost; the 8th Royal Fusiliers alone suffered some 254 casualties in that initial attack. [4][7][8]

Following this, the division continued to hold the line from the Quarries to Hohenzollern Redoubt throughout March, facing repeated German counter‑attacks, intense trench‑mortar fire and heavy shelling, particularly around the villages of Vermelles and the approaches back towards Annequin and Noyelles. [4][2][5] From 2 to 19 March the 12th Division sustained more than 3,000 casualties, and by the time it was relieved in late April total losses in the sector exceeded 4,000 men, underlining the severe attrition suffered by Edward’s battalion and brigade. [4][2]

Circumstances of Death

Edward’s date of death is recorded as 24 March 1916, with the theatre noted as France and Flanders and the cause as “Killed in action”. [1] At this date the 8th Royal Fusiliers and 36th Brigade were still holding trenches near Vermelles and in or around the crater fields created during the Hohenzollern Redoubt action, enduring continuous shelling and localised fighting even after the main assault period earlier in the month. [2][9][3]

A closely related narrative for another 8th Battalion casualty, Private Arthur Henry Noden, notes that the battalion was in the trenches near Vermelles in March 1916, suffering casualties from artillery and sniper fire rather than from major set‑piece attacks. [9] Given Edward’s burial at Vermelles British Cemetery and the timing of his death shortly after the main Hohenzollern operations, it is likely that he was killed either by shellfire or during routine but dangerous trench‑holding duties in that sector, part of the persistent day‑to‑day toll of front‑line service. [1][4][2]

Burial and Commemoration

Unlike many of his comrades on the Western Front, Edward has an identified grave. He is buried at Vermelles British Cemetery, Pas‑de‑Calais, in plot II, row N, grave 23. [1] The Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry records him as “GODDEN, E. W., Private, 7126, 8th Bn., Royal Fusiliers, who died on 24 March 1916, son of Alfred and Jane Godden, of 12, Mersham St., Ashford, Kent.” [1][5]

The cemetery, established near the front‑line positions held by the 12th (Eastern) Division and others, contains many burials from the Loos and Hohenzollern sectors of early 1916, and Edward’s grave stands among those of fellow infantrymen and support troops who fell in the same period. [4][5] A Find a Grave memorial (ID 56589100) reproduces his CWGC details and locates his grave within Vermelles British Cemetery, providing an online point of reference for relatives and researchers unable to visit the site in person. [1]

Legacy

His place of origin – Mersham Street, Ashford – remains a key part of local remembrance in Kent. [1][6] His service with the 8th Royal Fusiliers links him not only to the history of that famous City of London regiment but also to the specific story of the 12th (Eastern) Division’s costly operations at the Hohenzollern Redoubt in March 1916. [1][4][3]

Modern regimental and historical summaries of the Royal Fusiliers note the role of the 8th Battalion within 36th Brigade, 12th Division, and its participation in Loos‑sector operations, ensuring that the actions in which Edward fought and died remain part of the wider narrative of the Great War on the Western Front. [2][3][8] Through his named grave at Vermelles, his CWGC record, and digital memorials, Private Edward William Godden is remembered today as one of the many young Kent men whose lives were given in the grinding trench warfare of 1916, months before the Somme battles shifted the British focus further south. [1][4][2]

Key External Links

Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Private E. W. Godden:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/251578/e-w-godden/ [1]
12th (Eastern) Division – operations around Loos, Vermelles and Hohenzollern Redoubt:
https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/12th-eastern-division/ [2]
Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) overview, including 8th (Service) Battalion:
https://vickersmg.blog/in-use/british-service/the-british-army/royal-fusiliers-city-of-london-regiment/ [3]
Background on the Hohenzollern Redoubt actions, March 1916:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenzollern_Redoubt_action,_2%E2%80%9318_March_1916 [4]

Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-Edward-William-Godden.pdf
[2] 12th (Eastern) Division – The Long, Long Trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/12th-eastern-division/
[3] Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) – Vickers MG Collection … https://vickersmg.blog/in-use/british-service/the-british-army/royal-fusiliers-city-of-london-regiment/
[4] Hohenzollern Redoubt action, 2–18 March 1916 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenzollern_Redoubt_action,_2%E2%80%9318_March_1916
[5] Hohenzollern Redoubt – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenzollern_Redoubt
[6] War Memorials – WW1 – Surnames G https://eehe.org.uk/40914/warmemorialssurnamesg/
[7] Hohenzollern Redoubt Facts for Kids https://kids.kiddle.co/Hohenzollern_Redoubt
[8] 3 British underground mines explode under German trenches. Early … https://www.reddit.com/r/ww1/comments/132hg6g/3_british_underground_mines_explode_under_german/
[9] Pvt Arthur Henry Noden (1894-1916) – Find a Grave Memorial https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56589748/arthur_henry-noden
[10] Officers 8th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers http://www.dublin-fusiliers.com/battaliions/8-batt/personnel/officers/officers-8-bn.html
[11] Men of the Northumberland Fusiliers in St Eloi, France, March 1916 … https://www.facebook.com/veteransfoundation/posts/men-of-the-northumberland-fusiliers-in-st-eloi-france-march-1916-we-will-remembe/1067739755383993/
[12] Lancashire Fusiliers – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancashire_Fusiliers
[13] How-to Blog Post Template https://www.kbspas.com/brl/8th-battalion-leicestershire-regiment-1916
[14] Casualty Details https://www.fadedgenes.co.uk/CWGC_Frederick_Godden.pdf
[15] Royal Dublin Fusiliers 8th Battalion – Great War Forum https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/148751-royal-dublin-fusiliers-8th-battalion/
[16] (E ROYAL FUSILIERS http://agiusww1.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/The-Royal-Fusiliers-in-the-Great-War-H-C-ONeill.pdf
[17] Noor’s Royal Dublin Fusiliers humble collection – Page 3 https://www.omsa.org/forums/topic/noors-royal-dublin-fusiliers-humble-collection/page/3/
[18] Obits https://glosters.tripod.com/regobitsp.htm
[19] London Regiment – The Long, Long Trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/london-regiment/
[20] The 23rd (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (First Sportsman’s) A … http://www.gutenberg.lib.md.us/2/0/3/7/20377/20377-8.txt
[21] 8th Btn Royal Fusiliers – WD Missing? https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/316361-8th-btn-royal-fusiliers-wd-missing/