MAURICE LAIT – Killed in Action (WW1)
Toward the middle of last year, when the 100 year commemorations into
the start of World War 1 took place, I started running searches on the internet to see
how many of my relatives I could find who had served during the conflict. I ran
individual surname searches, beginning with the UK Medal card index which was
available on Ancestry.co.uk. Following my search of the surname ‘LAIT’ (my paternal grandmother's side of the family), the name
Maurice Lait was returned, and I realised that he could be a match with my own
family connections.
Maurice Lait – medal
card - (source: National Archives)
I had only scant information about Maurice at the time – an approximate
date of birth and his death given as 1916. However the more I began to search
and dig into the archives, all the more information was revealed to me.
Maurice Lait was my second cousin, 3 times removed. He was born in
Blaby in Leicestershire, a small village to the south of the city of Leicester,
in approx. 1888 to his parents, Alfred and Emily Ann (nee Morris) Lait. Maurice
was the middle child of at least three in the family - he had two sisters, Ann
(born in 1885) and Ivy (born in 1891).
I found the family on the 1891 census, and Maurice’s age was given as 2
years old. The family were living at number 12 Portland Road, Knighton in
Leicestershire. Like Blaby had been previously, Knighton was a suburb of
Leicester at the time. I searched for Portland Road on Google maps and found
that is still in existence today, but the property mentioned above has now been
replaced by offices / flats.
Site of 12 Portland
Road – (source: Google Maps)
On the date when the 1891 census was taken, Maurice’s father Alfred was
aged 36 and was stated to be a commercial traveller. Alfred’s birthplace was
said to be Diss in Norfolk, the small market town where my Lait family had
their original coach-building businesses.
Maurice’s mother Emily Ann was given as 40 years old, and her
birthplace was given as Wellington Street, West London. Both of his sisters, Ann
(written as ‘Ana’ in the census), and Ivy respectively were 6 years and 1 month
old. Also in the property were Annie Isabel Chapman, a 13 year old domestic
servant, and Harriet Shaw, a 58 year old widow who was a nurse.
1891 census –
(source: National Archives)
Ten years later, when
the 1901 census was taken the family were living at Scarbow Villa's, Fairfield
Road, Buxton. Alfred was still employed as a commercial traveller aged 46...
Maurice's mother was now aged 50. In 1901 his sister Ann was now 16 years old, and
was training as a pupil school teacher. Maurice himself was 12 years old (his given
name had been written ‘Morris’ by the enumerator), and his younger sister Ivy
was 10 years old. There was also a new domestic general servant in the
property, a lady called Judith Broomhead, and she was 60 years old.
1901 census –
(source: National Archives)
Maurice Lait – Military Service
Maurice was 25 when he first joined the regiment. He joined in Sheffield as a Private on 15th September 1914. In his service record Maurice was
described as being 5 feet 6 inches tall, and weighed 140lbs. His complexion was
fair, his eyes grey and his hair brown. The examining medical officer stated
that he had no distinguishing marks (tattoos, birthmarks etc). His religious
persuasion was stated to be Church of England.
Between 15 Sept 1914 and 19 December 1915 it was not clear in his
service record where he was originally located. However, I subsequently found
an excellent resource ‘The Long, Long Trail – the British Army in the Great War
of 1914 / 1918’ (see link at http://www.1914-1918.net/yorkslancs.htm )
which gave me further information.
The 12th Battalion (often known as the Sheffield City
Battalion) was formed in Sheffield on 5th September 1914. In May
1915 the men were based firstly at Penkridge Camp in the midlands, and then
went to Ripon in July and finally Salisbury Plain in October that same year.
During this period the men would have undergone intensive battle training of
various kinds in order to prepare them for what they would face on the
battlefield. Finally, on 20th December 1915, the battalion was moved to Egypt to serve as part of an expeditionary force until 9th March 1916, before it was
finally relocated to Flanders in France from the 10th March of 1916.
Maurice was only in France for a little over 3 months before he was
unfortunately killed in action in Flanders on the 1st July 1916. He had been just
26 years old. Following his death, his service papers gave his home address as
64 Starcourt Road, but as yet I have been unable to find out where this might
have been. The records also confirmed his father Alfred Lait as his next-of-kin
who was living at ‘Oakfield’, Sylvan Cliff, Buxton. This road still exists at
the time of researching this data (2015), but the actual property itself has
not been identified.
There is evidence in his service papers that Maurice's personal effects
were sent back to his father to the address in Buxton on 15th August 1917. Furthermore,
in 1920 the UK WW1 Medal rolls recorded that Maurice was eligible for the
Victory Medal and also the British War Medal for his services to his
country.
Medal roll records –
(source: National Archives)
Maurice’s death and burial was recorded in the records of the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). His name features on the Thiepval
Cemetary memorial in the Somme. A commemorative plaque in PDF format was found
to be available on the website (see below).
Memorial record –
(source: CWGC)
Thiepval Memorial,
Somme – (source: CWGC)
Graham Seaman (15/1/2015)
