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Annie and William Souls and their six sons and three daughters lived in a small farm labourer鈥檚 cottage in the Cotswold village of Great Rissington. Five of the brothers, Albert, Frederick, Walter, Alfred and Arthur gave up their jobs as farm hands at the nearby manor house to fight for King and Country.

In March 1916 their mother received her first telegram to say that 21-year-old Albert had been killed in action. Just four months later she received another telegram to inform her that her eldest son, Frederick was missing and believed killed. Shortly after that there was confirmation that 24-year-old Walter had also died. There were now just two sons left, the twins, Alfred and Arthur. In 1918 she was informed that Alfred had been killed and then five days later news came that Arthur had also been killed in action.

Albert and Walter had sailed to France with the 2nd Worcesters in June 1915 and were soon surrounded by death and knee deep in mud. In the September they were involved in the Battle of Loos. The two brothers survived and the Worcesters were singled out for special praise for their gallantry. A month later they were paraded before King George V. Inseparable the brothers transferred to the Machine Gun Corps in January 1916 and spent weeks training. On 14 March, the 5th Brigade Machine Gun Corps war diary reports one casualty, Albert. Walter鈥檚 unit was involved in the Battle of the Somme on 20 July: he probably wouldn鈥檛 have known that just a day earlier his brother Fred had gone over the top with 16 Cheshires, never to be seen again. Walter was wounded and shipped out to a hospital at Rouen, from whence his mother received a letter:

鈥淒ear Mrs Souls, I much regret to have to tell you that your son died very suddenly about nine o鈥檆lock yesterday evening. He came to us with a wound in his leg and on Tuesday he had to undergo an operation, but he rallied and seemed to be better. He was quite cheery, and then the next evening he suddenly collapsed and died instantly from an embolism in the heart.鈥�

Alfred who had gone from the 16th to the 11th Cheshires would lose his life in the desperate action at Ploegsteert Wood in Flanders in the German spring offensive of 1918. He died on 20 April and is buried in the Strand Military Cemetery.

Arthur was killed while being involved in the battle to hold the Villers-Bretonneux plataeu. The West Kents diary for April 1918 records an order to hold the plateau 鈥渁t all costs鈥� listing six officers and 228 other ranks killed, wounded and missing and gives a roll of honour, including 鈥淢ilitary Medal for 21683 Lance Corporal Arthur William Souls鈥�. He is among 550 soldiers, half of them unidentified, buried in Hangard Communal Cemetery extension.

Annie continued to hope that Frederick who had been reported missing and believed to be killed, would one day return, leaving a candle burning in the window of the house so he could find his way home. Annie received a shilling for each of her dead sons and a letter from the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith in 1916 conveying the 鈥渟ympathy of the King and Queen for Mrs Souls in her great sorrow鈥� after three of the boys had been killed.

So distraught by the loss of her five sons, she is believed to have burnt many of the family鈥檚 papers including the citation detailing the courage of Arthur who was awarded the Military Medal. She would also never stand for God Save the King and eventually left Great Rissington after hearing gossip about how well off she must be with the pensions from her five dead sons.

Roll of Honour

鈥� Albert Souls, aged 20, Killed in action, France 1916
鈥� Frederick Souls, aged 30, missing in action, France, 1916
鈥� Walter Souls, aged 24, died of wounds, France, 1916
鈥� Alfred Souls, aged 30, killed in action, Flanders, 1918
鈥� Arthur Souls, aged 30, killed in action, France 1918

Location: great Rissington, Gloucestershire
Image: Walter Davis Souls (1892-1916), courtesy of Brenda Margetts

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