Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

Martin Stevenson - Private 10064

This page is dedicated to the memory of Martin Stevenson who died on 20th October 1914.

Martin Stevenson died on 20th October 1914 in Belgium. He was unfortunately one of the casualties amongst the millions of men who lost their lives in World War 1. It seemed sad for him to have died and all but these bare facts remembered, so I've tried to find out at least a little about his life before his untimely death aged just 25.

Martin Stevenson was born on 15th April 1889 at 40 Wycliff Street in New Basford, Nottinghamshire. He was the 5th of 9 children of Martin Stevenson and his wife Kate (or Catherine) Shaw. His father Martin was an engine fitter or mechanic. By 1891 the family were still living in Wycliff Street, Martin's parents, Martin and Kate with 6 children by then. His maternal grandparents lived next door, which must have been a big help to his mother with 9 children. In 1901 the family were living at 25 Osberton Street, Basford. Martin was now working as a fitter on lace machines and young Martin was presumably still at school aged 11.

By 1911 Martin had already joined the army and was listed as a private with the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment - the Sherwood Foresters. His parents and younger siblings in 1911 were still living in Osberton Street and his father was described as a lace machine mechanic.

War broke out in the summer of 1914. Unfortunately many of the WW1 service records were destroyed in a bombing raid in WW2 and Martin's was one of those that didn't survive. So I don't know when exactly he enlisted, but when he died he was said to have served for 7 years, so he probably enlisted around 1907, when he would have been 18 years old. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website confirms that he was a Private "D" Company of the 2nd Battalion of Sherwood Foresters and that his service number was 10064. I can't reproduce his CWGC record, but to see his page please click here.

You can now look at the Medal Roll cards from the first world war online. These show a soldier's name, rank and what medals they were entitled to. Due to copyright issues, I don't think I can reproduce the image of the medal card, so instead I've transcribed it:

His medal card suggests he would have been entitled to 2 medals. The British Medal was awarded to servicemen who served in a theatre of war between 5th August 1914 and 11th November 1918. The Victory Medal (Allied Victory Medal) was awarded for service in any operational theatre over the same time frame. The Star was awarded to all those who served in any theatre of war against Germany between 5th August 1914 and 31st December 1915. I don't know why he wasn't awarded the Star? Since he was serving since the start of the war, I would have thought he was entitled to it.

Although Martin's service records haven't survived, you can now look online at the War Diaries for a given Regiment. War Diaries were kept as a daily record of operations, intelligence reports and anything else that was going on for a given battalion. So I've downloaded the War Diary for the 2nd Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters. It shows that Martin's battalion was mobilised on 4th August 1914. It looks like they were initially sent to Edinburgh, before heading south, via Cambridge to Southampton. There they embarked on S.S. Georgian on 8th September 1914 to sail to France, arriving at St Nazaire on 10th September. They were immediately deployed to the Western Front. I've transcribed the relevant day of Martin's death below. I've also transcribed the few days before - to give a feel of what he must have been doing in his final days.

Although the war diary lists the officers who were missing, it doesn't name the other ranks. There were too many of them - over 700. With so much shelling it must have been near chaos. So Martin Stevenson was initially listed as missing, but eventually they must have presumed his death on 20th October 1914 with so many other men.

Although Martin was reported missing in October 1914, I've not found any newspaper reports as early as that. His death was eventually reported in the local newspapers in 1916. Did his parents live in hope all that time that he was still alive somewhere? The image below is taken from the Nottingham Evening Post on 26th February 1916. Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Image reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

Martin's death was also reported in March, this time with a photograph of him. They've got his age wrong, but the other details are correct. The image below is taken from the Nottingham Evening Post on 2nd March 1916. Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Image reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

Martin is commemorated on Panel 7 at the Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium. The Ploegsteert Memorial commemorates over 11,000 servicemen who died in the region and have no known grave. You can see a photograph of his name on the memorial here. He is commemorated on the St Leodegarius Church War Memorial in Basford. 3 of Martin's brothers were also killed during the war, so his mother lost 4 of her 6 sons. The family also lost 2 of William's cousins; the Stevenson family paid a heavy price in WW1.

The final piece of documentation I could find for Martin was the Army Register of Soldiers' Effects. This document showed that at the time of his death he had £12.14s.7d plus £3 war gratuity, which his parents received. Not much to show for the ultimate sacrifice.

So far I've only got the newspaper photograph of Martin; it would be lovely to find a better image. So if anyone has a photo of Martin Stevenson, please do get in touch. E-mail: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

In researching Martin's life, several sites have been invaluable, so I've included links to some of them here.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

The National Archives at Kew:

The British Newspaper Archive:

If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

Nicky Rowberry 2025

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Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry