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65825 Acting Corporal
GEORGE WILLIAM NEWPORT
Royal Engineers 

By 

Lieutenant Colonel Edward De Santis, MSCE, BSAE P.E., MinstRE
(January 2025) 

Figure 1. Cap Badge of the Royal Engineers (GVR)
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia) 

1. INTRODUCTION

George William Newport was almost 36 years old when he enlisted in the Royal Engineers for service in the Great War of 1914-1918.  He was a competent carpenter, married with seven children ranging in age from one year to 13 years, when he enlisted in 1915.  It must be assumed that his patriotism caused him to do what he did.  Unfortunately, he was to become one of the thousands killed in the war, leaving his wife a widow and his children fatherless.

2. FAMILY INFORMATION[1] 

Newport was born April 1879 in Alton, Hampshire.  He was the son of John Orlando Newport (1849-1925) and Emily Ann Newport (1850-1949).  The composition of the Newport family in 1881 is shown in the table below. 

1881 Census of England

By 1891 the family had moved to another address in Alton, with the family composition as shown below.

1891 Census of England

Figure 2.  The Newport Residence at 8 Vicarage Road, Alton, Hampshire.
(Image courtesy of Google Earth) 

NOTE:  The 1881 Census and the 1891 Census for the Newport family were found in the family tree.  The 1901 Census could not be found for the family.

By 1911 George William Newport had a family of his own as shown in the table below. 

1911 Census of England

The Newports would have two more children before George enlisted in the Army: John Henry Newport born in 1911 and Esme Vida Newport born in 1914. 

3.      PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION 

The following is a description of George William Newport at the time of his enlistment in the Royal Engineers in 1915. 

The above description of Newport was made on 1 February 1915 at the time of a medical examination performed at Winchester by to determine his fitness to serve in the Army.  The examination was performed by Major B.A. Mathew, Royal Army Medical Corps.  Newport was determined to be physically fit.

4.  ENLISTMENT AND TRAINING[3] 

Enlistment

George William Newport attested for service in the Royal Engineers at Winchester on 1 February 1915.  At the time of his attestation he indicated that he was a Carpenter and that he was married.  He said that he had no prior miliary or naval service, that he was willing to be vaccinated or re-vaccinated and was willing to enlist for General Service.  He claimed to have received a Notice regarding his enlistment and that he understood its meaning.  He further indicated that he was willing to serve for the duration of the war.  His attestation was approved on 12 February 1915 by the Officer Commanding the Depot Companies, R.E. at Chatham and Newport was assigned Regimental Number 65825 and the rank of Sapper.

Training

Following the administrative actions involved with his enlistment Newport would have normally been sent off for recruit training at the School of Military Engineering (SME) at Brompton Barracks in Chatham, Kent.  However, in his case this training did not take place.  He was immediately qualified as a “Superior” Carpenter and was posted to the 129^th Field Company in the 24^th Division.  He joined the company on 13 February 1915.  This rapid assignment to a unit was no doubt due to the need to send more units quickly to France.  In Newport’s case, the fact that he was a highly qualified carpenter was also considered, although he had no training in military drill, musketry or field engineering work.  His qualifications were duly noted on 28 February when he was appointed a Paid Lance Corporal, a very rapid appointment in only 27 days from the date of his enlistment.

4.      POSTINGS, ASSIGNMENTS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE

Portslade (1915)

The 24^th Division had been established in September 1914 as part of Army Order 388 authorizing Kitchener’s Third New Army, K3. Most of the units of the division began to assemble in the area of Shoreham, Sussex.  It appears, however, that the 129^th Field Company was formed in Portslade, Sussex.[4] The early days of the division’s formation were somewhat chaotic, the new volunteers having very few trained officers and NCOs to command them, no organised billets or equipment. It was March 1915 before makeshift drab uniforms arrived and not until July before rifles were issued.[5]  Lance Corporal Newport was inoculated against enteric fever[6] on 7 March 1915, indicating that at least medical treatment was available for the men.  Newport was rewarded with another promotion on 12 June 1915 when he was promoted to the rank of 2^nd Corporal.    

