Name
Isaac Sproat
22 June 1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
16/11/1918
31
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
WR/266488
Royal Engineers
18th Wagon Erecting Company
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LES BARAQUES MILITARY CEMETERY, SANGATTE
Plot VI, Row G, Grave 13A.
France
Headstone Inscription
UNTIL THE DAY BREAK
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, Wesleyan (Bushey & Oxhey Methodist) Church Memorial, Oxhey, Audit Office Euston Station Memorial, London
Pre War
Isaac Sproat was born at Brayton Railway Station near Aspatria, Wigton, Cumberland on 22 June 1887, the younger son of Thomas and Elizabeth (nee Patterson) Sproat who had been married in 1885 in the registration district of Penrith, Cumberland.
At the 1891 census, Isaac was three years old and living with his parents and his five-year-old brother, Joseph George, at Brayton station where his father was employed as the Station Master. His cousin, David Graham Patterson, was boarding with the family and working as a railway signalman.
Isaac attended Nelson School in Wigton in Cumberland from 17 January 1899 and on the 1901 census, the family remained at Brayton station with his father as the station master.
By the time of the 1911 census, Isaac and his brother had left home and were boarding with the Boxall family at 62 Market Street Watford. They were both working as clerks for a railway company.
His father Thomas died, aged 59, on 12 September 1911 as the result of a shunting accident. The investigation into his death reported that "At 8.15 am he had released the brakes on four wagons standing at a loading bank to move them by gravity. He was caught between one of the wagons and the bank and died of his injuries".
Isaac married Agnes Mary Sygrove on 6 June 1914 at Bushey & Oxhey Methodist Church. He was employed by the London and North Western Railway Company as a clerk in the Audit Office at Euston. They lived at 11 Sebright Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead.
Wartime Service
Isaac enlisted initially as Private SS/25553 with the Royal Army Service Corps in early 1915. He was posted to a Railway Labour Company to train and was sent to France on 21 November 1915. He was later transferred to the Royal Engineers and served as Lance Corporal WR/266488 in the 18th Wagon Erecting Company which involved constructing, repairing and maintaining the train rolling stock.
He was preparing to return home after the Armistice when he contracted 'Spanish Flu', suffering the complications of bronchopneumonia. He was admitted to the 35th General Hospital in France in Calais but died on 16 November 1918. He is buried at Les Baraques Military Cemetery at Sangatte, France.
(N.B. Not found in the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919 records).
Additional Information
His widow Agnes received a payment of £29 10s 4d which included a war gratuity of £17 and an additional payment of £6 1s 8d. She also received a pension of 13s 9d a week from 26 May 1919, later increased to £1 6s 11d. Probate was granted to Agnes in London on 20 January 1919 with effects of £241 5s. She ordered his headstone inscription: "UNTIL THE DAY BREAK" and lived at His widow later lived at Normanton, 7 Hillside Road, Bushey, Herts. There is an article about Isaac in the West Herts & Watford Observer dated 23 November 1918, and a Death announcement in the issue dated 30 November 1918. Isaac and Mary had no children and Mary did not remarry. She later moved to 17 Marine Square, Brighton and in 1977 aged 90.
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer, Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk), Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, www.railwayaccidents.port.ac.uk, www.hemelheroes.com.,
