Tag: Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort’s Own)

Aylmer Davison: A Kent Labourer’s Service in WWI

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Aylmer Allsworth Davison was a Kent-born agricultural labourer who served in the First World War with the Rifle Brigade and the London Regiment’s Artists’ Rifles before being killed in action in France on 25 June 1918.[file:439]

Rifleman Aylmer Allsworth Davison was killed in action in the Somme sector on 25 June 1918 and was buried at Mailly Wood Cemetery.

Family report and CWGC record

Early Life and Family

Aylmer Allsworth Davison was born on 6 December 1890 in Gillingham, Kent, the son of Robert Davison and Frances Whitehead.[file:439] He was baptised at St Mary Magdalene, Stockbury, on 14 December 1890, and by the time of the 1891 census he was living in Gillingham with his family on Lower Rainham Road.[file:439] The family later settled in Stockbury, where he appears in both the 1901 and 1911 censuses, living at The Corner and working as an agricultural labourer by the age of twenty.[file:439]

Stockbury was a small Kent parish shaped by farming, seasonal labour and village life, and Aylmer’s early career reflects that rural world.[file:439] In 1918 his residence is given as Parsonage Farm, Stockbury, which links him closely to the agricultural landscape of north-east Kent.[file:439] He married Ethel Alice Katie Conley at St Mary Magdalene, Stockbury, on 21 August 1915, and the couple had one child, Kathleen Edith Davison.[file:439]

Military Service

Aylmer served in the Western European theatre from 8 December 1916 until 25 June 1918.[file:439] His military record shows service number S/48484 and the rank of Rifleman, with service in the Rifle Brigade and later in the 1st/28th Battalion, London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles), having previously served in the Royal West Kent Regiment as Private G/25239.[file:439] That sequence suggests movement through training and reinforcement channels common in the later war, when men could be transferred between regiments as demands on manpower increased.[file:439]

The Artists’ Rifles had a distinctive wartime role. Originally a London volunteer unit, by the First World War it had become a training and reinforcement battalion known for producing large numbers of officers before later returning to front-line infantry service.[web:447][web:450] By 1918 the 1/28th Battalion was a combat formation in the Western Front fighting line, serving as part of the London Regiment’s war structure and sharing in the final offensives of the conflict.[web:447][web:450]

Davison’s service linked a Kent farm worker to one of London’s best-known wartime rifle battalions.

Family report and Artists’ Rifles history

Unit Context at Time of Death

At the time of Aylmer’s death, the battalion was serving in the Somme sector, an area where British forces were engaged in the lead-up to the Allied offensives of summer 1918.[file:439][web:440] Mailly Wood Cemetery, where he is buried, lies near Mailly-Maillet in the Somme and was used extensively for burials from the nearby front-line and casualty clearing stations.[web:440][web:446] The cemetery now holds over 700 First World War burials and commemorations, showing the intensity of fighting and medical activity in the sector.[web:440]

The 1/28th Battalion, London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles), had by this stage become a hard-used front-line infantry unit rather than an officer-training body.[web:447][web:450] The battalion’s wartime role included serving in the opening months of the offensive warfare that characterised 1918, supporting the wider British push that would eventually break the German line.[web:450] Its men were therefore exposed to the constant shellfire, patrol fighting and casualties typical of the Somme battlefield in the summer of 1918.[web:440][web:450]

Circumstances of Death

Aylmer Davison was killed in action in France on 25 June 1918.[file:439] The family report gives no detailed narrative of the action, but the date and burial place strongly suggest that he fell during the fighting in the Somme sector rather than dying later in hospital.[file:439][web:440] His burial at Mailly Wood Cemetery, in grave I.N.7, places him among the many British dead recovered from the operations around Mailly-Maillet and nearby villages.[file:439][web:446]

Like many infantry casualties of 1918, his death occurred during a period of transition from defensive exhaustion to renewed Allied pressure.[web:440][web:450] The precise circumstances are not stated in the surviving family report, but the combination of front-line service, the date of death, and the Somme burial location points to active combat in the closing months before the German retreat later that year.[file:439][web:440]

Burial and Commemoration

Aylmer is buried at Mailly Wood Cemetery, Mailly-Maillet, Somme, France, in grave I.N.7.[file:439] The cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is one of the principal burial grounds associated with the fighting north-east of Albert.[web:440][web:446] Its continued preservation ensures that his name remains visible in the landscape of remembrance as well as in family records.[web:440]

His CWGC entry, together with his Find a Grave memorial, provides the key official and commemorative record of his death.[file:439] He is recorded as the husband of Ethel Alice Katie Davison and the father of Kathleen Edith Davison, which gives his sacrifice a clear family dimension.[file:439] The medals listed in the report — the Victory Medal and British War Medal — confirm his overseas war service and place him among the millions of men recognised in the post-war award system.[file:439]