Aldershot and Chobham (1915)

The 24^th Division moved during 19-23 June 1915 to Aldershot for final training.  2^nd Corporal Newport was charged with failure to obey an order given him by one Sergeant Barton at Aldershot on 20 June.  The matter was handled by the commander of Newport’s company and he was admonished for his actions.  An admonition was not a serious punishment, so his offense could not have been serious.

Newport was re-vaccinated against small pox on 11 July 1915 as the men of the division were being further prepared for deployment to a theater of the war.

Lord Kitchener inspected the Division at Chobham ranges on 19 August and the next day it was the turn of King George V. Orders were received on 19 August for the division to move to France and the first units departed one week later.[7]  The 129^th Field Company embarked for France on 31 August and arrived in France on the following day.[8]

France (1915-1916)

Concentration of the division’s units was completed in the area between Etaples and St. Pol on 4 September. The division’s first experience was truly appalling. Having been in France for only a few days, lengthy forced marches brought it into the reserve for the British assault at Loos (25 September to 5 October 1915). General Headquarters planning left the division too far behind to be a useful reinforcement on the first day of the battle , but it was sent into action on 26 September, whereupon it suffered over 4,178 casualties for very little gain.[9]  The 129^th Field Company, under the command of Major Geoffrey Farrington Evans, R.E.,[10] was fortunate during this action.  It suffered no fatal casualties during the Battle of Loos, but it did lose one man, 65895 Sapper W. Jones, on 23 November 1915.[11]

Things were relatively quiet for Newport’s company during the winter of 1915/1916, but it did suffer three fatal casualties during the period.  These fatalities were:

·         90757 Driver Michael Pender, 12 February 1916

·         65813 Sapper W. Halliwell, 19 February 1916

·         63840 Sapper E.T. Mallett, 21 February 1916

On 19 February 1916 Newport was appointed an Acting Corporal and on 4 March he was wounded in action.[12]  On the day that he was wounded the company was in the Ypres area working on trenches and mining and putting up barbed wire obstacles in front of the division’s sector.[13]  He was most probably wounded by artillery fire, but his service papers do not give any information regarding the extent of his wound or the cause of it.  Unfortunately the company War Diary does not mention him being wounded.

On 6 March 1916 Acting Corporal Newport was admitted to N0. 18 General Hospital at Camiers, just north of Etaples.  His wound appears to have been serious, as he remained in hospital until 31 May 1916 when he was discharged with orders to proceed to No. 4 General Base Depot at Rouen for further posting to an R.E. unit.  He arrived at the base depot on 2 June and remained there until 24 July when he joined the 126^th Field Company in the 21^st Division.  This company had suffered heavily during the period 9-15 July when it lost 12 men killed in action, including one officer, one senior NCO and two junior NCOs.    

Newport’s company took part in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette from 15-22 September 1916 as part of the Battle of the Somme.  His company was next involved in the Battle of Morval (25-28 September).  Acting Corporal George William Newport was killed during this action on 27 September 1916.  The company War Diary for this date reads as follows:

“Company employed making a track for infantry in file from GAP TRENCH to 500 yards of BULLS ROAD – Corporal Newport killed.”

No details regarding his death are included in his service papers other than “killed in action.”  It is likely, given the task that the company was performing at the time, that he was killed by enemy artillery fire or perhaps by a sniper.  The diary goes on to say that he was buried at Martinpuich, a town about midway between Courcelette and Flers (see Figure 3 below).

Figure 3.  Battle of the Somme, 1916.

(Map courtesy of Wikipedia)

The following sections are presented in tabular form to summarize Newport’s promotions, appointments, qualifications and the medals that he was awarded during his time in the Army.  They are provided to give the reader easy access to these aspects of his military service.  The tables are followed by sections dealing with his marriage, family and personal information. 

