Private, 205054, Frank Herbert SHRIVES 7th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment Killed in Action, 22nd March 1918
The son of George William and Susannah Shrives of Hill Street, Frank Herbert Shrives was born in Raunds in October 1897. One of six children, young Frank was a very keen footballer, often representing his school. Prior to joining up he worked for Adams Brothers.
He is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, France, panels 54 to 56 and is also remembered on a family headstone in Raunds Cemetery and on a plaque in the Memorial Gardens. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Sergeant ,CH/1396(S), James William SKELLY 1st RM Battalion, RN Division, Royal Marine Light Infantry Killed in Action, 26th October 1917
James William Skelly’s name appears on the Raunds Baptist Chapel Roll of Honour of Old Scholars but not on the town's War Memorial.
He was born in Gretton in 1883, the son of the Reverend William and Isabella Ferguson Skelly, his father later becoming the pastor of the Baptist Chapel in Rotton Row. He was one of at least eight children and a family gravestone containing the names of his mother and father and two young sisters can be found in the churchyard of St. Peter’s, Raunds. He emigrated to South Africa during the 1900’s and prior to the war worked as a commercial traveller.
James Skelly has no known grave so is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium, panels 1 and 162A. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Private, 9841, Percy SMITH 1st Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment Died of Wounds, 16th June 1916
Percy Smith was born in Raunds in 1895, the son of Frederick and Mary Anne Smith of 11, Westbourne Grove.
He is buried in Bully-Grenay Communal Cemetery, British Extension, France, grave reference I.A.21 and was awarded the 1914 Star with Clasp, British War and Victory medals.
Private, 38537, Richard SMITH 9th Battalion, Essex Regiment Killed in Action, 5th April 1918
Born in Ringstead in 1877, Richard Smith was one of the oldest of the Raunds casualties in the Great War. He was 41 years old when killed in action on the 5th April 1918. The eldest of ten children, all boys, of William and Annie Smith, his second youngest brother Sydney (see below) was also killed during the conflict.
Richard married Lucy Ellen Stanhope in the autumn of 1902 and they had six children. He was employed by the Regulation Works and in his younger days played for Raunds Town Football Club for a number of years.
One of three known participants of the 1905 Raunds Bootmakers March to London to have died in the Great War he is buried in Ribemont Communal Cemetery Extension, France, grave reference II.K.1 and is also named on the Kettering War Memorial. Richard Smith was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Corporal, 201101, Sidney SMITH 4th Battalion, Essex Regiment Killed in action, 26th March 1917
Sidney Smith is not the S Smith named on the Raunds War memorial (see Sydney Smith below) but he was born in Raunds in 1898, the son of Benjamin and Sarah Smith of Brook Street. We believe that his parents moved their family to Wellingborough during the years leading up to the war, other than that we know nothing of Sidney’s life until he enlisted at Bedford midway through the hostilities.
He is commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial, Israel, panels 33 to 39, and was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Private, 50873, Sydney SMITH 7th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers Died of Wounds, 27th May 1918
Sydney Smith was a younger brother of Richard Smith (see above), one of ten sons of William and Annie Smith of Fairview, Marshall’s Road. He was born in Raunds in 1895 and for several years leading up to the war was a member of the Church Vestry Class.
He is buried in Doullens Communal Cemetery Extension No.2, France, grave reference I.C.21 and was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Private, 89350, William James Askham SMITH 107th Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) Killed in Action, 10th August 1917
William James Askham Smith was born in Raunds on the 2nd September 1889, the son of Robert William and Sarah Smith. As a young man he attended the Vestry Classes at St. Peter’s Church and on the 29th July 1915 he married Minnie Pettitt, setting up home at 36, Grove Street.
He is buried in New Irish Farm Cemetery, Belgium, grave reference XXIV.C.12 and is also remembered on a family tomb in St. Peter’s Churchyard. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Private, 106730, Jack SPICER 122nd Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) Killed in Action, 21st September 1917
Jack Spicer was born in Raunds in 1898, the son of Ernest and Amelia Spicer of Brook Street. As a lad he was a member of the Church Scouts alongside Royal Edward victims Sam Brayfield and Percy Watson. Prior to enlisting he was employed by the Raunds boot manufacturer, Walter Lawrence.