Legacy

Aylmer Allsworth Davison’s life was rooted in rural Kent, but his military service carried him into one of the most contested sectors of the Western Front.[file:439] He moved from agricultural labour at Stockbury to army service in the Royal West Kent Regiment, then onward to the Rifle Brigade and the Artists’ Rifles, showing the shifting paths many soldiers followed during the later war.[file:439] His biography also reflects the experience of many married men who left behind young families, in his case a widow and a daughter.[file:439]

Sources and Further Reading

Frederick James Hulse: A Tribute to a WWI Sergeant

Sergeant Frederick James Hulse, born in late 1889 in Kent, served with the 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade, during World War I. He died of wounds on April 15, 1915, at age 25 and is buried in Bailleul Communal Cemetery, France. Hulse left no direct descendants, and his sacrifice is commemorated by his family.

Sergeant Frederick James Hulse (service number 2630) served with the 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own), and died of wounds in France on 15 April 1915, aged twenty‑five.[file:146][web:147][web:150]

He is buried in Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Nord, France, in grave J. 69, a burial ground closely associated with the casualty clearing stations that served the Ypres and Armentières sectors.[file:146][web:153][web:159]



Early Life and Family

Frederick James Hulse was born in Ospringe, Kent, in late 1889, his birth registered in the Faversham district in the 1889 December quarter (volume 2A, page 853). He was baptised on 8 December 1889 at Ss Peter & Paul, Ospringe, confirming his family’s roots in this small parish on the outskirts of Faversham.[file:146]

He was the son of James Hulse and Mary Ann (née Pilcher). In the 1891 census he appears as a one‑year‑old at Painters Forstal, Ospringe, recorded as a son in the household. By 1901 the family were living at 11 Abbey Place, Faversham Within, where Frederick, aged eleven, remained listed as a son, suggesting a stable childhood in and around Faversham.[file:146]

The individual report records no spouse, no shared facts with a partner, and no children, indicating that Frederick did not marry and left no direct descendants. By the time of his death his parents’ address is given as 60 Park Road, Faversham, Kent, and CWGC records note him as “Son of James and Mary Hulse, of 60, Park Rd., Faversham, Kent.”[file:146][web:150]

From Painters Forstal and Abbey Place in Faversham, Frederick Hulse went on to serve as a sergeant in one of the British Army’s elite rifle regiments.

Reconstructed from birth, baptism, and census records



Service with the Rifle Brigade

Frederick enlisted in the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own) and served between about 1908 and 1915, rising to the rank of Sergeant. His service number, 2630, and rank indicate several years of pre‑war or early‑war service, during which he would have gained experience in the regiment’s distinctive light infantry and rifleman traditions.[file:146][web:147]

The Rifle Brigade was a long‑standing regular infantry regiment established in the early nineteenth century to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers for the British Army. By the First World War its battalions were serving across the Empire and on the Western Front, where their training in open‑order tactics and marksmanship remained highly valued in trench warfare conditions.[web:151]

Frederick’s individual report lists his sub‑unit as the 1st Battalion, placing him in one of the regiment’s regular battalions. Although the report does not spell out the battalion’s full war history, associated casualty records confirm him as “Serjeant 2630, Rifle Brigade, 1st Bn.,” and note that he died of wounds, tying his story to the battalion’s early service on the Western Front in 1914–1915.[file:146][web:147][web:150]

As a sergeant of the 1st Rifle Brigade, Hulse would have led men in the front‑line trenches and been responsible for discipline, training, and example under fire.

Summary based on Rifle Brigade NCO roles



The 1st Battalion in Early 1915

By early 1915, the 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade, was part of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front, serving in Flanders in sectors such as Armentières, Ploegsteert, and the approaches to the Ypres Salient. The battalion was engaged in routine trench duty—holding, improving, and patrolling the line—interspersed with raids and local attacks.[web:152][web:158]

Although the battalion would later see major actions such as Neuve Chapelle and the Battle of Aubers Ridge in May 1915, in April it was already taking casualties from shellfire, sniping, and small‑scale engagements. The presence of a large number of casualty clearing stations at Bailleul, and the concentration of burials from this period in Bailleul Communal Cemetery, show that this area served as the main medical and burial hub for wounded from the nearby front‑line sectors.[web:153][web:159][web:161]

Frederick’s burial at Bailleul Communal Cemetery, together with the Faversham News note that he “died of wounds,” indicates that he was probably wounded in the line—likely somewhere in the Flanders front held by his battalion—and evacuated back to a casualty clearing station at Bailleul, where he succumbed to his injuries on 15 April 1915.[file:146][web:150][web:159]

Hulse did not fall in a named “big battle” but as so many did, died of wounds after the daily grind of trench warfare in the Flanders sector.

Context from Bailleul casualty and battalion histories



Circumstances of Death

The Commonwealth War Graves transcription for Frederick James Hulse records him as: “Serjeant 2630, Rifle Brigade, 1st Bn., died 15/04/1915, age 25, grave J. 69, Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Nord. Son of James and Mary Hulse, of 60, Park Rd., Faversham, Kent.” A Faversham News extract from 7 August 1915 describes him as having “died of wounds.”[web:150][file:146]

Although no surviving record in this summary gives the exact engagement in which he was wounded, the timing and location indicate that his injuries were sustained in front‑line service with the 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade in the Flanders area, with Bailleul serving as the rear medical centre where his life ended. His death fits the pattern of many Regular Army NCOs who fell in the early trench‑war years of 1915.[file:146][web:153][web:159]



Burial and Commemoration

Frederick is buried in Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Nord, France, in grave J. 69. Bailleul, occupied by British forces from October 1914, became an important railhead, air depot, and hospital centre, with several casualty clearing stations (including Canadian and Australian units) based there for extended periods, receiving wounded from Armentières, the Forest of Nieppe, Ploegsteert, and other nearby sectors.[web:153][web:159][web:161]

The communal cemetery itself contains 610 Commonwealth burials from the First World War, of which 575 are identified. When the original plots were filled, the Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension was opened, but Frederick’s grave lies in the earlier communal cemetery area, reflecting his death in the spring of 1915, when the first wave of BEF casualties was still being buried close to town centres.[web:153][web:159]

His CWGC casualty record can be viewed here: CWGC casualty details for Serjeant F. J. Hulse. He also appears in local compilations of Rifle Brigade casualties and in the Imperial War Museum’s “Lives of the First World War” database.[file:146][web:147][web:148]



Medals and Recognition

The individual report records that Frederick was entitled to the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal, reflecting his early service in the Western European theatre and subsequent war‑long contribution. As a man who died of wounds, his family would also have received the Memorial Plaque and Scroll issued to next of kin of those who fell.[file:146][web:150]

His inclusion in specialist lists such as A Street Near You’s Rifle Brigade casualty pages and the IWM’s Lives of the First World War ensures that his details are preserved beyond the bare entry on his headstone.[web:147][web:148]



Family and Legacy

Frederick left no wife or children, but his parents James and Mary Hulse of 60 Park Road, Faversham, and their wider family would have carried the burden of his loss. For them, Bailleul Communal Cemetery and the local newspaper notice were the main public markers of his sacrifice.[file:146][web:150]

His story forms part of the broader history of the Rifle Brigade’s professional soldiers who bore much of the burden of the war’s early years. For family historians, resources such as Ancestry, the CWGC, A Street Near You’s Rifle Brigade casualty list, and the IWM’s Lives of the First World War entry for Frederick James Hulse allow his life—from his baptism at Ospringe to his grave at Bailleul—to be placed within a wider regimental and community story.[file:146][web:147][web:148]

Sources

  • Individual report for Sergeant Frederick James Hulse (family tree compilation, including birth and baptism at Ospringe; census addresses at Painters Forstal and Abbey Place, Faversham; parents James Hulse and Mary Ann Pilcher; service with 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade; death on 15 April 1915; and burial at Bailleul Communal Cemetery, grave J. 69).[file:146]
  • Commonwealth War Graves Commission – casualty record for “HULSE, FREDERICK JAMES”, Serjeant 2630, 1st Bn., Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own), Bailleul Communal Cemetery, grave J. 69: CWGC casualty details.[file:146]
  • Faded Genes / CWGC PDF transcript for Frederick James Hulse – includes CWGC text, age, parents’ address at 60 Park Road, Faversham, and note “died of wounds”: CWGC Frederick James Hulse transcript.[web:150]
  • Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own) – regimental history providing background on the regiment’s role as a rifle and light infantry unit in the British Army: Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own).[web:151]
  • Rifle Brigade casualties – A Street Near You regimental casualty listing, used to corroborate battalion, rank, and general operational context: Rifle Brigade – First World War casualties.[web:147]
  • Bailleul Communal Cemetery (Nord, France) – background on the cemetery and its role as a burial ground for casualties from nearby casualty clearing stations: Bailleul Communal Cemetery – Webmatters and Bailleul Communal Cemetery – Remembering the Fallen.[web:153][web:159]
  • Bailleul casualty context – Grandad’s War and related resources summarising the use of Bailleul as a medical and burial centre for wounded from Armentières, Ploegsteert, and the Ypres sector (used for medical/operational context rather than specific biography details): Bailleul – Grandad’s War.[web:161]
  • Imperial War Museum “Lives of the First World War” and surname/unit searches for “Hulse” and “Rifle Brigade” – used to cross‑check spelling, unit, and commemoration details: IWM Lives – Hulse surname search; IWM Lives – Rifle Brigade unit search.[web:148][web:149]