LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWI

Private Lewis Wood Long
1st Bn East Surrey Regiment

Town Memorial P5.R2.C3.

Taken, Not Given

PTE
LEWIS W LONG
1ST EAST SURREY REGT
HILL 60
APRIL 26 1915 [sic]

Frederick Cobbold of the 2nd. Battalion East Surreys and Lewis Long of the 1st Battalion both died in the defence of HILL 60 around St George’s Day 1915. The two Regular Battalions had been entrusted with the key to the Ypres defences. HILL 60 lies on the rising ground South of Zillebeke between the railway line to Comines and the Menin Road to Brussels and Courtrai.

Its seizure and retention were vital to British and Germans alike. At the end of the duel, the German still held the crest, but the British held the slopes and the German offensive was halted at that point. However, it was a very close run matter which cost both sides dearly in terms of dead and wounded.

In one way the defence of Ypres was dearer for the British than the Germans because it literally used up Britain's small but invaluable Regular Army.

Lewis Long was not listed in the May 1915 issue of the Parish Magazine. However the Queens records confirm that he was in the First Battalion and state that he was born in Leatherhead and enlisted at Kingston upon Thames.

The deaths of both Lewis Long and Frederick Cobbold were listed in the June 1915 issue of the Parish Magazine (5).

Though the battle for HILL 60 was savage, even by Western Front standards, and the East Surreys were to win three Victoria Crosses in one day, HILL 60 is only mentioned once in the War Diaries and no mention is made of exceptional courage on anyone’s part (3, 4).

The War Diary of the First Battalion mentions HILL 60 as being the position which it held between 19th and 21st April when it was relieved by the Devons.
The two day spell in the trenches must have been bad, because it sustained the following casualties:-

Killed: Officers 7 - Other Ranks 42
Wounded: Officers 10 - Other Ranks 158
Missing (believed dead): Officers nil - Other Ranks 64
Total: Officers 17 - Other Ranks 264

281 officers and men all told had become casualties including their dead Colonel, whose body was brought out. They received congratulations from those on high, but only [received] four days rest in the rear.

On the 25th April, 1 Bn's War Diary states that they had relieved the Manchesters in Trenches 28, 29 and 30A during the night.

[The CWGC records Lewis Long's date of death as 25th April 1915, but just in case, here is Liam Sumption's faithful recording of the events of the 26th]

On 26 April, the day on which Lewis Long lost his life, the Diary states that the battalion was “In trenches South of Ypres“ then notes, “A fine day, trenches shelled by light field guns and trench mortar mortars intermittently. Total casualties: 2 Other Ranks killed".

One was Lewis Long.

Their eight day tenure of the Ypres trenches had cost the two battalions just over 500 casualties, or quarter of two full strength battalions which was, in all probability, simply not the case [that they were full strength].

Notes on sources
1. Regimental Records of the Queens, Clandon Park, Surrey.
2. Parish magazine of St Mary and St Nicholas, Leatherhead May 1915 issue (courtesy of Mr L Anstee of the parish).
3. File W095–2279 – War Diary 2nd. Bn. East Surreys
4. File WO 95–1579 – War Diary 1st. Bn. East Surreys (Public Record Office, Kew, Richmond)
5. Parish magazine of St Mary and St Nicholas, Leatherhead (June 1915 issue).

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Further research

Private
LONG, L W
Service Number 173
Died 25/04/1915
1st Bn. East Surrey Regiment
Buried at PERTH CEMETERY (CHINA WALL)
Location: West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Cemetery/memorial reference: IV. E. 18.

Surrey Advertiser
Saturday 29 May 1915
LEATHERHEAD.
Mr. Adam Long, Barnett Wood-lane. Leatherhead. was notified by the War Office on Thursday that his son Lewis, who was private the 1st East Surrey Regiment, had been killed in action in France on April 25. Deceased went through the Boer war.

Surrey Mirror
Friday 31 December 1915
ROLL OF HONOUR.
BRAVE SURREY MEN FALLEN IN THE WAR.
LEATHERHEAD AND DISTRICT.
Lce.-Corpl. Lewis Wood Long, 1st East Surrey Regt., killed in action in France. April 25th. Only son of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Long, Barnet Wood-lane, Leatherhead.

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His life

He was born on 15 June 1879 in Leatherhead, Surrey and was baptised at the parish church of St Mary & St Nicholas, Leatherhead on 28 September 1879.

His father was Adam Ralph Long, born October 1845, Handborough, Oxfordshire, died 1924, Epsom, Surrey. He was a Carpenter when he got married.
His mother was Mary née Wood, born 1846, Maidstone, Kent, died 1886, Leatherhead, Surrey.
They married on 1 Jan 1878 at St John's, Croydon,Surrey.

Lewis's siblings were Edith Emily, Margaret, and Winifred Mary.

His mother Mary died in 1886 and in 1888 his father remarried, to Emily Ann Biggs.

In the 1881 and 1891 Census records the family were living in Barnett Wood Lane, Leatherhead.
 
In 1897 Lewis enlisted, joining the 2nd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment as a Private with service number 5396. He was posted to South Africa on the 20 October 1899 during the Boer War. He took part in the relief of Ladysmith and Tugela Heights. He returned to Britain in July 1900, moved to the Army Reserve in 1905 and was discharged in 1909.

In the 1901 Census he was listed at The Barracks, East Surrey Regiment, Kingston on Thames, Surrey.

In the 1911 Census he was listed as a Boarder, aged 32, at 5 West Barnes Terrace, West Barnes Lane, Merton, Surrey. His occupation was a Platelayer on the Railway. The head of the household was Mrs Rose Peto a 42 year old widow who was did laundry work. She had two daughters, Alice Rose, 14, and Dorothy, 7.

He enlisted again on 20 August 1914 at Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey joining the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment as a Private, service number 173. He was just over 35 when he enlisted and was working as a Gardener.

He had requested that his pay and personal possessions were to be sent to Mrs Rose Peto in the event of his death. 

Lewis Long is remembered on these memorials:
Leatherhead Church Lads Brigade tryptich, All Saints
Leatherhead RBL Roll of Honour, Leatherhead Parish Church
Leatherhead Town Memorial
Ladies War Shrine, Leatherhead Parish Church
Raynes Park, St Saviour's, Memorial Cross where he is listed as Wood-Long, Louis
  

the website editor would like to add further information on this casualty
e.g. a photo of him, his headstone, and of any recollections of him

last updated 16 Jun 20