Tag: Kent

Died in the Great War – Hunnisetts and Honeysetts

I’ll be working on the history of the Hunnisett and Honeysett family members that died in military service during the WW1, so check back to look for new links to their stories. If you know more, please get in touch

This blog is part of the Hunnisett/Honeysett One Name Family Study

A great way to show you recognise them is to visit their record on Lives of the First World War,  and then click remember. This site will be updateable to March 2019

A HONEYSETT, d. 1917, France

Albert Arthur HONEYSETT, b. Plumstead, London, d. 07 Nov 1918, 153870

Alfred HONEYSETT,b. Polegate, Sussex,  d. 16 Oct 1917, France, G/27678*

Alfred HONEYSETT, Borden, Kent, 14 Mar 1916, G/4876

Bertram Thomas HONEYSETT, b. East Dulwich, Surrey, d. 08 Sep 1918, France, 27316*

Cecil HONEYSETT, b. Brightling, Sussex, d. 30 Jun 1916, France, SD/2706

C H HUNNISETT, d. 1917, France

Charles Vincent HUNNISETT, b. Hanover Square, London, d. 11 Sep 1916, France, 1578 OR 1518*

Edwin Edward HUNNISETT,  d. 30 Jun 1918, France, Royal Navy F 24688*

Frank Victor HONEYSETT, b. Sidley, Sussex, d. 25 Sep 1915, France, G/1711*

Frederick HUNNEYSETT, b. 1891, Hellingly, Sussex, d. 31 Dec 1917, Egypt, 282716*

Frederick George HUNNISETT,  b. 1889, Oxford, d. 01 Apr 1918, France, 285725*

Frederick John HONEYSETT, b 1891, d. 17 Oct 1917, Royal Navy, K/8193*

Frederick William HONEYSETT, b. Battle, Sussex, d. 20 Oct 1914, Belgium 43968*

George HONEYSETT, d. 1916, France

George Henry HUNNISETT, b. 1880 St Leonards, Sussex, d.22 Mar 1917, Salonika, Greece, 27424*

George Russell HONEYSETT, b. 1898 Mereworth, Kent, d. 21 Mar 1918, France, 11816*

Harmen Charles HONEYSETT, b. 1892, d. 24 Feb 1917, 1719A – Australian Infantry*

Harry HUNNISETT, b. Ripe, Sussex, d. 03 Nov 1917, Israel/Palestine, 37318*

James George HONEYSETT, b Brightling Sussex, d. 30 Jun 1916, France, SD/2707*

Robert HONEYSETT, b. 1892 Hurstmonceaux, Sussex, d. 03 Sep 1916, France, SD/599*

Sidney HONEYSETT, b. Borden, Kent, d. 26 Oct 1917,

Thomas HONEYSETT, b. Hartfield, Sussex d. 09 May 1915, France, G/1306*

William HONEYSETT, d. 31 Jul 1917, Belgium, 532347*

William HONEYSETT,b. Sidley, Sussex, d. 09 May 1915, France, G/1099*

William Henry HONEYSETT, b. Ascot Berks, d. 31 Jul 1917, Belgium, G/236/27*

The Mary Rose & Frederick Honeysett, both sunk in 1917

The Mary Rose left Norway on 16th October 1917, one of two British destroyers escorting 12 unarmed steamers laden with coal – 5 Norwegian, 1 Danish & 3 Swedish. Next morning when they were about 70 miles off Lerwick (Shetland Isles). they spotted two British warships coming towards them and signalled for recognition. They did not receive a reply because the ships were actually German Cruisers, modified to have a British “outline”. Frederick Honeysett was a stoker  in the engine room.   The German ships closed to 2,700m (3,000 yds)and then opened fire, firstly  on the other destroyer, HMS Stongbow, which was disabled. They then turned their attention to the Mary Rose, hitting the engine room immediately so the ship sat like a log in the water . All of the guns, except one, were disabled. Two of the crew, French and Bailey, continued to fire until the order was given to scuttle the ship and abandon it.

