Sole Military Records - World War 1

by Bob Sheldon

This is an extract from an article published in Sole Search in April 2001, the Sole Society's journal. 

(The listing is at the end of the article)

There were something over 5 million men from Britain who served in the First World War, and of these were a known 235 members of the Soal(s) & Sole(s) families (see the list at the end of this article). Although we know of them, unfortunately we do not know much about them from the records that are now available to us at the Public Record Office. In some cases we know only their names, regiments and the fact they each were awarded the British War Medal, 1914-1920 and the Victory Medal, 1914-1919.

There are reasons why we do not and probably will never know more from the official records. Firstly all personal documents were confidential and were stored after the war in a central archive in Southwark to remain unavailable to the public for 75 years. Then in 1940 this store was bombed and some 6 million records of men who were discharged before 1939 were damaged or completely destroyed in the resulting fire. Only 20-25% of the records survived and are now being released. However the rescued documents are in such a fragile state that they had to be microfilmed and made available through a planned release program according to first letter of the surnames. The letter S became available in August 2000 but regrettably many of the documents for each soldier are incomplete and/or are unreadable due to age or water damage from the fire fighting.

There are some duplicate sets of documents at the Public Record Office which were previously held by the Ministry of Pensions and were not damaged, but these generally were in respect of those soldiers who were granted a pension on discharge and again many are incomplete sets.

However from the information available it is possible to gain a little knowledge about some of our brave and patriotic ancestors who volunteered for service at the outset of hostilities not knowing what was in store for them, or those who later had no choice and were conscripted into the army many of whom were well into their forties.

Thanks to the extensive records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission we do know the names and regiments of those men who died. Of the 235 who enlisted, 39 were either killed in action or died either from their wounds or other causes. All these cases were very sad but one stands out as especially so. George Thomas Sole of Shoreditch joined on 28 Sep 1915 as a boy soldier of 16. He was musically gifted and became a Bandsman in the Royal West Kent Regiment. We do not know where he served during the war but we do know he survived it and afterwards was posted to the Army of Occupation in the Rhine, Germany. It was there on 14 Jul 1920 that he was found dead in his barracks from self inflicted gunshot wounds. The Court of Enquiry subsequently learnt that he was of an excitable nature and had home trouble.

Another fatality, which was very sad, concerned Gerald Ernest Sole of Victoria Park, London. He had previously enlisted in 1902 in the R.A.M.C. and served until the end of 1915. Again we do not know where he served, nor do we know why he re-enlisted on 8 Jan 1917, only to be drowned 3 month's later on board the H M Hospital Ship "Salta" when it was sunk by enemy action.

The Sole family of Dover, Kent must have had a very distressing time. Edward William Sole had four sons. The eldest, also Edward William at the age of 19, enlisted in March 1909, married in 1910 and had two children in Aug 1912 and May 1914. He was killed in action on 20 Oct 1914 only two months after war was declared. A year later the second eldest, William Henry aged 19 also joined up. He was killed in action on 3 May 1917. Edward senior also had a brother Henry Frederick who had enlisted in 1901, served in India and was one of the first to be dispatched to France at the outset of war. He was in action at Mons, Le Cateau and Aune but in Oct 1914 he was diagnosed with flat feet "first noticed in marching from Aune to Belgium" and was sent home and discharged on 26 Dec 1914 "as no longer physically fit for war service". However he later re-enlisted and died from unknown causes on 20 May 1916. Finally, Frederick William Sole (believed to be a cousin of Edward senior) joined the Royal Fusiliers in Dec 1915 and was discharged in Dec 1917, the only member of this family to have survived the war.

This was not the only family that provided more than one soldier to the conflict. The following list is not complete but given from the information available:

As to be expected there were a number of wounds which the men suffered. Again the list is not complete:

The ages of those involved ranged from 50, the oldest recorded, to the youngest at 16. The latter has been previously mentioned, George Thomas of Shoreditch. The eldest was Stephen Edward, born in Margate but having later moved to Watford. He had previously served in the Bedfordshire regiment from 1884, spent some 7 years in the East Indies and was discharged in 1896. However he was one of the first to join up again in November 1914, this time in the Hertfordshire regiment but was discharged a year and a half later as "no longer physically fit".

