Stephen Summerhill

Memorial: Downend - Christ Church

Regiment: Labour Corps

Medals: British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private 105375

Parents: Stephen and Elizabeth Summerhill

Marital status: Married

Home address: Soundwell, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Clicker to Boot Trade

Date of birth: 1881

Place of birth: Mangotsfield, Bristol

Date of death: 12/09/1918

Buried/Commemorated at: Mangotsfield Cemetery, Mangotsfield, Bristol

Age: 37

Further information:

Stephen Summerhill (Summerill in some records) was born in 1881 in Mangotsfield, Bristol. The son of Stephen and Elizabeth Summerhill, he was the eldest of three children, his siblings were Edward and Herbert. The family home was in Soundwell, Bristol.

Stephen married Eliza Ann (nee Radnedge) on 7 May 1906. They lived together in Gloucester Road, Soundwell, Bristol, with their daughters Ellen and Ivy May. Stephen was a Clicker to the Boot Trade until he joined up in December 1915 as a Private with the Devon Regiment (59562). Stephen was injured in battle whilst serving in France and was invalided back to England on the HS Cumbria in May 1917, and was transferred to the Labour Corps.

In April 1918 he was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, he developed further infections in his lungs, rapidly wasted and died in the Royal Herbert Hospital on 12 September 1918 at the age of 37 years. The cause of death was attributed to military service.

Stephen is buried in Mangotsfield Cemetery, Bristol and the inscription on his grave is “WE PICTURED YOUR SAFE RETURN BUT NOW AWAIT OUR MEETING IN HEAVEN”.

Stephen’s brother Herbert was Killed in Action in Flanders, France on 17 October 1918.

Commemorated on the Christ Church Downend Memorial and the Staple Hill (Page Park) Memorial.

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

Ancestry.co.uk and Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Forces War Records