Name
Archibald Marshall
1897
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
22/08/1918
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
47728
Welsh Regiment
14th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Territorial Force War, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
VIS-EN-ARTOIS MEMORIAL
Panel 7.
France
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Hitchin memorials
Pre War
Archibald was born in 1897 in Hitchin and baptised on 20 Mar 1898, St. Mary’s Church, Hitchin. His parents were Herbert George and Mina (sometimes Minnie) Marshall (née Tomlin).
In 1901 the family were living at 62 Hitchin Hill, Hitchin. Present were both parents: Herbert (36) and Mina (37), with Herbert working as a bricklayer’s labourer. Their children were: Alice M (11), Clara E (8) and Archibald (3). Annie Tomlin (14) a niece was also present.
By 1911 the family were living at 10 Queen Square, Luton, Beds. Present were both parents, and children present were now Alice (21), Clara (18), Archibald (13) and now Freda (7). Bothe parents and the eldest two children were all straw hat machinists. The census recorded they had been married for 22 years with 4 children, all living.
The Soldiers Died In The Great War database records that he was born in Hitchin and he enlisted in in Luton, Beds.
Wartime Service
Archibald has a Territorial Force Medal, he must have been a Territorial soldier before the war, but little is known of this or his war service.
Records suggest that served from 1914, mobilised as a Territorial soldier, and did not go abroad until 1916 as he did not receive any sort of ‘Star’ medal. This may have been through regimental requirements or his choice – Territorials were not required to serve overseas in 1914, but could volunteer to do so, but when conscription began in 1916, they could be required to do so.
His entire service appears to have been with the Welch Regiment. Although it is not unusual for a soldier to serve in a regiment with no association to where he lived, his medal cards record his Territorial Force Medal against the Welch Regiment. All previous records associate him with Hertfordshire or Bedfordshire, so his association with the Welch Regiment raises questions.
He does have an entry in the National Roll of the Great War – these were normally placed by family members using what they knew and are not always 100% correct. His entry confirms that he was mobilised at the start of the war before being drafted overseas. It also confirms that the Welch Regiment was his Regiment, but given that his enlistment was recorded as in Luton, how this came to be is a mystery, unless perhaps he had moved to Wales after 1911 and before the war and joined the Territorial Force there.
In 1916 he was at the Welch Regiment Infantry Base Depot and this may have been in preparation for going overseas, but the following medical records suggest that he went overseas in October 1916.
The medical records for 139th Field Ambulance Hospital (In the field) record that Archibald was admitted on 21 September 1917 from a Casualty Clearing Station, with a gunshot wound to his thigh. It records him as 21 years old and having served for 3 ½ years, 11 months of that abroad.
His National Roll of the Great War entry records that he was wounded on another occasion too and that he died fighting on the Somme.
Additional Information
After his death £11 19s 10d pay owing was authorised to go to his mother, Mina, on 21 March 1919. Later, a war gratuity of £18 10s was authorised to be paid to her on 11 December 1919.
His pension cards record Mina Marshall as his mother and his dependant, living at 10 Queen Square, Luton, Beds. She appears to have been awarded a pension from 18 March 1919, but no amount is mentioned.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild
