Samuel was born in Tamworth, Warwickshire on 02nd February 1889, the son of Joseph Welbourne and his wife Charlotte (née Rodgers or Rogers). The surname is recorded with various spellings, Wellborn, Welburn, Welbourn, etc. Joseph, born in Lincolnshire (or Leicestershire), and Charlotte, from Sheffield, married in Yorkshire in 1878. Both were widowed with children. They had Emily (died at age 3), Ethel, Joseph, and Edith (died in infancy), born in Yorkshire, and by 1887 had moved to Tamworth (then in Staffordshire), where George (William), Samuel, Alfred, and Wilfred (who died in infancy) were born.
In 1891 the family is living at 1 Wheeler’s Yard, Tamworth. His father is 42, a stoker in a paper mill, his mother is 38. Half siblings Polly, 19, and John, 16, also work in the paper mill. Ethel is 11, Joseph 8, William is 4, and Samuel is 2.
His father appears to have died in 1894, although the age in the death record is inconsistent with the census age. Samuel would have been 5 years old.
The 1901 census finds the family at 1 House, 3 Court, Lickfield Street, Tamworth. His widowed mother Charlotte, 50, is a sorter in a paper mill, half brother John Husband, 25, born Cheetham, Lancashire, and brother William, 14, are bricklayer’s labourers, Ethel is 20, a paper sorter at a mill, Samuel is 12 and Alfred 9.
His mother died in early 1903, aged 51, when Samuel was 13 or 14.
By 1911 Sam Welbourn is listed as a boarder with Samuel Markhew, his wife and four children, at 22 Green Lane, Birchmoor, Tamworth. Sam is 22, working as a miner (filler). He was employed at Pooley Hall Colliery, Polesworth, before he enlisted. His younger brother Alfred was also a miner, and in 1911 was living with married half sister Mary Percival and family in Coventry. Alfred was apparently in a reserved occupation, being a miner, as a local newspaper in June 1917 reports that he was fined for not obscuring his acetylene lamp, (giving his address as Springfield Towers, still living with Mary). His half brother John Husband is also a miner, living in the same street as Samuel, Green Lane, Birchmoor.
He enlisted in Tamworth on 03rd September 1914, his occupation described as a miner. He was originally posted to the in 12th Bn KLR, age 24 years and seven months, giving his next of kin as his sister, Mrs. Ethel Horton, living in Birchmoor, near Farnworth, Lancashire. He disembarked in France on 24th July 1915. Samuel was wounded in action on 24th August 1916 and sent to England for treatment on the 27th, and left for France again on 1st January 1917. He was posted to 19th Battalion on 05th January 1917.
Samuel was wounded in action on 09th April 1917, admitted to hospital on the 10th with wounds to his left forearm and left leg, and died of his wounds at the 1st Canadian General Hospital, Etaples on 14th April.
His CWGC headstone shows his service number with a prefix 12/18210.
During the First World War, the area around Etaples was the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals. It was remote from attack, except from aircraft, and accessible by railway from both the northern or the southern battlefields. In 1917, 100,000 troops were camped among the sand dunes and the hospitals, which included eleven general, one stationary, four Red Cross hospitals and a convalescent depot, could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick. In September 1919, ten months after the Armistice, three hospitals and the Q.M.A.A.C. convalescent depot remained.
The cemetery contains 10,771 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, the earliest dating from May 1915. 35 of these burials are unidentified. It is the largest CWGC cemetery in France, and was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Samuel's death was reported in the Tamworth Herald on 28th May 1917:
DIED OF WOUNDS
PRIVATE S. WELLBURN
Mrs S. Marklew, 174 Green Lane, Birchmoor, has received information that 18210 Private Samuel Wellburn, King's Liverpool Regt., who had resided at her house for about 16 years, died in a Canadian Hospital in France of wounds received in action on April 14. He was 28 years of age, and had been previously wounded, having been under treatment at Huddersfield Hospital. After recovering, he returned to France last November. Prior to joining the army, Private Wellburn was employed at Pooley Hall Colliery.
SDGW says his residence was Garth, Nr. Neath, South Wales, where his sister Ethel Horton was living.
Samuel’s siblings and half siblings appear to have maintained ties. His Army effects of £9-16s-2d were shared between his brothers Charles and Alfred, sister Ethel Horton, half sister Mrs. Mary Percival, and half brother John R. Husband; brother George requested his share go to sister Ethel.
The War Gratuity of £12 went to his brothers Joseph, George, and Alfred, sister Ethel Horton, half brothers (illegible) Husband and John R. Husband.
In August 1917, his personal effects were sent to a Mrs. Mary Percival, Springfield Towers, Shustoke, Coleshill, Birmingham. These were listed as: 2 discs, 1 Letter, Photos & cards, 1 Pipe, 1 Bible, 1 Pouch, 1 Belt, 1 Watch, 1 Watch key, 1 Wallet, 1 Bag.
His memorial Plaque and Scroll were sent to Mrs. E. Horton, 174 Green Lane, Birchmoor.
Joseph Welbourne, of 40 Rectory Cottage, Arley, Coventry, signed for his medals.
Samuel Marklew, calling himself Samuel’s foster father, at 174 Green Lane, Birchmoor, Tamworth, wrote to Infantry Records on 26th June 1920 (although he did not list his “foster father” as his next of kin on enlistment and in 1911 was a “boarder” in the Marklew household): “Deceased was left an orphan at an early age and was adopted by about 19 years ago and was regarded by all as a member of the family. Such relatives as he may have, have drifted to other parts of the country and their whereabouts are unknown. The Mrs. E. Horton given in the address may be deceased’s youngest sister, of whom we have no knowledge, except that about five years ago she was reported to be in Wales.” (In 1911 Ethel, 30, with husband and four children, as well as her brother Joseph Welbourne, 28, was living in John Street, Resolven, near Neath, South Wales.)
On Army Form W.5080, listing living relatives, Samuel Marklew lists brother Alfred, whereabouts not known, no half brothers, one sister and one half sister, whereabouts not known, and no knowledge of nieces, nephews, uncles or aunts.
Samuel is commemorated on the Pooley Hall Colliery Memorial, Polesworth, North Warwickshire.
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