Genealogical war memorials for Bournemouth’s fallen
1st Battle of Ypres: November 1st, 1914
Introduction
Tales from the Front (16) tells the story of William Albert Pounds, a Bournemouth-born man who fought in the Great War. Pounds enlisted with the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, in August 1913. The 1st Battalion fought with the 11th Brigade, 4th Division. Pounds, a professional soldier, died in the fighting around Ploegsteert (‘Plugstreet’) Wood, part of the 1st Battle of Ypres, on November 1st, 1914.
Tales from the Front (16): Part 1
Like shooting rabbits
During the action at Ploegsteert Wood, October 28th to November 2nd, ‘they came on so thick you couldn’t miss them’. The Hampshires shot them down like rabbits, piles of them at the wire guarding the trenches. Shooting swarms of rabbits may have reminded Pounds of stories told about his family’s rural origins, but, otherwise, he must have found the experience in Ploegsteert Wood alien. For some days, they had won and lost trenches, cleared the enemy from derelict houses, their senses numbed by the noise and horror. One platoon vanished when an artillery shell hit their trench. Only two survived. One, a messenger taking a note; the other, discovered wounded in the trench, when the battalion recaptured it. Their rifles would have grown hot from constant firing, bloody from frequent bayonet encounters, and always heavier. Here, battles no longer ended on the day. The new warfare must have seemed endless.
Tales from the Front (16): Part 2
Downward spiral
In common with so many other families living in Bournemouth’s suburbs, the Pounds had migrated from rural Dorset, in their case, Wimborne’s hinterland. His great-grandfather may have aspired to rise above the level of a manual labourer. In 1851, he operated a small business, owning a farm on which he employed two labourers. A decade later, he had gone into the business of dealing timber. A criminal conviction for stealing timber (1859) perhaps broke the family’s upward momentum, dragging the elder Pounds from employer to employee. Already grey at only 40, he stood in court to hear his conviction. In 1871, the census listed him as an agricultural labourer, a significant change in social status. His grandson, Pounds’s father, remained at this humble social level. He worked in domestic service when he migrated to Bournemouth (1891). Later, as a stableman, he needed lodgers in the house to improve his income.
Tight kin
During his short life, Pounds lived in different parts of Bournemouth. The baptismal records suggest his parents then lived in Moordown. By 1901, they had moved to the West Cliff. By 1911, however, the census shows the family living in the Malmesbury Park area. Then, in his late teens, Pounds worked as a messenger. His mother had died three years earlier, but his father soon remarried. An apparent only child, Pounds acquired siblings soon after the wedding. The 1911 census portrays a crowded example of early 20th-century survival: a father, a stepmother, half-siblings, a half-uncle, and lodgers all sharing one roof to make ends meet. Even marriage stayed within circles, with William’s father and uncle marrying sisters—a bond that later provided a safety net when the uncle, Shadrach, found success and employed William’s father in his company. Pounds, then a porter, joined the Hampshires in the summer of 1913.
Tales from the Front (16): Part 3
The sad day
The end of October and the beginning of the next month proved a sore trial for the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment. The action took place in Ploegsteert Wood, located near Armentieres. At this stage, the trenchwork had an unplanned design, without communication links. Several hard-fought encounters occurred across this disconnected trench array. The enemy attacked in lines, preceded by artillery barrages. On one day, the shelling lasted for ten hours. A series of see-saw events occurred. Trenches, lost to the enemy, returned to Hampshire control. Rifle and machine-gun fire halted some attacks, but the men also needed to clear out trenches at bayonet point. The deaths among the officers required their juniors to take command and show initiative. The body count increased each day. On November 1st, ‘the Hampshires suffered very badly’. The record suggests that William Pounds fell on that day, one of twenty killed in action.
Aftermath
Pounds had many uncles and aunts. Those on his mother’s side lived as labourers. Many of his father’s siblings had forsaken their rural lives for apparent opportunities at Bournemouth. Several did not match their geographic mobility with a social improvement. One of his aunts married a navvy, who placed an X on their marriage certificate. His uncle, Shadrach, however, did achieve prosperity. By 1921, he owned a charabanc and had become ‘Charlie Pounds’. His probate record shows a respectable estate. Pounds’s father worked for him.
After two days spent working on defences, the Hampshires experienced another attack. On November 7th, a party of 60 enemy infantry and an officer penetrated their lines. The battalion succeeded in repelling them, but lost ‘heavily’, the most expensive day so far. In just over a week, more than a hundred Hampshires fell in action around Ploegsteert Wood. More fighting occurred in the week before Christmas.
Takeaway
Tales from the Front (16) has explored the life, world, and military service of William Albert Pounds (1893-1914), a native son of Bournemouth who served with the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, during 1914. He appears to have entered the war as a professional soldier, having left his job as a messenger during the previous summer. For a few months, he had enjoyed good fortune, surviving several major battles. This changed on November 1st, 1914, in Ploegsteert Wood. His story captures the transition from rural Dorset roots to the industrialised sacrifice of the Great War.
‘Tales from the Front’
A collection of personal stories honouring the Bournemouth natives who gave their lives on the battlefield and the regiments with which they served. Blending social and military history with genealogical insight, it explores their roots, families, occupations, and the ultimate sacrifices they made for their country.
Set against the backdrop of regimental war diaries and enriched by period media accounts, the series offers a powerful and intimate portrait of Bournemouth’s wartime heroes — a mosaic of personal courage within the broader sweep of history.
Serving as a companion and continuation of Victorian Bournemouth, Tales from the Front forms part of News from the Past: History for the Rest of Us.
References
For references and engagement, please get in touch. Main primary sources: here and here (subscriptions needed). For War Diaries, go here. See also here. The featured picture shows an imagined scene.
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