Ashtead War Memorials - WWI - Pte Alfred James Newman
17th Bn Royal Fusiliers

Although the CWGC record makes no connection to Ashtead he is named and connected in SDGW: Pte Alfred James Newman: 17th Royal Fusiliers: died 27/07/16: Born Chickerell [nr Weymouth], Resident Ashtead, whereas CWGC shows Dorset addresses as below. [via Ian Whitlock, source SDGW]

Son of John Ayles Newman and Elizabeth Newman, of "Lynton," York Rd., Broadstone, Dorset; husband of Sarah Newman, of 7, Greenhill Terrace, Portland, Dorset.

The action in which Alfred was lost has been described as follows:

Delville Wood was important for two reasons. If the Germans held the southern part of the wood they could use it as a base to fire on any British attack east towards Ginchy. This was an important British target, as it would improve the connection between the British Fourth Army and the French to the south east. Haig was also concerned that the Germans could use the woods as a base for a counterattack south west along Caterpillar Valley, which was being used by the British artillery.

The first attack on the wood came on 15 July, when the South African Brigade, part of the 9th Division, captured all but the north west corner of the woods, and then fought off German counterattacks from the north and east. An attack on 17 July failed to take that last corner. Overnight on 17/18 July a heavy German bombardment set the woods alight, and a German counterattack on 18 July recaptured all but the very southern edge of the wood.

This remained the pattern at Delville Wood throughout the rest of July. The most important attack came on 27 July. After a heavy artillery bombardment the 15th Brigade of the 5th Division and the 99th Brigade of the 2nd Division advanced into the shattered remains of the wood, and captured most of it. Only the northern and eastern edges remained in German hands.

They were slowly pushed out of those positions during August, and on 30 August the British front line had been pushed north and east of the woods. On 31 August the Germans made yet another counterattack, recapturing a narrow band in the north east corner of the wood. A British counterattack failed to retake this narrow band of the wood on 3 September.

source: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_delville_wood.html

28 Feb 09: Brian Bouchard adds: AJ Newman's birth was registered at Weymouth 3/1889 and he might have married Poole 9/1908. He and Sarah appear in the 1911 Census, aged 22 & 28 respectively, at Weymouth - I suspect that if he lived in Ashtead it could have been with relatives, T Newman, 2 Graylands Cottages, both in Gladstone Road, or W Newman of Woodfield Lane.

28 Feb 09: Tony Newman: I am unaware of any connection between Alfred or any other family member and Ashtead. So there is an immediate mystery. I have very little on Alfred James NEWMAN anyway, except to know he was booklover and he was killed at Delville Wood in France. I didn’t even know he was married. How soon it all gets forgotten.

Alfred was born 31 January 1889 at Chickerell, Dorset where his father, John Ayles NEWMAN had a grocery business. John Ayles NEWMAN was born in Weymouth but his paternal ancestors were all born in Portland.

Alfred’s grandfather was William NEWMAN, in 1841 described (in the census return) as seaman, of Paragon Place, Portland. William later captained his own vessel Marnull in which (according to Lloyds Register of Shipping, 1869, though it gets his birth-year wrong) he plied the Baltic trade. J Meade Falkner, who wrote Moonfleet, and like William lived in Weymouth, took the Marnhull name for a vessel in his novel.

One anecdote concerning Alfred rather shows him in a glowing light. It came from his brother William. It concerns an incident at the Wesleyan Methodist Day School at Fortuneswell, Portland. Alfred’s brother likened this event to the Squeers and Smike episode in Nicholas Nickleby.

The former well-respected schoolmaster, Mr H Epsley, retired. He was replaced by a very different kind of man by the name of Mellors. Mellors was in the habit of picking on a partially deformed boy by the name of Walter COMBEN, one of a large family. The boy’s mother had died and his father remarried, the stepmother focusing her nasty nature in ill-treatment of the unfortunate and helpless Walter. The boy had no one at home or at school to take his part. His life must have been an especially miserable one.

After one particularly brutal punishment of Walter from Mellors, Alfred confronted Mellors about it, threatening to knock him down if he didn’t change his attitude toward the boy. In the course of the exchange Alfred called the schoolmaster a ‘Sanctimonious Humbug’ or words to that effect. On account of this Alfred was asked to resign his position at the school. At least it shows Alfred was a worthwhile human being.

Links
Delville Wood
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/delville.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delville_Wood
http://www.cwgc.org/somme/content.asp?menuid=4&id=4&menuname=Delville%20Wood&menu=main

compiled by Frank Haslam from information on CWGC, SDGW and mainly via Brian Bouchard
If you can add to this page please contact the editor.
page added 2 Mar 2009: updated 23 Mar 2009