Name
Arthur Trussell
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
74771
Central Purchase Board
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton School Memorial
Biography
Arthur appears on the School War Memorial, confirming that he attended the school. Parish records suggest only one man of this name who could have served, and he was born on January 10th 1884 to George and Elizabeth Trussell (née Roberts)(*1). Baptism records list twelve children: Elizabeth (b c1864), Clara (bapt 1865), Emma Louisa (bapt 1866), Edward John (bapt 1869), David (bapt 1871), Charles (bapt 1873, believed died, aged fourteen days), Frederick (bapt 1874), Herbert George (bapt 1877), Albert (bapt 1878, believed died, aged five months), Thomas Charles (b 1880), Arthur (b 1884) and Ellen (bapt 1885). Arthur’s brother Thomas Charles also served and survived.
Arthur married Ida Walker in 1907. His father died in 1909 so Arthur became the bread winner. By 1911 Arthur and Ida had one child, Nancy Eva (b c1910), and they were living at Hill Farm (now 25 Priors Hill). His trade was now given as pig dealer and he was supporting his own family and his mother. By 1912 he was listed as a Farmer and still living at Hill Farm. When he went to serve he was married and a father.
The Parish Magazine of July 1916 records him as enlisting between March 2nd and July 1916, when he would have been thirty-two years old. The later magazine of June 1917 records him as serving in the 3rd Army Purchasing Board.
By 1918 he was recorded as Private 74771, Central Purchase Board, with his home address as Hill Farm.
*1 In the 1880s there were two sets of George and Elizabeth Trussells recorded in the village. One couple were Arthur’s parents, the other were the parents of George Thomas Trussell who died in the war and is listed on the Village War Memorial.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
