Key Information<\/strong><\/h2>\nName:<\/strong>\u00a0William Strafford Curtis
DoB:<\/strong>\u00a0April 14 1888
Regt:<\/strong>\u00a0Private 2962, 15th Batt. London Regt. (Civil Service Rifles)
DoD<\/strong>: May 27 1915
Academic Career<\/strong>: CGS 1900-03\u00a0County Council Minor Scholarship, 1900.\u00a0
Other:\u00a0<\/strong>School Master in service of L.C.C.
Biographical Information:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n \n \n\n \n ![\"curtis\"](\"https:\/\/www.trinity.cumbria.sch.uk\/warmemorials\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/curtis-442x411.jpg\" "\\"curtis\\"")
\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n - \n \n \n Family Background: <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n \n\n \n
William Strafford Curtis was born in Gloucestershire from where his parents Thomas (a railway engine driver) and Elizabeth originated. He was the youngest of four children. Elder sister Ellen became a teacher; brother Arthur \u00a0a printers reader, married and moved to Yorkshire; Lucy was housekeeper for her father and sister after her mother died in 1906. In 1901 the family lived at 5, London Road. At the time of William\u2019s death his father was living at 6, Brookfield Gardens, Carlisle.<\/p>\n
Carlisle Grammar School Memorial Register has William\u2019s middle name as Stafford. It is also recorded as Stafford on the 1871 Census (for his mother) However the 1861 and 1851 Census report her as Strafford and the CWGC \u00a0have William\u2019s death recorded and call him Strafford, as\u00a0does the Cumberland News.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n
- \n \n \n Academic Record: <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n \n\n \n
He attended the Carlisle Grammar School between 1900 and left in 1903. He then became a school teacher.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n
- \n \n \n War Service: <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n \n\n \n
(Civil Service Rifles), 1914. The British attack on the Aubers Ridge began on May 9 1915. Jill Knight says: \u201cThe battalion\u2019s role at Festubert was alternately to hold the line and provide working parties, particularly for repairing the sandbagged breastworks which passed for trenches in the low-lying, swampy ground. They were also called upon to provide bombing parties and make almost nightly patrols in No-Man\u2019s Land. Festubert was afterwards regarded as the CSR\u2019s baptism of fire. Though they were not sent \u2018over the top\u2019, it was here that they first suffered significant casualties.\u201d (page 49*)The Battle of Festubert was effectively over by May 25 (and the Aubers Ridge was still in German hands) and on 27th<\/sup>\u00a0May the battalion was engaged in \u201ccleaning the captured trench, evacuating prisoners and casualties and burying the dead\u2026They were still under constant shell fire. Lieutenant Roberts described the appalling scene:\u00a0\u201cEverywhere the most awful collection of debris of all sorts, dead men, dying men, equipment, clothing, rifles twisted and bent in the most fantastic shapes. Literally piles of dead men one on top of another in pools of blood. A veritable shambles and a place of utter desolation as the result of the fearful artillery fire it had undergone followed by the bombing and bayonet charges.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0The battalion buried an estimated 350 in three days \u2013 most of the London territorials.\u201d(page 51*) One of those reported Killed in action at Festubert, on May 27, 1915, was William Curtis. The Cumberland News said he was killed in an attack on German trenches.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n - \n \n \n Battalion: <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n \n\n \n
15th Batt. London Regt. (Civil Service Rifles), 2962<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n
- \n \n \n Other: <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n \n\n \n
In the 1911 Census William is living as a boarder with the Saunders family at 2, Castlewood Road, Upper Clapton NE (Hackney) London as a teacher. He was 22 years old and single. An Australian teacher aged 23 was also boarding at the same address. Mrs Saunders was a widow and her two sons and two daughters (one also a teacher) lived there.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n
- \n
DoB:<\/strong>\u00a0April 14 1888
Regt:<\/strong>\u00a0Private 2962, 15th Batt. London Regt. (Civil Service Rifles)
DoD<\/strong>: May 27 1915
Academic Career<\/strong>: CGS 1900-03\u00a0County Council Minor Scholarship, 1900.\u00a0
Other:\u00a0<\/strong>School Master in service of L.C.C.
Biographical Information:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n - \n
- \n \n \n Family Background: <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n
William Strafford Curtis was born in Gloucestershire from where his parents Thomas (a railway engine driver) and Elizabeth originated. He was the youngest of four children. Elder sister Ellen became a teacher; brother Arthur \u00a0a printers reader, married and moved to Yorkshire; Lucy was housekeeper for her father and sister after her mother died in 1906. In 1901 the family lived at 5, London Road. At the time of William\u2019s death his father was living at 6, Brookfield Gardens, Carlisle.<\/p>\n
Carlisle Grammar School Memorial Register has William\u2019s middle name as Stafford. It is also recorded as Stafford on the 1871 Census (for his mother) However the 1861 and 1851 Census report her as Strafford and the CWGC \u00a0have William\u2019s death recorded and call him Strafford, as\u00a0does the Cumberland News.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n
- \n
\n \n Academic Record: <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n \n\n\nHe attended the Carlisle Grammar School between 1900 and left in 1903. He then became a school teacher.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n
- \n
\n \n War Service: <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n(Civil Service Rifles), 1914. The British attack on the Aubers Ridge began on May 9 1915. Jill Knight says: \u201cThe battalion\u2019s role at Festubert was alternately to hold the line and provide working parties, particularly for repairing the sandbagged breastworks which passed for trenches in the low-lying, swampy ground. They were also called upon to provide bombing parties and make almost nightly patrols in No-Man\u2019s Land. Festubert was afterwards regarded as the CSR\u2019s baptism of fire. Though they were not sent \u2018over the top\u2019, it was here that they first suffered significant casualties.\u201d (page 49*)The Battle of Festubert was effectively over by May 25 (and the Aubers Ridge was still in German hands) and on 27th<\/sup>\u00a0May the battalion was engaged in \u201ccleaning the captured trench, evacuating prisoners and casualties and burying the dead\u2026They were still under constant shell fire. Lieutenant Roberts described the appalling scene:\u00a0\u201cEverywhere the most awful collection of debris of all sorts, dead men, dying men, equipment, clothing, rifles twisted and bent in the most fantastic shapes. Literally piles of dead men one on top of another in pools of blood. A veritable shambles and a place of utter desolation as the result of the fearful artillery fire it had undergone followed by the bombing and bayonet charges.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0The battalion buried an estimated 350 in three days \u2013 most of the London territorials.\u201d(page 51*) One of those reported Killed in action at Festubert, on May 27, 1915, was William Curtis. The Cumberland News said he was killed in an attack on German trenches.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n
- \n
\n \n Battalion: <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n15th Batt. London Regt. (Civil Service Rifles), 2962<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n
- \n
\n \n Other: <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n \n\n\nIn the 1911 Census William is living as a boarder with the Saunders family at 2, Castlewood Road, Upper Clapton NE (Hackney) London as a teacher. He was 22 years old and single. An Australian teacher aged 23 was also boarding at the same address. Mrs Saunders was a widow and her two sons and two daughters (one also a teacher) lived there.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n
- \n
- \n