He is commemorated on the immense Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium, panels 154 to 159 and 163A, and was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Private, 30068, Charles Henry SPRIGGS 5th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Killed in Action, 10th October 1918
Charles Henry Spriggs was the son of Joel and Ann Elizabeth Spriggs of Wellingborough, where he was born in 1880. In late 1915 he married Edith Green of Rushden setting up home in High Street South and travelling each day to Raunds where he was employed in the boot and shoe trade by R Coggins & Sons.
He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial, France, panel 6 and is also remembered on the War Memorials of Rushden and Wellingborough and on Ireland’s Great War Roll of Honour. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Corporal, 9597, Ernest STRINGER, MM 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment Killed in Action, 7th October 1917
In the Council Chamber of the Raunds Town Hall there hangs a large photograph with a brass plaque that reads: “To the memory of E Stringer of Raunds who was awarded the Military Medal in the Great War against Germany, from a few friends.” Sadly neither he survived to receive the decoration nor did his citation to tell us of the circumstances in which it was won.
Ernest Stringer was born in Raunds in 1896, one of three sons of William and Elizabeth Stringer of Marshall’s Road. On leaving school he became a groom at Coles Brothers and was still only 5 feet 3 inches tall when he later joined the Colours.
Our local hero has no known grave but is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium, panel 7 and in addition to his Military Medal he was awarded the 1914 Star with Clasp, British War and Victory medals.
Rifleman, R/18631, Phillip Ernest STUBBS 16th Battalion, Kings Royal Rifle Corps Killed in Action, 3rd November 1916
Phillip Ernest Stubbs was born in Raunds on the 3rd July 1898, the son of Joseph and Annie Ellen Stubbs. At the time of his death his father was the licensee of the “Foresters Arms” in Thorpe Street.
Phillip was a scholar at Kimbolton Grammar School until leaving at Christmas 1915 with the firm intention of “doing his bit”. In his final year he was a highly popular Captain of the School, playing in goal for the first eleven, “the strong and sturdy custodian who saved the team from defeat on more than one occasion by his dauntless pluck.”
His school obituary sadly observed that “it is difficult to realise that our genial leader of only a season ago has joined the throng of heroes in that bourne from which no one of us returns”.
Phillip Stubbs is buried in the Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery, France, grave reference II.K.4. He is also remembered in the chapel at Kimbolton Castle where his photograph hangs next to the school’s memorial to their fallen scholars of the Great War. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Driver, T4/144269, Albert SUMMERS 37th Division Train, Army Service Corps Died, 24th October 1918
Albert Summers was born in Raunds in 1896 but is not named on the Town War Memorial. This is probably because, by the time of his death in 1918, his mother was living in Northampton with the married name of Mary J Allen. Nothing is known of his childhood but as a teenager he worked in the boot trade as a clicker.
He is buried in Beaulencourt British Cemetery, France, grave reference I.C.13 and was awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War and Victory medals. He is also remembered on the Northampton War Memorial in Abington Square.
Private, G/96610, George William THURLOW 20th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment Killed in Action, 11th April 1918
The eldest son of Harry and Sarah Thurlow, George William Thurlow was born in Stanwick on the 18th May 1899. Prior to his call-up he worked for the St. Crispin Productive Society, boot manufacturers.
He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium, panel 8. He is also remembered on the Stanwick War Memorial and the Roll of Honour in St. Lawrence’s Church and was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
Private, 441097, Raymond William VALLANCE 5th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, (Saskatchewan Regiment) Killed in Action, 24th April 1916
Raymond William Vallance was born in Newport Pagnell on the 15th December 1887, the son of John and Emily Vallance “of Raunds”. He left England in May 1911 on board the SS Lake Erie bound for Saskatchewan, Canada, where he was employed as a farming teamster. He had previously been a volunteer in the 2nd London Rifles for 2 years.
Raymond has no known grave, being commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium, panels 18 to 26 and 28. Although not named on the Raunds War Memorial, he is remembered on his father’s gravestone in St. Peter’s churchyard. He is also named on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and in their Great War Book of Remembrance.
Lieutenant, Charles Archibald VORLEY 11th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment Died of Wounds, 13th September 1916
Charles Archibald Vorley, born in Raunds in 1892, was the eldest son of Joseph, the Raunds town crier and his wife, Elizabeth Wesley Vorley of 12, Marshall’s Road. A former member of the Church Vestry Class between 1908 and 1911, when the war broke out he was a student at St. John’s College, Battersea.
He is buried in Caudry Old Communal Cemetery, France, grave reference C.7. He is also remembered on a family gravestone in Raunds Cemetery and was awarded the British War and Victory medals.
