Name
Raymond Linay Armes
1978
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/04/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
North Staffordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BASRA MEMORIAL
Panel 34.
Iraq
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Bishop's Stortford College Chapel Memorial, Bishop's Stortford, Sudbury War Memorial & Roll of Honour, St Mary's Church War Memorial, Chilton, Suffolk
Pre War
Raymond Linay Armes was born in 1878 in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, the son of William and Sarah Armes.
On the 1881 Census the family were living at St Nicholas Street, Kings Lynn, Norfolk where his father's occupation was given as as the employer of 200 hands at J P Cocoa Matting manufacturers. His father died in 1888 in Norfolk and his mother was living at Hardwick House, Sudbury, Suffolk in 1891. Raymond was not listed with her as he was attending Bishops Stortford College, but siblings Alice, Ethel, William and Reginald were living with her, along with two servants.
In 1901 Raymond was living at 10 Princeton Mansions with his brother William whose occupation was described as employer in mat manufacturing. His older sister Edith Chubb was titled as Head of the household and working as a clerk. His mother died in 1910 and on the 1911 Census Raymond was living with his older brother William, sister Kathleen and cousin Catherine along with three servants, at Chilton House, Sudbury, Suffolk. Both Raymond and his brother were said to be coir mat and matting manufacturers.
Raymond was the captain of the Sudbury United Football Club in 1906.
Wartime Service
He had previously been a private in the Imperial Yeomanry under reg. no. 6832, having enlisted in Norwich on 12 January 1900 at the age of 22 but was discharged on 30 May 1901 at his own request, from further services in connection with the war in South Africa. When war was declared in 1914, it was said that Raymond cycled to Ipswich to enlist and joined the Army Service Corps as a Sergeant reg. no. M/1602, later being promoted to Captain in the North Staffordshire Regiment, He served in Gallipoli in 1915 but was injured and invalided home. Once recovered he was sent to Mesopotamia.
Raymond was killed in action on 9 April 1916 in Mesopotamia (Iraq) during an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the starving garrison of 9,000 British and Indian troops besieged by the Turks at Kut, south east of Baghdad. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Basra War Memorial.
Additional Information
Probate of his estate was obtained on 2 November 1916 by Sydney Gross Wheeler, estate agent, Henry Joseph Thompson, matting manufacturer and Ernest Durrant, Clerk, with effects of £11,444 10s 11d. They also received the war gratuity of £8 and pay owing of £153 13s 8d
Brother Lt Col William Morris Armes served with 5th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment and died in Gallipoli on 12 August 1915 and is remembered on the Helles Memorial, Turkey and on the Bishop's Stortford College Memorial. Brother Reginald John Armes served with the North Staffordshire Regiment as Captain, later as Lieutenant Colonel and survived the war.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, photoarchive.sudburyheritagecentre.co.uk, livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk
