Herbert William Frank Cheeseman (1891-1916)
Post date: Sep 19, 2015 4:57:18 PM
Herbert is commemorated, along with 72,000 others (including from Wateringbury: Frederick Adams, William Cowlard, George Datlen, Albert Herbert, Frederick Latter and George Pearce, Lewis Newman) on The Thiepval Memorial on the D73, next to the village of Thiepval, off the main Bapaume to Albert road (D929) on Pier and Face 11C. He is shown as a private, service number G/5162, aged 25, husband of the late Alice Cheeseman, in the 1st Battalion R.W.K. killed in action on 22nd July 1916. No Herbert or Albert Cheesman or Cheeseman appears on the village's war memorial.
I have not been able to piece together a coherent story: some records refer to Cheesman (no e ) ; some records refer to Albert. They possibly/probably cover two separate men. Is there an element of deliberate obscurifaction given a scandal? The following is a listing of known information waiting for someone to link together.
A Herbert William F Cheesman (Sic, no e ) is recorded as having been born in Maidstone District in the second quarter of 1891; and the 1891 Census shows a Herbert Cheeseman, just born, living in Pizien Well, Wateringbury, the son of William and Emma.
A Herbert William Frank Cheesman, born 11 May 1891 at Marden, Kent and previously a wood turner, enlisted for 12 years in the navy in 1909 . He was 5ft 6 3/4 inches tall, dark brown hair, brown eyes, a fresh complexion and a 341/2 inch chest. After initial reports of very good character and having served on the Acheron and then the Caesar he is discharged in February 1910 "having confessed to an unnatural offence to be reported to the Civil Power."
Herbert William Frank Cheesman, born in Marden, aged 19, is at the 1911 Census living at home in Dartford with his family with his occupation shown as a Potman.
Herbert F. Cheeseman married Alice Waghorn in 2nd Quarter of 1913 in Malling District.
The parish magazine records the baptism on 5th December 1915 of Albert William Cheesman, the son of Albert William Frank and Alice.
The vicar records his service in his June 1915 list of men serving as :
Cheesman, Pte. H. A. (5162), A Company, 1st Battalion R.W.K. Regt., 5th Division E.F.
The August 1916 Parish Magazine notes his death as follows:
It is with great regret that we have to record the death on active service, in the battle of the Somme, of Frederick Adams, Albert William Frank Cheeseman and William Thomas Butcher. Adams and Cheeseman each leaves a widow and young children. The former a member of an old Wateringbury family, settled at Yalding, and recently removed to Nettlestead; the latter, who married one of the Waghorns, of Birchetts, is a recent comer to the parish, but his widow and children do not on that account receive less of our sympathy in their trouble. Willie Butcher, like Adams, grew up among us—a fine young fellow, of whom the last seen was when, acting as a messenger, he stopped on his way through the trenches to bind up the wounds of a comrade. On Sunday, August 13th, we hold a Memorial Service in Church at 3 p.m., for these three, and also for Thomas Richard Bowles, whose death (previously recorded) occurred on board H.M.S. Lion in the Jutland naval victory. We shall also include the memory of Arthur Jukes and also of Charles Bevan, who, like Jukes, has been missing since September of last year, and whose name, hitherto retained in hope on our active list, we now feel with sorrow must be transferred to our Roll of Honour.
In January 1917 the vicar records on list of men serving
*Herbert William Frank Cheesman, wr
The asterix denotes that the man was serving abroad and the wr indicates he was wounded but recovered.