6th Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment
Arthur Frederick Stephens was born in Gloucester in the second half of 1898 and baptised in St Luke’s Church on 5 July 1899. His father, John Joseph, was a boiler maker and his mother was Elizabeth (née Andrews). In 1899 they lived at 42 Alma Place, Tredworth, Gloucester. Identification of the family in subsequent census returns has proved difficult. Other sources indicate that Arthur may have had at least two brothers and two sisters and that his parents were deceased before 1911. The census taken that year records him, aged twelve, living in what appears to be a children’s home, Tuffley Court, Whaddon, run by the Board of Guardians, with John and Alice Leech acting as foster parents on their behalf.
Arthur was probably automatically conscripted for military service, upon reaching his 18th birthday in 1916. However, in the absence of an Army Service Record this cannot be confirmed. Assuming this is the case then he would have undergone at least six months training and been posted to the 6th Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment in late 1917. Using Soldiers Died in the Great War data reveals a number of members of the 6th Dorsets, with a number similar to the 30499 allocated to Arthur, being killed in action during April and May 1918. So, it is reasonable to assume Arthur was located on the Western Front at this time, in the battles to contain the German advance during their 1918 Spring Offensive.
The Gloucester Journal of 2 November 1918 reported that Arthur’s sister Elizabeth (married name Mustoe), who lived at 44 Frampton Road, had been notified of his death from wounds received, on 29 October 1918, in Bellahouston Hospital, Glasgow. He was aged 20. The report stated that he had been in the Army for two years and seven months (confirming his enlistment in 1916) and had served in France. Prior to joining the Army, he was employed by the Oil Mills. About three months previously he had been wounded but the fatal wounds, which caused him to be repatriated to Glasgow were in the right leg and left arm. His name and number appear as one of the wounded in the Weekly Casualty List (War Office and Military) published on 8 October 1918. In the autumn of 1918, the 6th Dorsets were heavily involved in a number of actions during the ‘Advance to Victory’ which led to the 11 November Armistice.
The same paper’s 9 November edition reported on his funeral, held on 2 November, the first part at St Luke the Less Church followed by interment at Gloucester Old Cemetery. Among the family mourners at his funeral were his sisters, Elizabeth Mustoe and Dorothy Stephens and his brother, David Henry, who was a serving member of the Gloucestershire Yeomanry. The 2 November report stated that he had another brother who had been killed in France about three years before. This was 12044 Private John Joseph Stephens of the 8th Glosters (Soldiers Died in the Great War says, erroneously, the 12th), who was killed in action on 12 December 1915 and who is buried at Rue-des-Bercaux Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoue.
Private Arthur Frederick Stephens’ grave is marked by at standard CWGC headstone and he is commemorated on the Gloucester War Memorial. His name was also recorded on the War Memorial placed in St Luke the Less Church.
Researched by Graham Adams 19 January 2020