Service: Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment
Service no: 11272
Date and place of birth: 1893 in Graffham, Sussex
Date and place of death: 27 August 1915 (aged 21/22) at Gallipoli
Family background
Montagu(e) Robert Nudd was the eldest son of Robert James Nudd (born in 1870 in Graffham) and Ada Tiller (b. 1867, Cuckfield, Sussex, married Graffham, 5 September 1892).
In 1881 Robert James Nudd (aged 10) was living with his parents Robert (36) and Elizabeth (36) Nudd (nee Bridger) in Graffham and his brothers Jno (sic) Richard Nudd (12), Albert Nudd (2), and Walter Nudd (1) and his sister Elizabeth Nudd (6). In 1891 Robert James had two more sisters listed in the census, Deborah (9) and Kate (8) and a brother Frederick (6) and were living at the Foresters Arms Beer House and Grocer’s Shop, Graffham.
In 1901 Robert James Nudd (30) was the innkeeper at the Half Moon Inn, Midhurst, and lived with Ada (33), Montagu (7) and his daughter Violet ( 3, b. 1897, Graffham). