238071 Sgt Percy James Stentiford MSM, Sussex Fortress Company, RE and 21st Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment

238071 Sgt Percy James Stentiford MSM, Sussex Fortress Company, RE and 21st Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment

Percy James Stentiford was born on or around 2 October 1883 in the parish of St Thomas, Withycombe Raleigh, Devon to George and Rosina Stentiford (née Pfeiffer), the youngest of seven children born to the couple. 

His father, George, was a gardener for Edward Cole of Leixlip and Stoke Lyne (his mother having been a lady's maid for the family) and by 1891 the family was living in Withycombe Raleigh, near Exmouth, in the lodge of Stoke Lyne House.

By 1901 Percy James was employed as a plumber and still living in the lodge at Stoke Lyne, now with his brother George - a gardener like his father - where he remained until at least 1911. Some time before the end of 1914 he moved, being resident at 22 Brooklyn Road, Seaford at the time of his enlistment in November that year. As well as his employment as a plumber he had previously served six years in the volunteer 1st Devonshire Yeomanry, being discharged on termination of his engagement.

He joined the Territorial Royal Engineers (Sussex (Fortress)  Reserve, RE) for four years' service in the United Kingdom. This Company was under the Sussex Territorial Force Association and at the time would have consisted of the HQ and No 1 Works Company at Seaford, serving as part of South Eastern Coastal Defences. With an apparent age of 30 years 1 month, he stood 5 foot 5 inches tall and had a chest measurement of 36 1/2" when fully expanded. His physical development was described as 'Good'. He was medically examined and certified fit by a RAMC Medical Officer at Newhaven on 22 November and the following day was appointed as a Sapper and embodied in the Sussex Fortress Reserve under the regimental number 237. He gave his next of kin as his mother,  and her address as Stoke Lyne Lodge, Withycombe, near Exmouth. He was tested by a Seaford builder (there being no facilities in a military workshop to apply the test) and graded a Very Good plumber.

Sapper Stentiford signed the Imperial Service Obligation at Seaford on 24 November 1914. He demonstrated his skills as a plumber in early and late January 1915, being rated as an Artificer 3rd and then 4th Class, finally earning himself Engineer's Pay of 1/8 a day on 1 July 1916. It seems likely that the company was involved, in common with other Companies, in construction of coastal batteries, camps, and hutments. In the meantime, in March and April 1915 he was hospitalised (Newhaven and 2nd Eastern General) with Tonsilitis. He was discharged with a recommendation that he return for a Tonsillectomy (which presumably did not take place given his later medical history) and that he be sent on furlough instead of to a convalescent home. 

By the end of 1914 the Territorial Companies had largely taken over charge of coast defence work from the Regular RE Companies as the latter were sent overseas, and in June 1915 the War Office authorised the raising of 'second lines' of the existing Territorial Companies.  With the 2/1st Company,  P J Stentiford was appointed Paid Lance-Corporal on 22 May 1915 (seemingly before the company had been formally raised) and then promoted to Second Corporal on 25 September, Corporal on 2 November and finally to Sergeant on 26 February 1916.  

Around February 1917 he would have been given a new number in the 545001-546000 series, to coincide with the renumbering of the Territorial Royal Engineers.

He married Amy Amelia Stentiford   (née Balkham), also of Seaford, born 1889 as the tenth child of Samuel Balkham and Harriett Maria Payne, on 22 August 1917 at Seaford.

By November 1917 he was serving with the 578th (Sussex) Works Company, Royal Engineers (formerly 3rd/1st (Sussex) Field Company) at Newhaven. From there he was posted to the 516th (1/London) Reserve Field Company, RE at Esher. In the meantime, the War Office had been considering the establishment of the pioneer battalions it had been raising, one per division, to address their more skilled military labour requirements.

 His transfer appears to have been part of a wider effort to address the skills shortages in many Pioneer Battalions, when compared to their establishment, by drafting-in Royal Engineers from the Reserve Companies at home to replace unskilled men who would be sent instead to infantry battalions within the same Regiment.

Accordingly, Sgt Stentiford was transferred to the West Yorkshire Regiment Pioneer Battalion, British Expeditionary Force under Army Order 204/1916, authority VOL/121/Drafts 7509/AG 2a/25/8/17, at RE rates of pay. He was posted overseas on 2 November 1917, disembarking the following day.

(In terms of Army protocol, as a Territorial he was presumably transferred to a Territorial unit within the West Yorkshire Regiment Corps and then posted to the 21st, a New Army Battalion.)

