30th Railway Labour Company, Royal Engineers
Arthur Cecil Joseph Russell was a cabinetmaker by trade and had been born in spring 1978 at Small Heath in Birmingham. He and his wife Annie had married in Cheltenham in 1898 and by the time of the 1911 Census, Annie had given birth to seven children, of whom four had sadly died.
The family lived at 14 Bloomsbury Street, Cheltenham.
At the time of the 1901 Census they had been living 2 Garden Cottages, St Pauls, Cheltenham.
There are few details of Arthur’s military service. He may have served in the Gloucestershire Regiment, as the Memorial at St Paul’s Church describes him as a Corporal of that Regiment.
However there is no mention of this service on his Medal Index Card.
The CWGC Register shows him being with the 30th Railway Company, Royal Engineers at the time of death, which was on 13 September 1918, aged 43.
The cause of death was a malignant disease of the stomach and the place, the 1st Western General Hospital, Fazakerly, Liverpool.
He is buried in Cheltenham Cemetery, where a CWGC headstone marks his grave.
He is commemorated on the Cheltenham Borough War Memorial and besides the memorial in St Paul’s Church (see above) his name also appears on the memorial in St Mary’s Church and on the Cheltenham Parish Church Boys School Roll of Honour.
Research by Graham Adams 6 February 2013 with acknowledgement to ‘Leaving All that was Dear – Cheltenham and the Great War’ by Joe Devereux and Graham Sacker.