| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Samuel Chapman was killed in action at Passchendaele, Belgium, on 14 Dec 1917. His body was not recovered and he is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing on Passchendaele Ridge, Belgium. It was the second tragedy for his family since his older brother, John Chapman, had died of wounds in the same area on 28 Oct 1917.
Sam was born on 6 Mar 1898 in Hull. His family later moved to Beverley. His father Samuel of Hull was a self-employed painter as was his father, John, who according to the 1881 census employed 12 men and 5 boys. Sam's mother was Rachel Chapman nee Banham originally from Norwich. Sam had a brother John and a sister, Rachel, who married into the Oglesby family of Beverley. Sam attended St Mary's Boys School and was a choir boy at St Mary's Church.
Prior to enlisting in Mar 1915 Sam was employed as an assistant steward on the HM Transport Ship, SS Romeo, of Hull. He served in the 1st /4th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment (Hull Territorials ), part of 150th Brigade, 50th Division, leaving for France in Sep 1915. He saw action there and in Belgium. He reached the rank of Lance-Corporal. According to his company officer, Captain H Pollock, quoted in the Beverley Guardian 10 Nov 1917, he was killed on 14 Dec 1917 whilst he "was in the front line trench in an important sector ... a shell burst near him and a piece of it went through his heart so that death was practically instantaneous". He was a "promising non-commissioned officer" and a "great loss to the company". It was Pollock said, "quite the best death one could wish for any of one's friends".
Sam is remembered on the East Yorkshire Regimental Memorial in Beverley Minster, on St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, St Mary's Boys School Roll of Honour and on the Hengate War Memorial in Beverley
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |