The Reliance Coach leaving The Red Lion for London

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Julie Goucher
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John Victor Macmillan (1877-1956), Bishop of Guildford

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Julie Goucher



John Victor Macmillian, OBE, DD (1877 – 1956). Bishop of Guildford 1934 – 1949

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Guildford Military Hospital circa 1920

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Julie Goucher

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War Memorial, Castle Grounds Guildford 1922

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Julie Goucher
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Castle Grounds Entrance circa 1900

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Julie Goucher

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Lest we Forget…..William James West

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Julie Goucher

Just joining the new weekly 100 words challenge for Grown ups and a straight prompt which is below. For more details click HERE

lest we forget…..


I look at the photograph of a young, handsome man. There is something about that image that urges me to find out about his short and purposeful life. 
He was just 20 years old when he paid the ultimate sacrifice. 
His war record shows that he perished from a gun wound to the chest at 43 casualty clearing station in France. I can not help but wonder, was he alone? was he in dreadful pain? I suspect that deep down I know those answers. 
That makes me very sad. Although he has been gone 93 years, he is not forgotten.
For more details about William James West click HERE

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In Remembrance of William James West (1898 – 1918)

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Julie Goucher

In Remembrance of William James West

William James West was born in Aldershot Hampshire in 1898, the son of William Arthur West, a military man and, Emma Jane Ellis (Harris).

I had always known that my Grandfather’s first cousin had died in the First World War, and then I was presented with a photograph of William, such a handsome young man! The moment I saw that photograph I wanted to know all I could about William.

Private William James West served with the 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment. He is Commemorated at: Ligny-Sur-Canche British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. He died of wounds on 5th September 1918, aged just 20 years.

He is commemorated on the War Memorial at Stony Stratford Buckinghamshire, where his parents, William Arthur and Emma Jane West lived & ran their newsagents business at 63 High Street.

I submitted the details for William James to the First World War Digital Archive whilst material could be submitted. As I wanted to further preserve the details of William.

William James had two army numbers and was Private T4/212898 William James West, Army Service Corps, and later was 51275, 1st Bn. Cheshire Regiment. His T4 Army Service Corps prefix indicates he once served in transport.

As I said I submitted his details to the Digital Archive and they further spotted a detail I had not known about the photograph, as he is rather oddly, pictured above wearing a ‘lamb and flag’ cap badge, relevant to neither unit he was known to have served in, (unless he served for a time in the small Army Service Corps Armoured Car Companies, recruited from transport personnel. Their ‘Light Armoured Motor Batteries’, operative in Palestine, wore a similar badge unofficially).

Bombing during the Second World War destroyed some of the records from the First World War.

I was lucky, in that William James’s record survived and is a total of 24 pages detailing when he enlisted, his service and which regiment he was attached to and then, finally his gun shot wound to the chest leading to his death in 1918, just months before the war ended.

I have downloaded a copy of his Service Record and have just noticed a mention of the Devonshire Regiment that I had been unaware of.

His medal card, confirms what medals his family were entitled to claim after his death and this corresponds with the Service Record.

May he rest in peace and know that even though he paid the ultimate sacrifice he is still firmly in the heart of his family.

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Book Meme – Day 06 – A book that makes you sad

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Julie Goucher

I could have chosen any one of a number of books that I read over the last few years of the Second World War and the harshness that war brings – the Holocaust and the harsh Eastern European Regimes.

The concept of this book was that there should have been five parts to the book, instead there are only two.

The author was a Ukrainian born Jew and did not survive the Second World War. For me, that was an incredibly powerful set of statements, as indeed was the book. To have lived in a Country occupied by another is incomprehensible, and very thought provoking.

Click to view large image of cover in new window...

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Guildford Castle and Bandstand circa 1915

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Julie Goucher
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Wordless Wednesday – William James West (1898 – 1918)

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Julie Goucher
Taking part in Wordless Wednesday
You can read more about William’s life HERE
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