PEOPLE IN PORTSMOUTH

 

Lives Lived and Lives Lost - Portsmouth and the Great War

PERCY JOHN ASPINALL
 
There were several families in Portsmouth which lost more than one member in the Great War, but there were only a few in which three men died. The Aspinall family was one of them; brothers Percy John, Frederick Stewart and Reginald Clarence Aspinall all dying in action.
 
The family doesn't appear in the census for either 1841 or 1851 but it seems likely that they were present yet somehow avoided being included. This suggestion is supported by the dates and places of birth of several of the children born to George and Mary Aspinall who were recorded in the 1861 census when George was listed as a Civil Service Pensioner and victualler at the 'Plough and Spade', 18 Fratton Road. George had been born at Gosport in 1813 and Mary at Portsea in 1820 and their children were Sarah (b. 1844, Gosport), Elizabeth (b. 1851, Gosport), Charlotte (b. 1854, Portsea), John (b. 1858, Fratton) and Louisa (b. 1860, Fratton).
 
For the 1871 census the family once again failed to appear. In George's case this was understandable as he had probably died in 1866, but none of the others are listed in the UK either. The next appearance in the records seems to be when George's son John married Lucy File at Southwark, London in 1879. Lucy had been born at Brighton in 1861. The 1881 census showed the couple living at 33 Carlisle Street (also known as Carlisle Road), off Victoria Road North, Southsea with their first child George who had been born in 1880 at Bermondsey.
 
The next three censuses saw them living at 2, Norman Road, Southsea, 14 Chelsea Road, Southsea and 94 Broad Street, Old Portsmouth, during which time John's occupation was listed as a Railway Carrier's Clerk and Lucy had given birth to 12 more children. Their residence in Portsmouth could not have been continuous as one of them was born in Aldershot. Three of their boys were Percy John (b. 1883), Frederick Stewart (b. 1885) and Reginald Clarence (b. 1889).
 
Percy John did not appear in the 1901 census but did in 1911 when he was a prisoner at Wandsworth. He was listed as a 29 year old Carpenter, born, interestingly, at "King's Bastion, Hampshire", an odd description of Portsmouth. When the Great War broke out he joined the Royal Engineers and as a member of the Special Brigade would almost certainly have been involved in defence or attack using poison gas. Most of the men on this work were assigned the rank of Corporal. He died in June 1916 at a time when no major battles were being fought. He would have been one of the first soldiers buried at Aveluy Wood Cemetery.
 
FURTHER INFORMATION
 
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) list Corporal PJ Aspinall, (129101), 1st Battalion, Royal Engineers, died 26/06/1916. Buried at the Aveluy Wood Cemetery, Mesnil-Martinsart (Grave Ref: I.E.14.).
 
Percy Aspinall is commemorated on the Anglican Cathedral WW1 Memorial Cross and the Cenotaph. He is not listed in "The National Roll of the Great War", Section X.
 
Tim Backhouse
September 2014