Arthur Edwin Bryan

Memorial: Marshfield - High Street

Regiment: Machine Gun Corps

Medals: British War Medal, Gold Medal (Serbia), Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Corporal 110828

Parents: Edwin and James Bryan

Home address: Brook House, Doynton, Glos

Date of birth: 1893

Place of birth: Marshfield, Wilts

Date of death: 19/11/1917

Buried/Commemorated at: Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery (Ref D. 221.), Egypt

Age: 24

Further information:

16th Squadron, Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry)

In the North aisle of Marshfield church is a very grand looking, obviously military monument. It commemorates Corporal Arthur Edwin Bryan of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, who died of wounds in Egypt in 1917. Corporal Bryan was indeed a Yeoman, the son of the tenants of West End Farm, Marshfield. However his CWGC records give an address of Brook House in Doynton

He was a Territorial and volunteered for overseas service. He was part of the machine gun troop of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars and served with distinction in the Balkans, receiving the Serbian Gold Medal for gallantry. As part of the 16th Squadron of the Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) he then moved on to Egypt and Palestine

During the offensive on Jerusalem, Arthur Bryan was in charge of the “horse-holders”; the machine guns having been dismounted and brought into action against the Turks. The area in which the horses were being held was suddenly beaten by Turkish machine guns and Arthur Bryan attempted to rescue horses and men before they became casualties. He was wounded seriously and evacuated to Alexandria in Egypt. He died of his wounds there and was buried at Hadra CWGC. This cemetery was begun in April 1916 when it was realised that the cemetery at Chatby would not be large enough for Gallipoli casualties. Most of the burials were made from the Alexandria hospitals, but a number of graves of December 1917 were due to the loss of the troop transports “Aragon” and “Osmanieh” which were sunk by torpedo and mine as they entered the port. The cemetery continued in use until December 1919

The stone memorial is beautifully offset by the simple “death penny” plaque, presented to the Next of Kin of all those killed on active service during the Great War

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

http://www.marshfieldparish.org.uk/wp/marshfield-history/ww1.htm
Forces War Records and CWGC