Few Survived

Only two officers and eight enlisted men survived so about 70 of the crew of the Mary Rose died,including Fred Honeysett. The crew of the Strongbow were lost and nine of the defenceless merchant ships were also sunk, killing around 250 men in total.

The Navy was criticised not only about the loss but also because the German ships got away. The response was that the only radios were on the two escorts and these were destroyed before any message was sent. A courtmartial was announced, a method of determining what happened. The court acquitted all the survivors but further details were not published in case they helped the enemy.

We’re not done yet!

Although the first reports in the newspapers were full of shock, distress and criticism of the Navy, later they were given an “official version” which described“plucky” Mary Rose taking on the German warships singlehanded, fighting to the last gun whilst declaiming cheerily “we’re not done yet”.

Who was Frederick Honeysett?

Frederick John Honeysett joined the Royal Navy on 11 August 1910, enlisting for 12 years,and had worked his way up from a Stoker, 2nd class to Acting Petty Officer.

He was born on 06 Feb 1892 to John Frederick & Sarah Ann (nee West) in Yalding, near Maidstone. His father John,  was a foreman on the roads. He had two siblings; Isa Dorothy born in 1894 and Russell George, born in 1897 in Mereworth, Kent.

Frederick married Alice Maude Crowhurst in late 1914. She received his widow’s pension but didn’t claim for any children.

Frederick is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial, for those lost at sea.  He is also on the World War I memorial at St Lawrence’s, Mereworth, Kent. The 100th year anniversary of the loss of the Mary Rose was commemorated in 2017, and in a  Facebook group, the  HMS Mary Rose & HMS Strongbow Memorial Group.

Do you have them in your family tree?

I have traced Frederick’s ancestors back to John Honeysett & Sarah Bailey (married 1773) in the Headcorn area of Kent.

Russell Honeysett

Russell is also listed on the memorial in Mereworth.

Mereworth WW1 memorial. Courtesy of Gravestone Photographic Resource, whose volunteers own the copyright

He had joined the Royal West Kent Regiment, but then was transferred to the South Irish Horse, 7th Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment. Originally a mounted regiment, the South Irish Horse were retrained as Infantry in September 1917.

On 21 March 1918, the Germans launched the “Kaiserschlacht” (Kaiser’s Battle) a decisive attack planned to destroy the British Army across a wide area of the Somme. The tactics were to “punch a hole and things would develop”. The whole area had been devastated in previous battles and the British lines were in a poor state of repair and easily overrun.

The official regimental history shows that 2 companies of the 7th Battalion were posted in forward zones on the Somme. “They suffered terribly, not a man succeeded in escaping”. Russell died on 23 March 1918, aged 20.

No grave has been found for him but his memorial is at Pozieres, panel 30/31. Pozieres commemorates 14,657 British and South African soldiers who died between March and August 1918.

Russell’s names were reversed in his military records, where he is George R Honeysett. As a member of an Irish Regiment, he is also recorded in the Irish records.

A common story of the times, but John & Ann lost their two sons within 5 months of each other and both disappeared without trace.

Is this your family?

The surviving child, Isa Dorothy, married Frederick D Burbridge in Q4 1916. They appear in the 1939 register living in Gillingham,Kent.

Sources

www.gro.gov.uk

FreeBMD

British Newspaper Archive

www.gravestonephotos.com

www.ciroca.org.uk,

www.ancestry.co.uk

www.findmypast.co.uk

www.longlongtrail.co.uk

6 Sons sent to war, how many survived?

Charles Joe and Sophronia Honeysett had six sons and they all went into the armed services. The family featured in their local newspaper, the Kent & Sussex Courier on Friday 11 May 1917, when the youngest was being called up. At the beginning of the war, the local Sussex newspapers offered to take free pictures of the young men in uniform who had signed up and published their names in a front page list. By 1917 the tone was more measured and individual families were featured, their stories described in a factual way.

The article said that their eldest son, Charles (aged 27) was in the Royal Engineers, a sapper, and had previously been wounded. On recovery he had returned to his regiment but had been listed missing. The family had only just had news of him.

Their second son, William (aged 26) was a stoker on HMS Ganges.

