L/Sgt 34298 Samuel Armstrong

Samuel Armstrong was born in Carlisle in late 1883, the youngest son of Samuel Matthews Armstrong and Margaret (née Gilbertson).  Both his parents were born in Carlisle, and married in 1880.  His father, a miller, was a widower with three children and his mother was a dressmaker.  Samuel had older half siblings Jane Ann, Isabella, and Henry, and an older full sister Maggie Lizzie.

 

His mother died in late 1885, likely from childbirth complications (possible birth of Emily born late 1885 and died in infancy).  Samuel was about 2 years old.  

 

In 1891 the family is living at 35 Cumberland Street, Caldewgate and Carlisle.  His widowed father, 46, is a miller, Jane Ann is 23, a domestic servant, Isabella is 20, a warper in a cotton mill, Henry, 17, is a hatter, Maggie is 10 and Samuel is 7.

 

They are still at 35 Cumberland Street in 1901. His father is a flour miller, Jane Ann is 31; Maggie, 20, and Samuel, 17, are both biscuit factory clerks.  His married half brother Henry died in 1907, leaving Samuel as the only surviving son.

 

Carr’s Biscuits in Carlisle was the oldest biscuit factory in the world. The Caldewgate, Carlisle factory opened in 1834, by 1891 employing nearly 1,000 people, and by 1919 employed 4,000 (and is still in operation today).

 

The 1911 census finds them at 11 Newtown Road, Carlisle.  His father is 66, a flour miller for a biscuit manufacturer, Jane Ann is 42, single, no occupation, Maggie Lizzie is a commercial clerk also for a biscuit manufacturer, and Samuel is 27, a commercial clerk, flour milling.

 

He enlisted in Liverpool and was serving in the 20^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Lance-Sergeant No 34298 .

 

After training in the U.K., Samuel would have seen action at Arras in April 1917.   In May the battalion begins the march north to the Ypres Salient.  The 20th, with the other Pals battalions, take part in the Third Battle of Ypres (also known as Passchendaele) from July to November 1917.  During their time in the Salient the Pals battalions lose 22 officers and 518 Other Ranks killed.  In January 1918 the battalion moves south to St. Quentin. 

 

Samuel died of Pneumonia on the 27^th January 1918 aged 34.

He now rests at Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery, St Omer, where his headstone bears the epitaph:

“HE LOYALLY RESPONDED TO HIS COUNTRY'S CALL EVER LOVED BY HIS SISTER”

St. Omer was the General Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force from October 1914 to March 1916. Lord Roberts died there in November 1914. The town was a considerable hospital centre with the 4th, 10th, 7th Canadian, 9th Canadian and New Zealand Stationary Hospitals, the 7th, 58th (Scottish) and 59th (Northern) General Hospitals, and the 17th, 18th and 1st and 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Stations all stationed there at some time during the war. St. Omer suffered air raids in November 1917 and May 1918, with serious loss of life.

The cemetery takes its names from the triangular cemetery of the St. Omer garrison, properly called the Souvenir Cemetery (Cimetiere du Souvenir Francais) which is located next to the War Cemetery.

The Commonwealth section of the cemetery contains 2,874 Commonwealth burials of the First World War (6 unidentified), with special memorials commemorating 23 men of the Chinese Labour Corps whose graves could not be exactly located. Second World War burials number 403, (93 unidentified). Within the Commonwealth section there are also 34 non-war burials and 239 war graves of other nationalities.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

He shares a grave with Private Bertie Cole of the 4th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment who died on 26th January 1918. 

The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that Samuel enlisted or was conscripted in about September 1916, and served about 17 months before he died.

 

His father Samuel received his Army effects and a War Gratuity of £10-10s.  The pension card in his father’s name does not show an amount, or a refusal. 

 

Information for his CWGC headstone was provided by his eldest half sister Jane Ann, who had married in 1916, now Mrs. J. A Clementson, living in the family home at 11 Newtown Road, Carlisle.

 

His father died in 1921 aged 76.

 

An S. Armstrong is commemorated on St. Cuthbert’s Boys’ Brigade Memorial, Carlisle (but not on St. Cuthbert’s Church Memorial).

 

We currently have no further information on Samuel Armstrong, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.