He was posted to the 21st West Yorkshire Regiment (Wool Textile Pioneers) on 4 November 1917, joining them in the field on the 11th. The 21st (Service) Battalion (Wool Textile Pioneers), West Yorkshire Regiment, was formed in Halifax on 24 September 1915 by the Lord Mayor and City of Leeds, moving to France in June 1916 and on 2 June 1916 coming under the orders of the Regular 4th Division as its Pioneer Battalion.  As a member of the 21st he would have been entitled to wear the distinctive crossed pickaxe and rifle collar badge of the Pioneer Battalions, reflecting their twin role as military labour and fighting infantry. At this time the battalion had just left Boesinghe in the Ypres Salient to move south to Arras. He was one of a draft of 289 ex-RE Other Ranks who joined on that day, presumably by way of an exchange with 269 Other Ranks who were sent to reinforce Infantry battalions of the West Yorkshire Regiment.  Later that day the battalion marched to Tilloy Wood, being employed on the upkeep of communications trenches, a tramway and Nissen Hut building (one platoon) which it continued to do until about the 19th, when it moved to building artillery bridges. The battalion continued to suffer a small trickle of casualties throughout the month. It is unfortunately not recorded what company Sgt Stentiford joined.

The battalion remained based in Tilloy Wood through December 1917 and well into 1918. In December the battalion principally concerned itself with maintaining communication trenches, whilst 'C' Company constructed a trench tramway and wired the communication trenches as a Reserve line. Towards the end of the month the work included cutting fire steps; this continued into January 1918, when the creation of machine gun nests and strong points in Happy Valley and other sites was also added to the work. Towards the end of the month the Battalion's focus extended to the creation of a new support line behind the Reserve line and the reclamation and revetting of trenches caved in by that month's heavy rain.

February saw the battalion go into billets at Arras for about a week before a move to St Laurent-Blangy towards the middle of the month. Here they were principally employed digging and wiring Reserve trenches in the 3rd system either side of the River Scarpe, and digging deep dugouts, incurring casualties including one officer and two other ranks gassed. At the end of the month, as part of a general reorganisation of the pioneer units, the battalion was also reorganised from a four-company (A, B, C and D) structure to a three-company (X, Y and Z) structure. By 25 November 1918 Sgt Stentiford was recorded as being with 'Z' Company and this may be suggestive of where he was placed at the time of this February 1918 reorganisation.

The first three weeks in March 1918 were principally spent working on Reserve trenches for XVII Corps. When the German Spring Offensive struck, the battalion was redirected to its Infantry role, occupying reserve trenches at Rifle Camp and alternating this with work on the Army Line at Duizans. During this period, as noted by the battalion history, "The great day of the battalion was on March 28th, 1918, when, as a divisional reserve, it advanced a line of one thousand yards, and held it two days until relieved by an infantry battalion."

The following extract from volume 2 of 'The West Yorkshire Regiment in The War 1914 -1918', by Everard Wyrall takes up the story for the month of April:

'From the 1st to 6th April the 21st Battalion (Pioneers) was at work constructing trenches for the 10th, 11th, and 12th Brigades of the 4th Division, east of Arras. Their camp was still at St Laurent Blangy [where the battalion was supposed to be rebuilding after the losses of March ]. The Battalion's strength at this period was 25 Officers and 551 other ranks, but it was continually losing officers and men. On the 5th Lieut. Richardson and three men of "Z" Company were wounded. On the 6th one man of "X" Company was killed and two men wounded. A mustard-gas shell also burst in the entrance of the officers' mess of the "Z" Company and five officers (Capt. Dighton, Lieut. Hocklebridge, and Second-Lieuts. Foster and Fox, and the Battalion Chaplain - Rev. C. Wright) and one other rank were badly gassed. On the 7th, as the 4th Division was relieved by Canadians, the Pioneers moved by train to Simoncourt and on the 8th to Fosseux. The 12th saw the battalion en route by bus to the scene of the Lys Battles, the Pioneers arriving at a point between Lillers and Busnes and Bivouacking in the fields for the night.

The Battle of Hazebrouck was in progress when the 21st Battalion (Lieut.-Colonel Sir E. H. St. L. Clarke) moved to camp and billets at the Chateau de Werppe on 14th April. That night all companies were hard at work digging a trench at Les Harrisoirs, following the line of the road. This was the line of the enemy's barrage, and "X" Company had Lieut. Bulmer and thirteen men wounded. The same work was continued on the following day.

On the 18th, when the Battle of Bethune was fought, the Pioneers were at work digging new trenches between Hinges and the Canal, and a trench near Les Harrisoirs. On this day Lieut. Metcalfe Smith, of "Z" Company, was wounded and died of wounds; four other ranks were also wounded. On the way to work a shell burst in the midst of "Y" Company, killing three men and wounding nine others. The enemy's attack on the 4th Division was completely broken up and about 160 prisoners were taken.

Under shell-fire almost the whole time, the Pioneers were in the line in the Bethune area until the end of the month - theirs was an unenviable life. During that period the battalion suffered the folowing casualties: 19th, six men wounded; 20th, Lieut. B. Grange and two men killed and eight wounded; 21st - 23rd, five men wounded; 24th, five men wounded, eight gassed; 25th, one NCO and two men wounded: 26th five men killed, twenty-nine wounded and fourteen [text missing]; 28th, six men wounded; 29th, three men wounded; On the 30th Battalion Headquarters and "Y" Company moved to farms in La Vallee to erect Nissen Huts in the orchards.

Such is the record (brief it is true) of the 21st Battalion during the German Offensive on the Lys. There are few to sing the praises of the Pioneers, but they were gallant fellows all, and carried out their duties with splendid tenacity and devotion."

After this, May was spent in La Vallée, mostly working in and around Pacaut Wood.

On 4 June 1918 Sgt Stentiford forfeited a day's pay, for an unknown cause. At this time 'Z' Company was working on the old front line of 2 September. Establishment at around this time was 30 officers and 517 men - low for a pioneer battalion. This was made worse when, during the latter part of the month, 10 officers and 180 Other Ranks were affected by '4 Day Fever', prevalent in the 4th Division at this time according to the War Diary. This temporarily reduced the fighting strength to only 443 Other Ranks. 

In July the battalion was still at La Vallée, 'Z' Company working on the support line of the front line system. Later in the month work turned to converting trenches of the existing systems into breastworks for the wet weather. This work continued into August interspersed with a period of repairing and clearing roads at Paradis following the enemy's retirement from there, and then at the end of the month going into the line east of Monchy before doing more dangerous work repairing and clearing the forward roads - the lesson having been learnt from the Somme of the absolute necessity of maintaining passable roads and tracks to the front to maintain the forward momentum of the assault. The battalion then did similar work at Fosse Farm after the division's participation in the attack on the Drocourt-Quéant line in early September. October was spent on roads and associated work successively in the Monchy, Naves and Haspres areas, following up the advance. At the beginning of November, on the 1st, the division attacked across the River Rhonelle and 'Z', along with the other companies, was heavily engaged in keeping the roads passable, under heavy shelling, up to and across the other side of the Rhonelle. Later in the month the battalion moved to Saulznoir, Artres and Le Triez. 'Z' Company was at Onnezies when news broke that the Armistice was signed. 

It is probably for his work during this period of constant work and open movement up to the Armistice that Sgt Stentiford was recognised as below, receiving a Gallantry Card from Major-General Lucas, GOC, 4th Division. (Major-General Lucas took over the division after Major-General Lipsett died on 14 October 1918 of wounds incurred that day whilst reconnoitering at Saulznoir for the Battle of the Selle. This thus dates the card to the second half of October or later, but probably before December 1918 when Sgt Stentiford was sent to Base Depot and then attached to the Expeditionary Force Canteens.) 

It read 'The Major-General Commanding 4th Division has received a report of the good work and devotion to duty of 238071 Sergt. P.J. Stentiford, 21st West Yorks. and he wishes to congratulate him on his fine behaviour.'

After the Armistice, the battalion moved to Préseau, and it was here that Sgt Stentiford (recorded as being with 'X' Company) was admitted, via No.4 Casualty Clearing Station (23 November), 11 Field Ambulance and No.21 Ambulance Train to No. 18 (Chicago U.S.A.) General Hospital at Camiers with Severe Tonsilitis on 25 November 1918.

Sgt Stentiford was discharged to Base Depot 'A' (or 'E', depending upon sources) on 3 December 1918 and then, after two weeks' leave to the UK, joined the RASC Expeditionary Force Canteen at Boulogne on 16 January 1919, where he was still attached as of 14 March 1919. This was presumably to put his special skills as a plumber to good use, Boulogne having numerous establishments run by the Expeditionary Force Canteen, including an officer's mess and rest house.

His service was further recognised by a Meritorious Service Medal Gazetted in the London Gazette 3 June 1919, the 'Peace Gazette', "for valuable services with the Armies in France and Flanders". Williamson notes that "The Gazette offered CinCs units the opportunity to recognise men for their Meritorious Service in the War.", suggesting that Sgt Stentiford had made a significantly favourable impression in his 13 months of service with his battalion.

For this service, his full entitlement was the British War Medal, Victory Medal and Meritorious Service Medal.

After a medical examination on the 2nd, on 5 May 1919 he was sent to England for demobilisation and was disembodied on 3 June 1919. His full address was given at this time as 6 Chichester Road, Seaford, Sussex.

He was working as a plumber and Fitter in 1939, living at 20 Chichester Road, Seaford with his wife Amy.

Percy James Stentiford died on 13 November 1942 aged 59. Probate was granted on 9 June 1943 to his widow Amy Amelia Stentiford, his effects being worth £595 1s 10d.