9th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Arthur Edward Lear was born in Stroud in January 1891 — there is a baptism register entry for 18 February 1891.
Arthur was one of seven sons born to Henry and Sarah Ann Lear (previously Butler). Henry was born in Torquay and Sarah in Stroud. By 1901, two children and Henry had died (1899) leaving Sarah with six sons. Her occupation was given as ‘charwoman’.
In July 1912, Sarah Ann remarried. Her husband was **Silvanus Mills who was listed as a ‘visitor’ to her home on the 1911 Census. He was a 67-year-old widower who had fathered seven children and whose occupation was given as ‘bricklayer’. Arthur was the only one of her children still at home giving his occupation as ‘sausage factory’. The family lived at Daisy Bank, Bisley Road, Stroud.
**(There is a report in the Gloucester Citizen of 19 August 1882 to the effect that Silvanus was before the courts under the bastardy laws. He had fallen in to arrears of 15 shillings due to Sarah Ann Butler. He was committed for 14 days.)
There are service records for Arthur. He enlisted in Bristol on 9 September 1914 giving his age as 23 years and eight months and occupation as butcher’s assistant. His form states that he had previously served with the Royal Engineers for one year. He gave his address as Gun House, Bowbridge, Stroud, (a house which still stands).
Arthur was promoted to Corporal on 13 October 1914 but returned to being a private ‘at own request’ on 1 March 1915. He was posted as part of the British Expeditionary Force on 20 September 1915.
Arthur left Folkestone for Marseilles on 20 September, embarking for Salonika on 11 November 1915. He disembarked on 24 November.
On 21 February 1916, Arthur was admitted to a Casualty Clearing Station in Salonika where a fistula (a long narrow ulcer) was diagnosed on 6 March. He was transferred to Malta on 19 April 1916 and ‘invalided to England’ on 2 June.
Arthur arrived back in England on 23 June and was transferred to the Training Reserve on 1 September 1916. He was discharged on 8 November 1916 as being no longer physically fit for war service.
The cause of discharge was ‘Medically unfit: Tuberculosis disease of Lungs’, dated 18 October 1916. The following is a transcript with some omissions due to difficulty deciphering the words:
Haemomoptysis 8 years ago. Cough for years during winter. March 1916 operation for fistula at Salonika. In September 1916, operated upon for thrombosed (?) 7th – pyrexia occurred 17th – slight signs of consolidation noted at left (? base) and pleural pain. Oct 14th well marked consolidation at left (?). Temperature continuously between 100 and 103 for month. Present condition. Continuous pyrexia. Severe cough. Well marked consolidation. TB present in sputum.
Not the result of (present before enlistment) but aggravated by active service conditions. Permanent. Presents totally. Expires 8-5-17.
Arthur was awarded a pension based on two years and 62 days service of 28 shillings per week. It was awarded from 9 November 1916 with an expiry date of 8 May 1917.
The Invalid Board of 18 April 1917 stated ‘total incapacity’. Arthur had been in a sanatorium for three months ‘being discharged incurable’. His earnings were nil.
Arthur was again examined on 13 September 1917 where ‘total incapacity (100%)’ was recorded with an expiry date of 29 October 1918. Once more the board stated ‘total incapacity (100%)’ on 27 October 1918 with an expiry date of 26 August 1919.
Arthur died on 17 November 1918, aged 29. His cause of death, according to his funeral report in the Stroud News and Journal of 6 December was from consumption (pulmonary tuberculosis).
The report stated that he had been employed by Messrs Eastmans Ltd before the war. He had seen ‘considerable service abroad’. It also stated: ‘Three brothers of the deceased, namely Lieut S Butler, who is in German East Africa, and Alfred J Lear and William Lear, both of whom are in the Navy, were unable to be present at the funeral being on active service’.**
Arthur Lear was buried in Stroud Old Cemetery. He has a privately marked grave; enclosed by a rectangular kerbed stone, bearing an inscription.
According to the Register of Soldier’s Effects, Arthur’s Mother received a payment of £6 15s and his sister-in-law Kate, £6 5s in 1920.
** I have researched the three siblings mentioned and Arthur’s other brother
Both Alfred James and William Percy Lear enlisted with the Navy for 12 years on their respective 18th birthdays in 1909 and 1913. Alfred was a Petty Officer and died of wounds following a shell explosion on 6 February 1919. He is buried at the Naval Cemetery, Ireland Island, Bermuda. He left a widow, Kate who lived in Stroud. William survived the War but was injured in 1923 when he was accidentally struck by an air rifle pellet. Apparently, it was his own fault as he failed to follow safety precautions. William’s 1939 registration for his National Identity Card shows that he was a Storekeeper with the Royal Air Force. He died two years later.
Sarah’s oldest son, Charles on the 1891 Census (who despite being the oldest of her sons at nine was listed last) turns out to be her illegitimate son with Silvanus Mills. He was named Charles Silvanus Butler. It appears that he enlisted with the Royal Marine Artillery on 4 October 1899. He married aged 37 in 1919 and gave his occupation as Capt. S A P B (South African Pioneer Battalion). He gave no Father’s name despite his biological parents being married by that date. I can find no confirmed military or electoral records for him but there is a Charles Butler listed on the UK Naval Medal Awards and Rolls who was a Payr S Lt (I assume Second Lieutenant?).
Richard Walter George also enlisted with the Navy on his 18th birthday — 8 May 1905 — for a period of 12 years but was invalided out in 1913 with what reads like a disease of the ears and general depression(?). He received a pension. Richard married in 1918 and died in 1949.
Brother Henry, died in July 1914 (cause unknown) and shares a grave with Arthur.
Mother Sarah, lost her first husband in 1899 and three sons between 1914 and 1919.
Both Sarah and Silvanus appear on the electoral roll for 1921. There is a 1921 death for a Sarah Ann Mills in Stroud in March of that year. Silvanus died in 1922.
Research by Helen Wollington 23 January 2018