WW1 Casualties L-R

Edwin Marsden 

Edwin Marsden was born in Sheffield in 1887 and named after his paternal grandfather. He was the only son of Arthur Edwin Marsden and his wife Sarah, nee Tate, who had married at St. Mark's Parish Church, Broomhall on 19 July 1883. Edwin's older sister Ruth had been born in Sheffield on 18 January 1885.

Arthur Marsden was an carver and fluter in a family firm of ivory merchants to the cutlery trade which had been established in the 1850s by his uncle, William Marsden. By the early 1900s, the firm of Edwin Marsden & Sons of Aberdeen Works, 99 Division Street, Sheffield were well known at the ivory sales in London and Antwerp. Young Edwin was educated at St. Cuthbert's College, a boarding school for boys, at Sparken Hill, Workshop, Nottinghamshire. After leaving school he became a fitter serving an apprenticeship with Vickers.

On 21 May 1908 he enlisted in the 17th Field Company of the Royal Engineers and was stationed at The Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland where he was an instructor in bridge building. He invented an improvement on the Wheldon tressle which was accepted by the War Office and became known as the Marsden Band Tressle.

Edwin was sent to France when war broke out and arrived at the front near Mons on 17 August 1914. His war lasted only six days as he was killed in action on 23 August. Edwin had volunteered to blow up a bridge under heavy enemy fire which he did successfully returning unscathed. Shortly afterwards he looked over the parapet and was hit in the head by a shrapnel bullet killing him instantly. Edwin was mentioned in the dispatches of Sir John French for gallant and distinguished conduct in the field. He was aged 27 and unmarried. Second Corporal Edwin Marsden is buried in the Hautrage Military Cemetery, Hainaut, Belgium and is remembered on memorials at Hathersage Memorial Hall and Worksop College.

The Marsden family had lived at 51 Clarkegrove Road, Broomhall and 155 Cemetery Road, Sharrow before moving to Hathersage by 1901. They came back to Sheffield by 1916 living at 6 Kenwood Bank before moving to Stanmore, 206 Baslow Road, Totley. Ruth Marsden died in 1922, her father in 1931 and mother in 1938.

George Martin

George Martin was born in Totley on 27 August 1891, the eighth of ten children born to Samuel Martin, a railway tunnel miner, and his wife Jane, nee Beer who had married in Bristol in 1873. 

The family were rarely in one place for long as they followed the development of the railway. This can be seen from the birth places of the children: Samuel junior (1876, Grimston, Leics.), William (1880, West Hoathly, Sussex), Alice Ada (1881, Oxted, Surrey), Elizabeth (1883, Whitchurch, Hants.), James (1884, Caldicot, Monmouth.), Caroline (1887, St. Nicholas, Glam.), Nellie (1889, Totley), George (1891, Totley), Florence (1895, Maulden, Beds.) and David Joseph (1897, Helidon, Northants.).

During their stay in Totley the family lived on Bricky Row and later at Green Oak as Lemont Road was then called. Two of the children died during the smallpox outbreak of 1893 and were buried in simply marked graves at Dore Christ Church: Lizzie on 24 April, age 10, and Alice two days later, aged 11. The six children who were of school age attended Totley Church School. George was too young, of course, and his first school was at High Lane, Marple, Cheshire which he attended between 21 August 1899 and 5 December 1901. But before then George's father had committed suicide at a navvy camp near Helidon on 4 May 1897. He had been employed by Thomas Oliver and Sons, who earlier built the Totley Tunnel, in the construction of a 2,997 yard tunnel at Catesby. He left about a hundred pounds, mostly in gold coin.

George's mother remarried in Marylebone, London on 11 April 1898 to George Clarke, a labourer from Athlone in Ireland. The family's nomadic life continued, however, as George's older brothers Samuel junior, Willie, and James all became tunnel miners like their father. The family had moved to Hebden Bridge by 1903 and then to Todmorden where George's mother died in 1910. In the census the following year only George, Florence, James and Joseph remained at home with their stepfather.

On 27 November 1915 George enlisted in the 1/7th Battalion of the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment. He was mobilized on 6 August 1917 and posted overseas on 7 December 1917. Private George Martin was killed in action on 11 October 1918, aged 27. He is buried in the Wellington Cemetery in the village of Rieux-en-Cambrésis near Cambrai, France and is commemorated on the Todmorden war memorial.

