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Rifleman William Edward MARTIN 2 Battalion, Rifle Brigade
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1878- 31 July 1918

The son of a master butcher, William Edward Martin was born in 1878 in Battle Sussex. He later
moved to Kent and found work in Sidcup as a florist. In 1901 he was in lodgings at the home of
William and Lilian Wenham and their son, Ernest, in Bexley Village. Six months after the death of
George Wenham in 1903, William Martin married his widow, Lilian, and moved with his new family
into one of the small cottages in Jubilee Road, Foots Cray. William’s new wife had grown up in Foots
Cray where her father had been a gardener.

A florist by trade, before joining the Army William Martin had been working for the Government at a
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dockyard. At the age of 38 years, William made the bold decision to join the army, enlisting on 1 July
1916. He was sent to the Front in November but the following July he was seriously wounded and took
some time to recover and was allowed home on leave in December 1917.

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On returning to France, William Martin was transferred to the 7 Battalion, Rifle Brigade, as was
often the case when Regiments became seriously depleted through catastrophic losses. He took part in
the Battle of St. Quentin. “Operation Michael” involved a vast attack along the whole Front between
the River Olse and the River Sensee. This area is generally known as “the Somme sector.”

The entire area between the St. Quentin/Cambrai front line and the Bapaume/Albert area had been
deliberately laid waste by the Germans when they withdrew from that area in the spring of 1917. The
losses were heavy and Rifleman Martin, together with many of his colleagues, came back down the line
to rest at Le Havre. After that he was attached to a ‘flying column’ but was unfortunately killed
instantly when an enemy shell exploded on the living quarters where he was billeted. The vicar wrote
comforting words to his widow, who had already been bereaved in April 1917 when her son, Corporal
George Wenham, died in Gaza and another son had been seriously wounded the year before.

In the 1920’s Lilian Martin moved to Portsmouth to start a new life.

In Memoriam. William Martin is buried in the Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-au-Bois.

George W. MEPHAM, South Notts Hussars. Transferred to Labour Corps.
1879-11th November 1918

Born in Crayford in 1880, George Mepham was the grandson of letter carrier and shoemaker, James
Dixon. In 1911, 31-year-old George was unmarried and living with the Russell family in Woodside
Crescent, Sidcup. He was one of a large number of local men employed at Mr. Evans’ nursery and
described his employment as journeyman/nurseryman.

Late in 1914, at the age of 35 years, he married Elizabeth Wood, an event which could have well been
brought into focus because of the War. They first set up home in the Dartford area where boy and
girls twins were born, and after moving to a small two-bedroom cottage in Cray Place, Foots Cray, a
daughter was born in 1918.