There are four recorded instances of men trying to enlist whist being underage. Arthur George Soul of Swindon enlisted 18/8/15 but was very soon found out and served for 7 days only. Walter Sole of Dulwich was a clerk and joined 31/5/15 stating his age as 19 years, 5 months. In less than 2 months he was discovered as being only 16 years, 11 months and was discharged. However there is a favourable note on his papers "would have made a good soldier if [he] had been of the required age". Leonard William Soale of Walthamstowe survived a little longer in the Middlesex regiment before being identified as under age. He joined in November 1915 and was discharged in May 1916. During this time he managed to forfeit 3 days pay for refusing to obey an order.

However of the four recorded enthusiasts who tried to enlist too early, Thomas Charles Sowle must win the prize for persistence. He joined in July 1915 saying his age was 19 years, 4 months, was discharged in the following November, but was re-examined in April 1917, when he was 18, and saw active service almost throughout 1918. Like so many others he suffered gas poisoning and was sent back home and finally was medically discharged in November 1919 with a pension of 5/6d per week due to "shortness of breath and heart trouble".

At the other end of the scale there was one recorded instance of unwillingness to serve. William John Sole of Stoke Newington was a missionary. He refused to be medically examined on being called up and was deemed to be fit for Grade 1 service and was subsequently transferred to a Non Combatant Corps. Details are not given but he was imprisoned for 112 days for "when on active service disobeying a lawful command given by his superior officer".

The conduct of our ancestors at war was generally good. Only 21 of the 235 records we have contain references to offences committed, and these were generally minor like drunkenness or overstaying leave. There were two cases of "Absent without Leave" for which they were give 28 days detention. One hungry soldier, Herbert Soul, was given 4 days "confined to barracks" for "taking a pear from a tree in an orchard".

In contrast we had one soldier with exemplary character. Archibald John Soal of Midhurst enlisted in March 1910 in the Royal Sussex regiment, spent nearly 8 years in India, returned home and re-engaged on 5/10/19 for a further 21 years service. A year later he was granted a discharge at his own request on payment of £17.10s.0d in order to support his recently widowed mother and sister to manage the family farm. On discharge it was recorded that "Soal has not incurred a single entry of any kind during his 10¾ years service. A most worthy and steady NCO."

There are some recorded special awards. D M A (names unknown) Sole received the DSO, Leonard W and Samuel Sole , DCM and Frederick George Sole of Faversham was mentioned in dispatches. Another soldier, Frederick Arthur Sole of Stodmarsh was awarded the Imperial Yeomanry Long Service medal in 1916 following his 21 years service.

In the absence of photographs one is able to gain a reasonable impression of the physical characteristics of soldiers where their records have survived from the stated heights, weight, chest and eye and hair colouring. The first thing to note is their relatively short stature. Only three were 5'9", the remainder were on average well under 5'8" and the two shortest were 5'3". Not only were they short but in general they were definitely not fat. Their weights varied but on average was around 120lbs. James Soal of Midhurst stood out as somewhat portly, weighing in at 162lbs at only 5'4½" tall. On his ample chest he was tattooed with a large Royal Arms, on his back with a crucifix, various designs on his arms and "a lady" on his right leg.

One of the 5'9" men, Edwin Sole of Sutton, Ely, wanted to join one of the Guards' regiments but was "recommended not to be accepted" whilst he was in the Military hospital at Caterham in 1916. No reason is stated.

Another of the taller men who shall remain nameless had a real problem other than his "teeth [are] bad but effective for mastication". His case illustrates the need for confidentiality under the 75 year rule as he also had this recorded statement by a Medical Officer - "This man is slow and dull. He has not sufficient intelligence to appreciate the words of command and will never make an efficient soldier". It is sad that his mental condition was not identified on enlistment rather than a month later when he was discharged.

For two of the soldiers, Eli (known as Ted) and Frederick Albert Sole, the writer's grandfather and father respectively, their records appear not to have survived, but from family knowledge they both were conscripted into the King's colours much to the distress of grandmother Grace. Ted was wounded in the leg and gassed in 1916 and was allowed home on compassionate grounds (in his blue hospital uniform) to attend the funeral of his daughter Doris who sadly died at the age of six. He subsequently returned to the trenches in France and is said to have met up with his son Fred who had joined up in 1917.

The 1914-1918 war was one of the darker periods in our history. The documents that are now available are by no means comprehensive but they do provide a brief indication of the lives of our soldiers during this traumatic time. Although not touched upon in this article, for genealogical purposes some of the records do help us to identify family connections of which we were otherwise ignorant and these are being put to good use in enlarging our family charts. However it is hoped that the extracts from these documents serve to illustrate the small contribution that our SOLE ancestors made to the final victory.