Robert Hugh Martin

Robert Hugh Martin, known as Bob, was born in Walkley on 14 November 1896, the second son of Harry Martin and his wife Jeanetta (nee Biltcliffe). Bob and his siblings attended Burgoyne Road School. Cundy Street Chapel featured significantly in the lives of the Martin family.

Bob and his brothers Herbert and Victor were keen footballers, playing for Burgoyne Road School football club, Cundy Street football club and, later, Totley football club.

As a very young man Bob worked for Cole Brothers in Sheffield, travelling daily from Dore & Totley station. A 1910 photograph shows him and other employees on an annual outing. Bob was then apprenticed to Hartley & Son, printers, where his elder brother Herbert was also apprenticed, later becoming a master printer and bookbinder. The Hartley and Martin families were old friends. Ironically, in Malta in 1918, as Bob was being taken by stretcher, one of the bearers, a Totley boy, said, "It's a long way from Dore & Totley station, isn't it Bob?". He was a Parker, a relative of Mrs Flo. Hartley nee Parker.

In 1912 Harry and Jeanetta Martin, together with their children Herbert, Bob, Doris, Winifred, Victor and Lilian Wordsworth moved to Glenbourne, on Back Lane, Totley Rise. Jeanetta's aunt, Martha Hawes, nee Wordsworth, lived next door at Glenrose. Totley has strong associations for many of the Martin descendants to the present day.

WW1 saw many changes for many families and nothing would ever be the same for any of them. Herbert joined the Royal Engineers and served in France and Germany.

In 1914 Bob was a fine, strong young man of 17 who looked older than his years. As he was walking to the station one morning a passing woman held up a white feather, a traditional symbol of cowardice, especially at the start of The Great War. This action so upset him that instead of going to work Bob went to Gell Street to enlist even though he was under age.

He joined the Household Cavalry and Cavalry of the Line Regiment, Derbyshire Yeomanry Battalion, Service No. 75965, serving overseas.On 14 November 1917, Bob's 21st birthday, he was shot in Salonika, Greece. The bullet lodged in his heart but did not kill him. He rode his horse back to camp but, as there was no x-ray facility, he had to be taken to the island of Malta which had excellent medical equipment and facilities.

He left Salonika on the hospital ship HMHS Glenart Castle. On arrival in Malta he was taken to St Elmo Hospital, Valletta, where pioneering surgery was performed to remove the bullet. The operation was reported in the Daily Malta Chronicle as being "the talk of the Island". The Glenart Castle was returning to Britain when it was torpedoed by German U-boat UC-56 on 26 February 1918 and it sank near Lundy Island with the loss of 162 lives.

Bob's operation was successful. The bullet was removed but he died of blood poisoning on 14 March 1918. He is buried in Grave Reference C. XVII. 4. in the WW1 Section of Pieta Military Cemetery, Malta.

Robert Hugh Martin, along with his fallen colleagues, is remembered on the Rolls of Honour in Totley Rise Methodist Church and Dore & Totley United Reformed Church.

James McPhee 

James McPhee was born in Glasgow in 1887, the elder son of Hugh McPhee, a cabinet maker and furniture salesman and his wife Flora, nee White who had married in 1882. In the 1891 Census James was living with his parents and two older sisters, Marion and Mary, and younger sister Flora in Main Street, Gorbals, Lanarkshire. By the time of the 1901 census a younger brother Hugh and sister Eliza had joined the family who were now living at 3 Apsley Place, Gorbals. James, aged 14, had left school and become an office boy.

We know very little about James's military career except that he joined as a Private in the 2nd Battalion (17th Glasgow Pals) of the Highland Light Infantry and arrived in France on 12 November 1915. Whilst on leave, James married Annie Hibbard at King's Hall, Hull on 9 January 1918. Annie was one of eight children born to John William Hibbard, an etcher and guilder on cutlery, and his wife Mary Jane, nee Revitt who lived at South View, 118 Totley Brook Road.

James suffered a minor wound to the hand in March 1918 which required a 7 day stay the 18th General Hospital. After recovering from his wound James rejoined his Battalion in France. He was reported killed in action on 12 September 1918. He was aged 31. Private James McPhee is buried at the Vaulx Hill Cemetery at Vaulx-Vraucourt, Pas-de-Calais, France.

Roy Denzil Pashley Milner

Roy Milner was was born in Totley on 1 December 1892, the second son and youngest child of William Aldam Milner and Sarah Elizabeth Milner (nee Roberts), of Totley Hall.Roy's father was born in Wadsley, Yorkshire on 26 March 1854, the son of William Pashley Milner and Susan Aldam Aldam. He was a barrister and magistrate and in the 1881 census he lived with his parents at Meersbrook Hall, Norton. Roy's mother was born in Sheffield in 1857, the daughter of Sir Samuel Roberts, a Sheffield magistrate and MP, and his wife Sarah Ann (nee Sorby).

Roy's parents were married in Sheffield on 6 June 1883 and the following year they moved to Totley, altering the old hall and building the lodge on Totley Hall Lane in 1887. Their first child was a daughter, Marjorie Elsie, who was baptized at Christ Church, Dore on 21 June 1884. Two sons followed who were also baptized there, William Alfred (known as Billy) on 20 April 1888 and Roy Denzil Pashley on 1 April 1893.

Marjorie married William Wilson Jnr., a snuff manufacturer of Beauchief Hall, Norton, at Christ Church Dore on 1 July 1909 and went to live at Horsley Gate Hall, Holmsfield, Derbyshire. The Sharrow Mill snuff business still exists and is owned and run by members of the Wilson family. Roy's father was made High Sheriff of Derbyshire in March 1911. Both he and his wife were Governors of Totley All Saints School and Joan Stratford's history of the school chronicles many of Sarah Milner's visits to give talks, donations and prizes. The children also enjoyed visits to Totley Hall to see the gardens and she accompanied them on outings.

Roy Milner was a pupil at Repton School in south Derbyshire from September 1906 to July 1911. When he left school, he joined the Army and went to the Royal Military College Sandhurst for his initial training as an officer. He obtained a commission in the 2nd Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) on 22 January 1913 and looked forward to a promising military career. He was very popular with his fellow officers and men and he played polo for his regiment when they were stationed at Plymouth. He was also fond of hunting and he was a member of the Barlow Hunt.

On the outbreak of war Sec. Lt. Milner, two other officers and a hundred men were deployed to South Shields where they took over a battleship that Armstrong, Whitworth & Company had built for Turkey but which was instead claimed by the British Government. The soldiers were on board for two days until the Royal Navy arrived to take possession of the ship. On 8 September 1914 the regiment sailed from Southampton and arrived at St. Nazaire in France on 11 September. They formed part of the 18th Brigade of the British Expeditionary Force. Roy wrote home to his parents to say that he was on his way to the front and was in good spirits.

On 14 September Sec. Lt Milner and his men of ‘A’ company began the 350 mile march to the area around the River Aisne in Picardy. The following day the battalion marched for fifteen hours in heavy rain. The drenching rain continued as they marched for another twelve hours on the 16th. Finally, weary and footsore, they arrived at Chacrise on the 18th where they were billeted on a farm and were given a 24 hour rest period. On 19 September with three other battalions of the 18th Brigade they moved forward to the village of Vendresse in the steep-sided Troyon valley where they relieved the 1st Black Watch in the trenches. Later that day they were moved back to a reserve line.

20 September dawned wet and cold with heavy rain and sleet falling. The Sherwood Foresters joined other regiments as they attempted, with some success, to retake trenches broken into and occupied by the Germans. Roy Milner, with a fellow officer and most of their men, was cut down by heavy machine gun fire as he led a charge up the valley. On 24 September Mr and Mrs Milner received a telegram from the War Office announcing the news of Roy's death. His body now lies in Grave Ref. 6. C. 5 in the Chauny Communal Cemetery British Extension in Aisne, France.

For the rest of the war Sarah Milner worked tirelessly helping to provide aid and comforts for wounded soldiers and also informing and educating local people about the conflict and how they could help the men at the Front. How difficult this must have been for her as she mourned the loss of her youngest child. After the war William and Sarah Milner gave land on Totley Hall Lane and money towards the building of a new church. All Saints Church opened in 1924 and the chancel is dedicated to Roy Milner.

Roy's father died in 1931 and his mother went to live in Titheacre, Baslow, Derbyshire shortly after and died aged 87 in 1944. The family name is commemorated in the names of roads built in Totley in the 1930s, the first of which was Aldam Road.

Ralph Norman 

Ralf Norman was born in Totley on 13 May 1892 and baptised at Chedworth, Gloucestershire on 12 June in the same church where his parents, Cornelius Norman and Martha Keturah Beames had married on 20 June 1891. Ralph was the first of four children but, besides himself, only his brother Charles survived to adulthood.

The family appear to have followed Cornelius's sister Mary Ann who moved up from Gloucestershire to Totley after her marriage in 1890 to William Norman, a tunnel miner, who presumably worked on the Totley Tunnel. Both Norman families lived in the navvy huts at Green Oak where Ralph's cousin, John, was born in 1891.

Their stay in Totley was short with Cornelius and his family moving to Shirebrook by 1896 and Church Gresley by the time of the next census in 1901. From being a labourer, Cornelius had become a coal miner's sinker. Son Charles was born in Arley, Warwickshire, another coal mining town, and baptised at St. Andrew's, Chedworth on 27 August 1905. By the time of the next census in 1911, the Norman family of four were living at Balby, Doncaster. Ralph, aged 18, had become an electrician working for a colliery company. He was still an electrician on 17 March 1915 when he married Ada Alice Mattock at St. Peter's Church, Barnburgh, near Bolton upon Dearne. Ralph and Ada were living at Green Lane, Barnburgh when their son Ralph junior was born on 31 August 1915.

On 9 December that year Ralph senior enlisted at Mexborough in the territorial reserve of 9th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He was mobilized on 8 December 1916 and served at home until 10 May 1917 when he was sent to France. Ralph was reported missing, presumed killed in action, on 22 March 1918. He was aged 25. Private Ralph Norman is commemorated on Bay 6 of the Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France and on the memorial tablet at St. Peter's Church, Barnburgh.

James Parker

James Parker was the third child of John Henry and Rosa Parker and was born on 8 June 1888, being baptized at Christ Church, Dore on 8 July that year. His grandfather, George, was born in Totley, but the family moved to Attercliffe soon after the birth of John Henry in 1857, where George was employed as a miner at Brightside Colliery, owned by Messrs Unwin and Shaw. The family in the 1861 census was George and his wife Sarah, with four children George junior (aged 8), Elizabeth (aged 7), John Henry (aged 5) and Frances Emma (aged 8 months), living at Bentley Houses, Whitworth's Lane, Attercliffe-cum-Darnall.

They were soon to suffer tragedy. Frances Emma died in 1864 and in 1865, when Sarah was heavily pregnant, there was a pit accident in which both George senior and their son George (aged 13) were killed. They had been working in the Parkgate seam of the colliery, not long opened. "At no time since it has been worked has there been the slightest indication of gas, and such has been the confidence of the workmen in their safety that naked lights have been freely used." This, despite the safety lamp having been invented in 1815.

It appears this was the cause of the firedamp explosion which instantly killed one man. At some distance along the seam George and his son were severely burned and had tried to escape but were overcome by the 'after damp' and nearly suffocated. Quickly rescued, they were conveyed home on a cart and attended by a surgeon, Mr Shaw. Initially it was hoped that George senior might survive, although the same hopes were not expressed for the boy's recovery. They both died two days later on 25 October. Within weeks Sarah gave birth to a son, whom she again named George, and returned to live with her parents in Totley. She opened a grocery store on Baslow Road which she ran until her death in 1903, living with George who at this time still a bachelor.

John Henry became a stonemason and married Rosa Taylor, from Dore, in 1883. They had 10 children over a period of 25 years, the last being born just a year before the death of John Henry at the age of 52 in 1909. Younger brother George was also a stonemason so may have carved the ornate border on his headstone. Rosa lived on in their cottage in Summer Lane with 8 of her children including James. In September 1916 she was admitted to Mickleover Asylum having had a nine month history of 'melancholia'. She never returned home and died from chronic nephritis in March 1918, aged 54.

Rosa used many forms of her name in documents over the years. There are at least five, and possibly six! In the 1891 census she was Rosanah but became Rose, Rosey and Rosa in future censuses and was finally recorded as Rosia at the time of her death in Mickleover Asylum near Derby in 1918. This is also the name on her memorial stone in Christ Church, Dore.

Jim was a pupil at Totley All Saints School, enrolling just before his third birthday in 1891 and leaving ten years later to begin work. He was recorded as a labourer in the 1911 census.

Initially Jim enlisted with the Lincolnshire regiment but was transferred to 507th Agricultural Company, Labour Corps. Was this because he had been injured? Unfortunately his service records have been lost.

The men of the Labour Corps were usually those not fit enough for front line duties and were occupied in preparing, supplying and clearing theatres of war. Early in WW1 these jobs were being performed by the fighting forces or local civilians, but as demands increased the Labour Corp was formed in 1917 to fulfill the demand. Amongst their duties were road and rail building and repair, moving of stores and ammunition, loading and unloading of ships and trains, and burying the dead. They were present in huge numbers in France and Flanders, often being drawn into the battle front and not always in armed units.

The Agricultural Companies were normally in England, the soldiers being of the lowest fitness level but providing labour on farms to help in the production of food. The 507th Company to which Jim was attached had its HQ in Beverley and he died aged 30 in Patrington Hospital near Spurn Point, where the Agricultural Company had a training camp. The cause of death, recorded by Capt. Morgan FRCS, was influenza, pneumonia and heart failure.

Jim Parker was a victim of the Spanish flu epidemic that would eventually claim more lives than those lost in the hostilities of WW1. His body was brought home and buried in the family grave in Dore Christ Church. His date of death was 10 November 1918, the eve of Armistice Day.

Harold Charles Parsons

Harold Charles Parsons was born in 1897 in Rhodes, Lancashire, the older of two sons born to Dr. Charles O'Connor Parsons and his wife Isabel Elizabeth, nee Kidman. Dr. Parsons was a physician and surgeon who came to live at Dovedale, 2 Totley Brook Road, when he bought a medical practice here in 1901. During the war he was in charge of the St. John's, Abbeydale VAD and Carter Knowle School hospitals, for which he was later awarded the M.B.E.

Harold enlisted in the 5th Battalion The King's Liverpool Regiment on 10 August 1915 but owing to his medical category he was transferred a few days later to the 43rd Provisional Battalion, a unit for men thought to be unfit for overseas service. On 15 January 1916 Harold was discharged from the army "in consequence of not being likely to become an efficient soldier" and transferred to the Merchant Service.

There he had many trying experiences, serving in various parts of the world. He was shipwrecked when aboard the SS Bornu but was rescued and taken to a French port. In later service his ship was torpedoed and he suffered other ordeals from which he contracted consumption.

After the war he had a severe breakdown which resulted in his death on 9 March 1920, aged 23. Harold Charles Parsons was buried at Christ Church, Dore three days later.

Albert Pinder

Albert Pinder was baptized at Christ Church, Dore on 11 March 1891, the son of Letitia (Letty) Pinder, single woman. Letty was the seventh of nine children born to John and Phoebe Pinder. Her father was a farm labourer at Moor Edge Farm, Totley when she was baptized on 17 April 1870. John Pinder died in March 1877 and two years later his 46 year old widow, Phoebe, remarried to the 25 year old Frederick Hassall.

Four years after the birth of her son, Albert, Letty married Robert Hodgson and they moved to Sutton in Ashfield leaving Albert to be brought up by his grandmother and her second husband. He was living with them in New Row (now called Summer Lane) Totley in 1891 aged 4 months whilst his mother works as a living-in domestic servant for Mr & Mrs Sydney Oxley at The Elms, Coal Aston.

In 1901 Albert and his cousin Harold Carr were both living with Phoebe and Frederick at Gleadless, Myrtle Hill where Frederick was working at his trade of brickburner.

Albert's great grandfather Robert Pinder and his wife Elizabeth had farmed a substantial area in Totley Bents, their home lying at what is now the junction of Penny Lane and Strawberry Lee Lane. His maternal great grandparents George and Hannah Elliott lived in the area around Hillfoot Road where George combined his trade as a stonemason with being a beerhouse keeper. Following George's death in 1859, Hannah kept the beerhouse going for many years.

Albert's grandmother Phoebe Hassall died in early March 1910 and was buried in Dore churchyard. Soon after this, Albert married Ella Maude Hill, the sister of Herbert Allan Hill, another of the men named on Totley War Memorial. In October 1910 their daughter was baptized at Christ Church, Dore, named Phoebe after Albert's recently deceased and much loved grandmother.

By the time of the 1911 census Albert, Ella and Phoebe were living at Moor View House on Butts Hill, Totley. Frederick Hassall must have been a good substitute father to Albert as he too was living with Albert and his young wife at Moor View House. Albert gave his occupation as 'cutler' on the 1911 census although at his daughter's baptism a few months earlier he was a postman. This seems much more likely as the village post office was just across the road from where he lived.

