Private 445, 14th Battalion, Austtralian Infantry, A.I.F. Killed in action 5 May 1915 at Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Turkey. Aged 37. Born Cockermouth, Cumberland. Son of James and Isabella Fletcher; husband of Margaret Bryce Fletcher, of 137, Cochrane St., Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia. Contractor by trade, originally a carpenter. Emigrated aged 31. Had previously served with 3rd (Volunteer) Battalion, The Border Regiment (Cockermouth). Birth registered in the April to June Quarter 1879 in the Cockermouth Registration District, Cumberland. In the 1901 census he was aged 21, son of James and Isabella Fletcher, a Draper's Assistant, born Cockermouth, resident 1, Fletcher Street, Cockermouth, Cumberland. No known grave. Commemorated on LONE PINE MEMORIAL, Turkey (including Gallipoli). Panel 41. Australian Roll of Honour details.

Extract from De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914-1918:

FLETCHER, WALTER BELL, Private, No. 445, 4th Platoon Coy.. 14th Battn. 4th Infantry Brigade, Australian Imperial Force, s. of James Fletcher, of 2, Fletcher Street, Cockermouth, by his wife. Isabella, dau. of John (and Elizabeth) Atkins; b. Cockermouth, co. Cumberland, 11 April, 1879; educ. Board School, Cockermouth, afterwards joining the Cockermouth Volunteers when 18 years of age. He went to Australia in 1911, and settled at Traralgon, Victoria, and on the outbreak of war he joined the Commonwealth Expeditionary Force ; left for Egypt with the main force, and was killed in action at the Dardanelles, 5 May, 1915. He had been 10 days in the trenches at Gaba Tepe, and was shot by a sniper when going for water. He m. in Edinburgh 15 years ago, (—) (Ethel Street, Lock Park, Traralgon, Victoria, Australia). dau. of John Walker, of Portobello, and had three sons and two days. : James, b. 1902 ; John William, b. 1906 ; Walter, b. 1908 ; Winifred, b. 1904 ; and Emily Isabel, b. 1913.

Private 14209529, 4th Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. Killed in action serving in India 23 April 1944. Aged 22. Born 12 December 1921, and resident, Cumberland. In the 1939 Register he was a Bricklayer Apprentice, unmarried, living with his widowed mother, Dora Forsyth, resident Bowmans Court, Cockermouth, Cockermouth U.D., Cumberland. Buried in IMPHAL WAR CEMETERY, India. Plot 7. Row E. Grave 25.

Extract from England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1944:

FORSYTH Walter of 26 Melbreak-avenue Cockermouth Cumberland died 23 April 1944 on war service Administration Carlisle 24 July to Dora Forsyth widow. Effects £196 5s. 3d.

A former scholar of the Grammar School, who lived at the Apple Tree Hotel (the present Wordsworth Hotel). Her name is recorded on a roll of honour that can still be seen in Cockermouth School. Daughter of Emma and William Young of the Apple Tree Hotel, Cockermouth [now the Wordsworth Hotel]. She was a Nursing Sister with the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, but was sadly killed by enemy action at sea, aged 26 [possibly 28], when the boat she was on went down on February 12th 1944. The ship was the SS Khedive Ismail, which had been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine whilst en route from Mombassa, Kenya, to Colombo, Ceylon. The ship, which served as a troopship from 1940-44, was carrying 1,511 people, including 53 nursing sisters . The ship was one of five troop transport ships being escorted by the heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins and the destroyers HMS Petard and HMS Paladin. The Japanese submarine was eventually sunk by HMS Petard. 1,297 people lost their lives when the SS Khedive Ismail went down and it marked the third worst Allied shipping disaster of the war. Eleanor’s name and details appear on her parents’ headstone in Cockermouth Cemetery. She is also recorded on the Brookwood Memorial in Surrey on the Military Nursing Service panel.

[Information kindly supplied by Gloria Edwards - Cockermouth Museum Group]

Corporal 2019, 60th Battalion, Australian Infantry, A.I.F. Died of influenza 19 October 1918. Aged 24. Born in 1894, Keswick, England. Son of William and Mary (nee Crosthwaite) Long of 19 Main Street, Cockermouth. Attended Cockermouth Fairfield Boys Council School.