52nd Motor Company, Army Service Corps
Lionel Francis Overthrow was born in Gloucester on 4 August 1891. He was one of twelve children born to William Thomas and Harriet Annie Overthrow, of whom only eight were surviving at the time of the 1911 Census. The family lived at No 10 Blackfriars, Gloucester but between 1911 and 1915 had moved to 6 New Inn Lane, Gloucester.
At the time of the census his occupation was an ironmongers’ porter, however, by the time of enlistment he had, similar to his father, become a cab or taxi driver, employed by Mr Walter Cowell of Spa Mews, Gloucester. Mr Cowell gave him a reference when he sought to enlist and stated that Lionel had worked for him for two years and had ‘always found him sober, honest, willing and trustworthy and that ‘he is leaving me to do his duty to his country: I should have been sorry to have lost him for any other reason’.
Enlistment (for the duration of the war) took place at Gloucester on 25 May 1915 and posting followed to No 1 Reserve Depot, Motor Transport, Army Service Corps at Lewisham in South East London, where Lionel was to take his driving skills into the military.
Lionel spent until 2 July 1915 in the UK and was then posted to Malta (a report in the Gloucestershire Journal of 22 January 1916, following his death, says that this posting was a result of his being gassed but there is no evidence of service on the Western Front and it is likely that the newspaper report confused him with one of his brothers). He was to remain in Malta until 19 November 1915, when illness caused his repatriation to the UK and he was likely to have been placed on the nominal role of 52nd Motor Transport Company at Aldershot.
He was sent to Queen Mary’s Military Hospital at Whalley, near Clitheroe in Lancashire, exhibiting symptoms of a gastric ulcer. Over the following weeks his condition deteriorated: there was increasing pain and tenderness and a rapid loss of weight as he became unable to take food by mouth. Whereas today medication may we have relived his condition, this was not an option then and it was decided that gastric surgery was the only course of action. This took place on 11 January 1916. The shock of the surgery proved too much for his weakened constitution and he became seriously ill. His mother was issued with a rail warrant to travel to his bedside and she was with him when he died at 1.45pm on 14 January 1916, aged 25. He had seen just 235 days service in the Army.
His funeral took place at St Mary de Crypt Church in Gloucester on 20 January 1916 and he was laid to rest in Hempsted (St Swithun) Churchyard, where a standard CWGC headstone now marks his grave. It was a semi-military funeral, with the coffin being escorted by a detachment of the 3rd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment and the Last Post sounded. Lionel’s younger brother, Lance Corporal Alfred Joseph Overthrow, serving with the 1st Battalion of the Glosters was also present. He was awaiting discharge from the Army (which took place on 19 February 1916) having been twice wounded and in hospital since May 1915. He had joined the Glosters in 1913 and had gone to France on 23 November 1914.
The Gloucestershire Journal of 22 January 1916 states that Harriet Overthrow had three sons on active service at the Front. These would appear to be Harold Walter, Percy Regnell and Sidney E, all of whom served in the Army Service Corps, the former two in motor transport and the latter with horse transport. All the serving brothers appear to have survived the war.
Lionel Overthrow is commemorated on the Gloucester War Memorial.
Researched by Graham Adams 6 November 2016