David Harry Prosser 

Harry Prosser was born on 16 November 1898 in Heeley, the seventh of eight children born to Charles Albert Prosser and his wife Mary Elizabeth, nee Wright. Harry's father's career in the silver trade progressed from chaser, to fluter and eventually to silversmith.

As the family became more prosperous they moved further out of the city to Beauchief in 1903 and Holmesfield in 1911 before settling at Woodbine Cottage, (Queen) Victoria Road, Totley Rise soon after. Harry became a trainee school teacher.

He enlisted on 10 June 1916 in the 13th Battalion Training Reserve and, shortly after his 18th birthday, was mobilised on 25 November. He was promoted to lance corporal on 27 June 1917 and on 30 September 1917 he was discharged from the army on appointment to a commission with No. 1 Auxiliary School of Aerial Gunnery, at Hythe, Kent.

He joined the 27th Squadron R.A.F. as an observer. His aircraft was shot down and Harry was killed on 10 May 1918, aged 19. Second Lieutenant David Harry Prosser is buried at Caix New British Cemetery, Somme, France.

Alfred Riley

Alfred Riley was born in Sheffield in 1888. His mother was Mary Riley who was born in Sheffield on 30 July 1857, the youngest of five children of Matthew Riley, a labourer, and his wife Maria Mulligan, who were married around 1843 in Ireland, possibly at Delvin, County Westmeath, about 40 miles northwest of Dublin. Mary was unmarried and the name of Alfred's father was not recorded.

Alfred's grandparents came to England around 1850 bringing with them their two sons, Joseph born in 1844 and Michael born in 1849. In the 1851 census they were living in Court 3, Boden Lane, off Rockingham Street. Matthew Riley was a labourer but later became a blacksmith. Three more children were born before the next census, Edward in 1851, Matthew junior in 1854 and finally Alfred's mother Mary in 1857. She was baptised at the Roman Catholic Cathedral Church of St. Marie, Norfolk Row on 12 August 1857. 

She was the last of their children as Mary's mother died of a miscarriage on 24 March 1860 when Mary was was aged just two. Her father remarried to Elizabeth Clunan in 1861 but Mary was brought up by her uncle Edward Mulligan, a tailor, and his wife Maria Smith who had married at Sheffield Parish Church (later Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul) on 30 August 1840. In 1861 they were living at 83 Carver Street with Maria's sister Elizabeth Smith, a grocer. Matthew Riley died on 17 March 1868 aged 47 and was buried at St. Michael's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Rivelin five days later. 

Mary was still living with the Mulligans in 1871 at 15 St. Thomas Street in the Portobello district. Mary, aged 13, was a domestic servant. Edward Mulligan died in 1878 and was buried at Burngreave Cemetery on 29 September. Mary gave birth to a daughter, Florence, on 26 January 1880. She was unmarried and the father's name was not recorded. In the Census the next year Mary and Florence were at 24 Soho Street, Sharrow living with another aunt, Mary Ann Smith, who had married James Smith, an unrelated tool maker, on 2 February 1846 at Sheffield Parish Church.

Mary gave birth to a second daughter, Lilian, on 2 May 1882 at Ecclesall Bierlow Union Workhouse, Cherry Tree Hill. Again the father was not named. Lilian was adopted by a couple in Stockport, Cheshire when less than four years old. Alfred Riley was Mary's third child, born on 3 February 1888 at Brightside Bierlow Union Workhouse in Pitsmoor and again the father was not named.

On 8 October 1888 Mary Riley married widower Thomas Lenthall, a glass cutter, at Sheffield Parish Church. She was aged 31 and Thomas was aged 58. In the Census on 5 May 1891, Thomas and Mary were living at 5 Brook Lane, Netherthorpe with Florence, Alfred and Thomas's son James Albert from his first marriage. Robert Riley Lenthall, Mary's fourth child, was born on 9 May 1891. Thomas Lenthall died on 7 February 1893, aged 62. Mary and her stepson James then lived together as man and wife and had a son, Albert Cecil Lenthall, born on 30 December 1893. Their daughter, Mary Lilian Lenthall was born on 22 December 1895 but she died aged 1 on 17 October 1897 at 12 Court Upwell Street, Brightside and was buried at St Thomas Cemetery, Brightside on 21 October 1897. 

Alfred's half-brothers Robert and Cecil also served in the war and both survived. Robert was a Private with the 6th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment and Cecil a Corporal with the 2nd Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. They were both awarded the Victory Medal and British War Medal. Cecil was also awarded the 1915 Star.