The third son, Jim (was 25) a Lance Corporal in The Buffs, and went out to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force early in the war. He had been wounded three times, and now unfit for trench duties, was guarding German prisoners.

The fourth son, Tom, had been killed at the age of 21 on 09 May 1915. He was a private in the Royal Sussex Regiment and had died as part of the assault of “Hill 60”, not far from Ypres.

The fifth son, Fred (aged 21), had been wounded twice already and had recently transferred to the Royal West Surrey Regiment.

Alfred, aged 19, had just received his call up papers.

The Honeysett Brothers’ War History

Charles was 24 when he signed up on 13th October 1914 and he was a quarryman. He joined the Royal Engineers, Kent Fortress Company as a sapper. He got dysentery in late 1915 and had been invalided to England. He was put on the army reserve list on 25 July 1919 and received a small disability pension for malaria. He received the 1914-1915 star, The British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

William’s first service date was 19 Jan 1917, he had been a cattleman before he joined the Royal Navy. He was on the Pembroke II before he moved onto The Ganges. These were both training establishments. I have seen no record of active service.

Military information about Jim (actually William James) is hard to find but he was a labourer before he enlisted.  He was on the casualty list as wounded from 21st May 1915 , also from 17th August 1916 and was wounded again on 2nd Jan 1918. The Buffs were an East Kent Army Regiment and served in France & Flanders. James’ record features Etaples, where there were large medical facilities behind the lines. He went straight from the army to the Royal Airforce in April 1918 and became a batman.

Tom went out to France on 4th January 1915 and survived 4 months before being killed. He died on Hill 60 as the Germans sought to win back the hill using one of the first gas attack of the war.  At this time, there was no effective defence against the gas. Hill 60 was not really a hill but a spoil tip from a nearby railway cutting. It was fought over continuously during the war as the height gave the victor an advantage in a basically flat landscape.  It was completely devastated and was left as a wargrave.

Tom is commemorated on the Le Touret memorial, one of over 13,400 soldiers who died in Ypres area between October 1914 to September 1915 and who have no known grave. His family received the 1915 star, The British War Medal and the Victory Medal. There is a current archeological expedition taking place on Hill 60.

Fred signed a short service attestation at the start of January 1916 when he was 19. He started as a private in the 13th London Regiment but seems to have been transferred several times and was finally demobbed on Mar 02 1919. He received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Alfred, currently no information found on Alfred’s war history. Do you know differently?

Did they survive?

In the 1939 register I’ve found the five sons and their father :-

Charles Joe is a widower, he is a retired bailiff and an inmate in an establishment in Uckfield. Alfred is also in Uckfield, he doesn’t appear to be married and he is also listed as an inmate.

Charley and wife Jane L, are listed at Tile Barn Farm, Uckfield, he is a heavyworker on the farm. This is the farm he worked on before he enlisted.

William is possibly in Tunbridge Wells, married to Agnes M.

Frederick is possibly in Lancashire married to Olive with children James & Freda (later Fisher)

Jim is  possibly  in Tunbridge Wells and married to Ivy.

Tracing back this Honeysett line – is it yours?

Charles Joe was born in 1865 in Guestling in East Sussex, to Joseph & Caroline Honeysett. His father Joseph was born in Stone, Kent in about 1822, but as a young man aged about 14 he was working as a labourer on a farm in Guestling. Joseph & Caroline Medlock married in 1862, stayed in Guestling and had 5 children.

Charles married Sophronia Jenner in Rye district in q2 1889, and the 1901 and 1911 censuses show they moved around on the Sussex/Kent borders and then they were in Hartfield, Sussex, during WW1. They had two daughters, Lily Flora and Annie in addition to the 6 boys.

This blog is part of the Hunnisett & Honeysett One Name Study.

Sources:

Kent & Sussex Courier – Friday 11 May 1917, British Newspapers Archive, www.bna.com

British Army War records 1914-1920 – Ancestry

www. forces-war-records.co.uk

1939 register – Findmypast or Ancestry

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

https://www.gro.gov.uk

https://www.ww1cemeteries.com/

The first gas masks -https://simonjoneshistorian.com