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Arthur was born and raised in Smethwick. He fought in both the Boer War of 1899-1902 and the Great War of 1914-1918. He was struck down three times – by enteric in South Africa, by gas on the Western Front and by influenza complicated by pneumonia when he returned to service in the Middle East. The last proved fatal and his mortal remains lie in India to where he had been transferred for treatment. The final act in his story was when his widow, 19 years his senior, placed the following in the Memoriam column of the Smethwick Telephone of 4th October 1919:
“In loving memory of 6127 Private Arthur Barnes, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, who died from pneumonia October 1st 1918 at the British War Hospital, Poonah, India after twenty-one years’ service – Death divides but memory ever clings – Sadly missed by his loving wife (Annie).”

Here are the details of his nearly 41 years of life as far as I can ascertain them:

The admission register for the Smethwick Central Board School tells us Arthur was born on 23rd October 1877. The 1881, 1891 & 1911 census returns and his army attestation papers all agree that he was born in Smethwick.

In 1881 Arthur was living with his parents at 48 Lower Cross Street, Smethwick and was the ninth of ten children listed. His parents, David Barnes (a Salopian) and Elizabeth Harvey (a Smethwickian), married in Smethwick in 1873 and six of the ten children listed belonged to the first marriage of his father who was 19 years older than his mother. Further investigation show David’s first marriage had produced twelve children so Arthur belonged to a large extended family although several of his half-siblings died in infancy including one also called Arthur. By the time he died in 1890 David had helped to produce nineteen children.

Arthur attended the Smethwick Central board School from June 1886 to November 1888 and the school admission register showed he had previously attended Corbett Street Board School in Smethwick.

At 91 Market Street, Smethwick in 1891 things were slightly less crowded as Arthur’s father had died the previous year and only eight of his nineteen children were still living with Elizabeth. 13 year old Arthur was working as a sheet stacker.

A month shy of his 21st birthday Arthur enlisted in the South Staffordshire Regiment but on the 29th September 1899 was transferred to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (RWF) and was given the regimental number of 6127. He reported to their HQ at Wrexham the same day but seems to have missed the boat when the 1st Battalion embarked for South Africa on 22nd October 1899. He was sent out as a draft 10 months later embarking on 25th August 1900.

Being a late arrival he would have missed the early “fun” such as the Battle of Colenso but would have been involved in the action at Frederickstad in October 1900 during which the battalion lost 15 men killed and 3 officers and 30 men wounded. During 1901 the battalion remained in the western Transvaal but in early June 1901 casualty lists in UK papers reported that Private 6127 Arthur Barnes was seriously ill with enteric fever. The battalion were still in action in South Africa at the end of 1901 but Arthur arrived back in the UK on 9th July 1901 and we can presume he was invalided home.

Two years of home service followed during which he was granted permission to extend his active service from 7 to 8 years. Arthur embarked for service in India on 24th February 1904 and he was to stay there for the best part of 4 years. Back home he was discharged to the Army Reserve on 9th December 1907 having completed just over 8 years of active service since he was transferred to the RWF. His 1907 Discharge Papers hold several bits of interesting information. His conduct was described as only “Fair” and his records do show he was appointed Lance-corporal before going to South Africa but four months later “deprived” of the appointment. On the other hand he received his Good Conduct pay rise after the usual two years of service. His character assessment is better, “smart, willing & hardworking”. Further on the forms state he was an officer’s servant for 1 year and 6 months and a member of the garrison police for 1 year and 1 month. Four years later he was fully discharged from the army.

His service records, discharge papers and the RWF Medal Rolls all agree that for his service in the Boer War he was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with four clasps – Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal & South Africa 1901.

The 1911 census found 33 year old Arthur back in Smethwick and lodging in Dawson Street with 52 year old Annie Maria Godwin and her 22 year old son Alfred. You might be thinking she was a widow but the census return she completed clearly shows her as being single – so mature single mother might be a better description. Arthur was working as a nut cutter & Alfred was a jewellery stone setter.

The next year Arthur married his landlady who was 19 years his senior.

His service records state that on 5th August 1914, a week after the Great War started, he was “mobilised” and posted to the 3rd Battalion, RWF. He retained his original regimental number of 6127. On 29th September 1914 the battalion part of the British Expeditionary Force and proceeded to the Western Front.

The Smethwick Telephone of 18th September 1915, on the by then customary page covering news, usually sad, of Smethwick soldiers fighting in the Great War, there was a short report on Arthur they had received from his wife. Annie told them that after 9 months in the trenches he had been wounded and badly gassed and had been invalided back home. She added that he was now recuperating at Major Buddicom’s Penbedw Hall in north Wales.

(Major Harry William Buddicom had served in the Denbigh Yeomanry and at the time of WW1 was Deputy Lord Lieutenant for the County of Flint. He son was serving in the war and had already won the MC but was accidently killed in 1918.)

Penbedw Hall was demolished in 1969 but the estate is still famous for having a stone circle which, surprisingly, nobody seems quite sure whether it is neolithic or a Victorian folly. The photograph below shows Penbedw Hall as Arthur knew it.



By 6th March 1916 Arthur was fully recovered and went back to war, this time as a member of the 8th Battalion RWF who were part of the Central Mediterranean Force serving in Mesopotamia (Iraq/Syria). Here he fell ill with influenza and was transferred to the British War Hospital in Poona, India for treatment where pneumonia also developed and he died on 1st October 1918. He was buried in Kirklee New Cemetery in India. Details of his death were given in the “Roll of Honour” in the Smethwick Telephone of 19th October 1918 and the report mentioned that his wife now lived in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham. The report correctly gave his age as 40 years old.

His entry on the CGWC website agrees with most of the above except it says Arthur was 42 and the “Son of Daniel and Elizabeth Barnes; husband of Annie Maria Barnes of Halford Bridge, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire”. Quite where the 42 and Daniel came from is anybody’s guess but his biological father was definitely called David.