Name
Seymour Augustus Chambers
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/06/1917
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
28315
Northamptonshire Regiment
7th Bn.
'D' Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DICKEBUSCH NEW MILITARY CEMETERY
II.A.43.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Stevenage Old Town Memorial,
St Nicholas' Church Memorial, Stevenage Old Town,
Holy Trinity Church Memorial Roll of Honour, Stevenage Old Town
Pre War
Seymour was the son of John & Elizabeth Chambers of Symonds Green. He married Annie Gray at the Parish Church, Walkern, Hertfordshire, on the 24th April 1915 and the couple lived at 4 Nottingham Road, Stevenage.
His brother, Ernest, died of Pneumonia on the 20th November 1918, probably as a result of contracting influenza.
Wartime Service
He attested for Army service on the 10th December 1915 at the age of 24 years and 8 months and was called up on the 30th September 1916. Seymour arrived at Calais on the 26th January 1917 as part of the 7th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment.
He was posted to the Regimental Training Battalion on the same day and returned to his parent Battalion on the 2nd March 1917. On the 15th June 1917 the Battalion relieved the 12th Royal Fusiliers in a front line sector close to Hill 60 near Ypres. Action in this area of the Western Front was constant and troops, on both sides, suffered continued daily shelling as well as numerous trench raids. On the 24th June the Battalion were in the process of being relieved in order that they could obtain some respite from these arduous conditions. The relief was heavily shelled and were also subjected to a number of British gas shells, which had fallen short of their target. Although this period at the front had cost the Battalion 30 lives, only Seymour was killed during the relief stage. He is buried in the Dickebusch Military Cemetery Extension, Ypres, Belgium.
Additional Information
Seymour and his brother Ernest are also commemorated on the family headstone in Stevenage (St. Nicholas) Churchyard. Their inscription reads:
ALSO OF THE
BELOVED SONS OF THE ABOVE NAMED [John & Elizabeth Chambers]
SEYMOUR AUGUSTUS CHAMBERS [7TH NORTHANTS REGT.]
WHO WAS KILLED IN ACTION IN FRANCE JUNE 24TH 1917.
AGED 26 YEARS.
ERNEST CHAMBERS SHOEING SMITH. R.F.A. DIED IN FRANCE NOVEMBER 20TH 1918 AGED 32 YEARS.
FATHER IN THE GRACIOUS KEEPING LEAVE WE NOW OUR LOVED ONES SLEEPING.
Acknowledgments
Paul Johnson
