Early Life

Arthur was born on the 4th December 1888, to George and Sarah (née Luck) Woodfield, in Plumstead, Kent.  Arthur was the youngest child of eight. In the census of 1891, the family was living at 32, Heavitree Road, Plumstead.  George was an office writer at the Woolwich Arsenal.

Woolwich Arsenal circa 1900

The eldest child, Elizabeth (22) was still living at home and there is no occupation listed for her. George junior, (21) had married the previous year and left the family home. Sarah (19) was a dressmaker, Edward (15) a scholar and his older brother Ernest (13) was described as an office lad. James (11) and Harold (6) were still at school and Arthur was 2 years old. In the previous census there was another child, Susan, two years younger than George, but no record has been found for her after 1881. By 1901 Arthur’s father George was described as a Government Clerk working for the Civil Service. There were only two children left at home, Harold, now a carpenter joiner and Arthur who was still at school.

He attended the London County Council School in Ancona Road, Plumstead, before taking a position as a pupil teacher at Vicarage Road School in Plumstead. In the intervening years Arthur’s brothers and sisters had all married and left home. Elizabeth had married Charles Quick in 1894 and Edward had married Charles’ sister, Kate Quick, in 1898. By the next census in 1911, George Senior was a widower living with his eldest daughter Elizabeth and her husband William Rolfe, in Forest Gate, London. He was described as an arsenal pensioner and builder’s clerk. Arthur’s mother Sarah had died in 1906. Arthur was living in The Lodge, Lion Lane, Haslemere, Surrey, in a two roomed house. His occupation was given as an assistant schoolmaster, working for Surrey Education Committee. Although Arthur had not yet attended Winchester Training College to undertake his professional training, he was still able to work as an uncertificated teacher.

He had two appointments as an assistant teacher: at St. Mary’s Church of England School, Rochester, Kent and St. Stephen’s School, Shottermill, Surrey. Arthur took exams in Acoustics, Elementary Chemistry and Geometrical Drawing in preparation for entry to college. He took the Preliminary Examination for the Certificate in 1907. There is no information yet found to explain why there was such a long gap between taking the entrance exam and Arthur actually taking up his place at Winchester.

From Winchester to Mesopotamia

When war was declared in the summer of 1914, Arthur was just half-way through his training course. The College premises at West Hill were comandeered for the duration of the war and the students in Arthur’s year were given the opportunity to continue their training at Bede College, Durham. Arthur’s War Gratuity payment record suggests he was embodied in August 1914, so he would have been one of those students who had enlisted in the College Territorial Company and who were training on Salisbury Plain. They were immediately mobilised. The movements of the College Company after the declaration of war are laid out in the Winchester Training College, Reports and Balance Sheets document:

Arthur left England in December 1914 for Quetta. He was not the only Winchester Training College alumnus in Quetta: there were three others from his year group, and two who had been in the year above him. A’ Company of the 1/4th Hampshires were in Mesopotamia fighting the Turks and, in Quetta, volunteers were called for, to embark for Basra, to join the forces already there. Along with his College friends, Arthur was one of those volunteers. A farewell  supper and concert was held for their send-off on 11th October 1915.  Captain Goddard reported, in a letter, on the remarks made by Lieutenant-Colonel W.Naish to the men;

Those who left for Basra were then attached to the 1/4th Hants . Assuming that Arthur then arrived in Basra not long after the farewell concert, the Allied forces, including A’ Company of the 1/4th Hants, under the command of Major-General Townshend,  had won possession of Kut-el-Amara and were preparing to advance towards Baghdad. It was at this point in the Mesopotamia campaign that things started to go wrong for the Allies. The Battle of Ctesiphon was not decisive for either side and the Allies withdrew to Kut, pursued by the Turks. The Siege of Kut began on 7th December 1915. At this point, Arthur and his friends were no longer required as reinforcements, but instead they became part of a desperate attempt to relieve the siege.  In January 1916 the first attempt to reach Kut moved away from Ali-al-Gharbi and  met the Turkish forces at Shaikh-Saad. From there they moved on through the Wadi, until the British attack at Hanna was defeated. Four of Arthur’s fellow Wintonians lost their lives at Hanna, and one more was taken prisoner.

Map showing the area around Kut

The first relief attempt had failed and in March, with the situation becoming increasingly desperate in Kut, a second attempt was mounted. This too stalled before reaching Kut, at Dujailah Redoubt and Es Sinn. It was at this point that T.E.Lawrence was part of a secret mission’ to discover if the local Arabs could be persuaded to revolt and cause an unwelcome disruption for the Turks. This plan was not supported by the British authorities and was not pursued. In early April a third relief attempt was tried. This time they were blocked at Sannaiyat, and at the end of April Major-General Townshend surrendered to the Turkish commander at Kut.

At some point Arthur was taken ill and returned to the base hospital at Basra. On 8th June 1916, Arthur died of disease. We have not discovered the illness that was the cause of death for Arthur, but cholera, typhus, malaria,and dysentry were some of the diseases that claimed the lives of so many soldiers in Mesopotamia. Arthur was buried at Basra, Iraq. The Telegraph newspaper reported, in November 2013, that the cemetery, which contained the graves of thousands of servicemen who died in both World Wars, had been destroyed. The graveyard had been left without a single headstone standing. Some headstones were thought to have been removed by a local caretaker for safe keeping  but many had been looted and sold for use as building materials. The Commonwealth War graves Commission has erected fencing in an attempt to secure the site while renovation work is undertaken.

Arthur left £12 18s 6d to his father George.

Researcher and Author: Dee Sayers