6.  PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS

a.  Promotions:  Newport received the following promotions during his time in service:

b. Appointments:  Newport received the following appointments during his time in service:

7. QUALIFICATIONS

George William Newport was awarded the qualification of “Superior” Carpenter upon his enlistment in the Royal Engineers.

8. MEDALS, AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

For his service during the Great War Newport was awarded the 1914-15 Star,[14] British War Medal and Victory Medal. Since Newport was killed in action during the war his wife was presented with the Memorial Plaque.  

Figure 4.  The Medals of 65825 Acting Corporal G.W. Newport, R.E.
(Image from the author’s collection)

Figure 5.  The Bronze Memorial Plaque.
(Image from the author’s collection) 

NOTE: This is not Newport’s Plaque.  It is presented here for illustrative purposes only.

 The service and death of George William Newport is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier and Face 8 A and 8 D in Thiepval, Departement de la Somme, Picardie, France.[15] 

9.   MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN

Marriage 

George William Newport married Lucy Mabel Mugridge (1880-1969) in Brighton, Sussex on 9 November 1901.  Lucy was born on 19 November 1880 in Newhaven, Sussex, the daughter of Henry Mugridge (1835-1927), a butcher by trade, and Elizabeth Jane Mugridge, née Elphick (1838-1910).  

Following the war, Lucy continued to live in Alton.  On 11 April 1917 she had been awarded a war widow’s pension of 37 shillings and 6 pence per week that began on 16 April 1917.  

Children 

As shown in the 1921 Census below she had all her children living with her at that time.  What exactly “House Duties” referred to as Lucy’s occupation may have meant that she was caring for her younger children at home and was living off her war widow’s pension with help of the wages earned by Evelyn and George, assuming that Evelyn was a nurse for some other families children and not for her younger siblings.  Her youngest sister, Esme, was six years old in 1921 and hardly required a nurse.  On the other hand Evelyn may have performed duties as a nanny for Esme in order to assist her mother with raising this large family. 

Esme had been born on 27 November 1914.  She probably had no memory of her father, as he had been killed when she was not quite two years old.

1921 Census of England

ANNEX A

Casualties in the 129^th Company and 126^th Field Companies
During the Time that Newport was Serving in those Companies
(in alphabetical order by date of death) 

129^th Field Company

126^th Field Company

NOTES:

1.      Newport served in the 129^th Field Company from 10 February 1915 to 4 March 1916.

2.      Newport served in the 126^th Field Company from 24 July 1916 to 27 September 1916.

  REFERENCES

Census 

1. 1881 Census of England (RG 11/1246).

2. 1891 Census of England (RG 12/950).

3. 1911 Census of England and Wales.

4. 1921 Census of England and Wales.  

Family trees 

Family Tree (by Fenella Gesch)  

Internet Web Sites 

1.      Commonwealth War Graves Commission

https://www.cwgc.org/

2.      The Long, Long Trail: 24^th Division.

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/24th-division/

Military Documents 

1. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorial.

2. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery Book (Thiepval).

3. Great War Pension Ledger.

4. Medal Index Card.

5. War Diary, 129^th Field Company, R.E., March 1916.

6. War Diary, 126^th Field Company, R.E., September 1916.  

Periodicals 

Battle Honours of the Royal Engineers.  The Royal Engineers Journal.  The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1925-1932. 

Soldiers Service Papers 

1. Short Service Attestation (Army Form B. 2505).

2. Descriptive Report on Enlistment.

3. Military History Sheet.

4. Casualty Form – Active Service.

5. Statement of the Services (Army Form B. 200).

6. Ministry of Pensions (Widows Form 3).

7. Medical History (Army Form B. 178).

8. Trade and Special Qualifications Form.

9. Company Charge Sheet (Army Form B. 252).

10. Squadron, Troop, Battery and Company Conduct Sheet (Army Form B. 121).

11. Regimental Conduct Sheet (Army Form B. 120).

 ENDNOTES