Ashtead War Memorials - WWI - Pte George Robert James Chapman
27th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps

The marriage of George Chapman [born Brentwood, Essex, ca 1870], a Painter, to Rose Partridge [born Suffolk, registered Cosford 3/1872, as Clara Rose Partridge, daughter of George and Rebecca Partridge, Newton Road Brickyard, Chilton,] may be found registered at Epsom for the December Quarter 1893. Their first child, George Robert James Chapman was born in Leatherhead, registered Epsom 6/1894.

By 1901, the family, then including three children and a boarder, resided in Edes Cottages on Ottways Lane (close to the Maples at 'The Hut'), Ashtead. The father, however, survived only until 1910 when his death, aged 40, was recorded at Epsom for the December Quarter.

George, junr., appears to have signed up for War Service about 1915 before being assigned to 27th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps. This unit was attached to 9th (Scottish) Division that for the first three weeks of July 1916 was on the Somme - Bernafay, Longueval and Delville Wood (now the site of South Africa’s National Memorial) - with losses of 7,200. After a rest and a month in the Vimy sector it returned to the Somme in October, near the Butte de Warlencourt. Several unsuccessful attacks against that feature resulted in a further 3,100 casualties. From December 1916 to August 1917 the division was on the Arras front, taking part in the First and Third Battles of the Scarpe (5,000 casualties).

On 9th April 1917 the 9th (Scottish) Division, commanded by Major-General Lukin (who had previously commanded the South African Brigade) advanced and took the German positions around Pont du Jour, east of Arras. They remained on the Arras front until the end of the battle. After the war their Old Comrades Association erected a memorial cairn close to a section of German trench captured by the Division on 9th April. The stone was brought from Scotland, and stones were erected close by to every unit in the Division.
http://battlefields1418.50megs.com/9divmemorial.htm

In the week 9-16 April 1917, the Division lost 525 Other Ranks including Pte GRJ Chapman who appears to have suffered injuries before being evacuated to Aubigny where there were a number of Casualty Clearing Stations. He died from his wounds and was buried in the Communal Cemetery Extension.

CWGC record his widowed Mother’s address to have been 6 West Hill (part of High Street), Ashtead: Meredith Worsfold comments, in his Ashtead, The Street in the 1920s, that Mrs Chapman then lived at No. 12 West Hill in an upstairs flat. There appears to have been no kinship between the subject of this piece and the man whose name precedes his on the War Memorial, John William Chapman, of 5 Park Walk, Ashtead.

text by Brian Bouchard: if you can add to this page please contact the editor
page added 18 Mar 2009