8th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Lionel Phipps was the fourth child and only son of Richard and Sarah Phipps (née Mynett) of Bisley, Stroud. Both were occupied as mill hands. Lionel’s birth was registered in the last quarter of 1886 in Stroud.
The 1891 Census, which spells Lionel as ‘Lynol’ shows the family living at Bisley. Both parents and the two eldest daughters, Eliza and Laura are mill hands.
By 1901, Lionel was 14 and working as a cloth worker. He was the only sibling living at home but his nephews Wallace and Harry, five and seven were living with the family.
On 22 December 1906, 20-year-old Lionel married 19-year-old Rosa Ellen Young at France Lynch. Lionel’s occupation was given as labourer.
The 1911 Census shows Lionel and Rose living at France Lynch with their two daughters, Rosie (three) and Gladys (one). Rosie was born in Chalford and Gladys in Glamorgan. A third child, Thomas, was born the following year. Lionel gave his occupation as labourer, timber yard.
No service records exist for Lionel’s time serving during WW1. However, there was a short obituary in the Stroud Journal of 11 February 1916 which appears together with a photo on the IWM ‘Lives of the First World War’ web site: The funeral took place last week at Rodborough church of Pte Lionel Phipps of Butterow West and of D company of the 8th Gloucesters who died at Fort Pitt Hospital Chatham on 26th January. Deceased was the son of the late Richard Phipps of Chalford and he enlisted in the Gloucestershire regiment on 6th November 1914. He then being in the employ of Mr Charles A Apperley JP. He proceeded to France in the early part of last July and there, as he did in England, he discharged his duties efficiently and to the entire satisfaction of his officers being in every respect a good soldier. He was wounded on 18th November 1915 whilst carrying a dead chum out of the trenches and died as stated leaving a widow and 3 children for whom the greatest sympathy is felt.
The War Diary of the 8th Glosters for 18 November 1915 (who were located near to Festubert) contains the following: Enemy snipers were very active today and two of our men were killed and five wounded by bullets. The parapet having fallen down in several places in all the trenches; men have to be very careful how they pass up and down.
The Remembering Rodborough website states that Lionel was evacuated back to ‘Blighty’ with a severe head injury two months prior to his death.
Lionel’s death was registered at Medway in Kent: he was 28 years.
The medal card gives an entry date of 18 July 1915 and states that the medals were returned under the Kings Regulations of 1912.
The UK Register of Soldier’s Effects states that Lionel died at Fort Pitt Hospital, Chatham from wounds. His widow received a payment of £13 19s 11d on 9 March 1916 followed by a second payment on 20 September 1919 of £4 10s after she had remarried.
The pension ledger card shows the dates of birth of Rose (9 March 1887) and the three children who were to receive pensions until their sixteenth birthdays. A note on the card states that Rosa remarried on 1 November 1916. Her husband was C Bishop (RN stoker discharged*). Rosa received a re-marriage gratuity of £51 10s on 5 January 1917. The pension for the children was to continue being paid to her.
Lionel was buried at St Mary Magdalene, Rodborough. He has a CWGC headstone.
*I researched this man. There is no record of him having been in the Navy but there are records for the two terms he served with the army both prior to and during the war. He was dismissed, disgraced, on both occasions serving prison terms. His criminal record is extraordinary. He was imprisoned at 18 and was in Dartmoor prison in 1939. Rosa had a son with him, born in 1917.
Researched by Helen Wollington November 2020