This Remembrance Day, we uncover the story of 3 Newport brothers pictured together in 1914, who would sadly all go on to be killed at Gallipoli.
They stand together in matching jerseys, gathered around a football, with a gramophone at the centre of the group. The photograph was taken while the Isle of Wight Rifles were training at Sandown in 1914.
Frederick Albert, Edward George and William Henry Urry are believed to be standing together in the middle row. Their brother-in-law Arthur William Richardson is only a few places away. All 4 would be killed at Gallipoli on 12th August 1915.
The matching jerseys and football have led researchers to believe the men formed B Company’s football team, although the identities of many of those pictured have been lost.
The fate of a number of the men was later marked directly on the photograph. Letters beside individual figures record ‘K’ for killed, ‘W’ for wounded and ‘E’, believed to represent enteric fever.
Six of the men pictured have so far been identified. Alongside the Urrys and Richardson are Sergeant John Francis ‘Jack’ Denham, a Newport fireman, and Leonard Ledicott, identified as the team’s goalkeeper.
The Urry brothers were from Newport, where their mother Emily lived at 42 Orchard Street. Edward, the eldest, was married to Florence Laura Richardson, while William had worked as a general labourer before the war. Frederick, the youngest, was a former pupil of Newport County Secondary School and his name also appears on the Isle of Wight Football Association Roll of Honour.
Florence’s brother Arthur was also an Isle of Wight Rifleman, bringing 4 members of the same family together in the Sandown photograph.
In July 1915, the Isle of Wight Rifles left Britain for the Mediterranean aboard the Aquitania. Their destination was Gallipoli, where Allied forces had been fighting since April in an attempt to force a passage through the Dardanelles.
The Isle of Wight Rifles landed at Suvla Bay on 10th August. Just 2 days later, the men who had trained together on the Isle of Wight were ordered into battle, advancing across exposed ground under intense Ottoman fire on 12th August.
The attack cost the battalion dearly. 81 Isle of Wight Riflemen were killed that day, among them Frederick, Edward and William Urry and their brother-in-law Arthur Richardson. The Gallipoli campaign would ultimately claim the lives of 120 members of the Isle of Wight Rifles.
At the centre of the photograph, beside the gramophone, sits Sergeant John Francis ‘Jack’ Denham. Denham had joined the Isle of Wight Rifles in 1908 and became Company Quartermaster Sergeant of B Company. Away from military life, he lived at 2 Beech Road in Newport and served with the town’s fire brigade.
He too sailed aboard the Aquitania in July 1915 and served at Gallipoli, but unlike the Urrys and Richardson, Denham survived. He was wounded during his service and was subsequently transferred to the Labour Corps before eventually returning home.
Standing behind Denham in the photograph is Leonard Ledicott, identified as the football team’s goalkeeper. Ledicott had been associated with the Isle of Wight Rifles since 1910 and was badly wounded during the war, but survived and returned to Newport.
Ledicott’s connection with the Rifles continued long after the fighting had ended. By February 1936, he had been steward of the Rifles’ Club for around 13 years. It was through his family that the photograph was preserved, providing a rare glimpse of the men together before the First World War took them along very different paths.
Can you identify any of the other footballers? If you recognise a relative or have information about any of the unidentified men, help us put names to the remaining faces by letting us know in the comments below.
