I had thought, until recently, that 16880 Private Joseph French was probably a patient at Hickwells in 1915 when he left his mark in Nurse Oliver’s album.  This may be the case but he was also certainly wounded in 1916 and may therefore have been a Beechland House patient. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album comprises a pencil drawing of the Essex Regiment badge and the following text (which has been over-written in later years in black ink):

Pte J French     No 16880

3rd Essex Reg

Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex

He shares this page with an entry from 2605 Corporal John Dicks of the 9th Essex Regiment and a group photo of convalescent soldiers.

I have been unable to locate either Joseph’s birth registration details or his entry on the 1901 census.  He does however appear on the census returns for 1881 and 1891.

He was born in 1881 and was the son of Joseph and Polly French of London.  He appears on the 1881 census as a three week old baby, living with his family at Bishopsgate, London.  Joseph is recorded on the census as James.  The other family members comprised Joseph (head, married, aged 24, a carman born in Bishopsgate), his wife Mary Ann (aged 23, also born in Bishopsgate) and their three children: Mary Ann (aged five, born in Lever Street), Rose (aged two, born in Spitalfields) and Joseph (or James), born in the City of London.

By the time the 1891 census was taken, the family was living at number 2, Artillery Street, Whitechapel, London.  The household comprised: Joseph French (head, married, aged 33, working as an ostler), his wife Mary Ann French (also aged 33 and working as a charwoman) and five children: Mary Ann (aged 15, working as a book folder), Rose French (aged 12), Joseph (aged ten), George (aged eight) and Harriet Emily (aged three).  The parents and their five children are all recorded as having been born in Bishopsgate, London.

Joseph’s enlistment date is unclear but his medal index card information shows that he arrived in Gallipoli on 2nd September 1915.  The 1st Essex had already been there since 25th April 1915 and would leave on 8th January 1916, so Joseph French must have arrived with a draft.  His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album either pre-dates his Gallipoli posting (which seems most likely as there is no mention of Gallipoli in it) or comes as result of sickness or a wound sustained later.

As mentioned earlier, he was certainly wounded in 1916, his name appearing in a casualty list published in The Times newspaper on 24th June 1916 and it is possible that he was a patient not at Hickwells but at Beechlands.  

At some point however, Joseph was posted to the 9th Essex Regiment because it was whilst serving with this battalion that he was killed in action on 3rd August 1917.  He was 36 years old and was one of four 9th Essex fatalities that day, the other three men dying of wounds.  The battalion was at Monchy Le Preux during July and August of that year and on the 2nd August, the Germans had attacked Hook Trench, the fighting continuing through the following day.  There is no mention in the divisional history of casualties amongst the 9th Essex on the day but Joseph French and three others paid the ultimate price.

John Burrows, in his multi-volume history of the Essex Regiment in the First World War, has this to say about the 9th Battalion in early August 1917:

On August 1st the Battalion succeeded the 11th Middlesex in the trenches, with headquarters under the Cambrai Road, and found the enemy in a much quieter mood. They were quickly disillusioned the next day, however, because the Germans put down such a heavy cannonade at night that the support trench of the left company was practically obliterated. It was the prelude to an attack in the early morning of August 3rd, when the enemy secured an entry between Pick Avenue and Vine Avenue. Lieut. E. R. Capper led bombing parties of the Essex and 7th Norfolks and drove their assailants south to within fifteen yards of the junction of Pick Avenue. The good work was completed by the 7th Norfolks later in the morning, when they recovered occupation of the original line. This gallant exploit was happily light in casualties, and these were mainly caused by artillery.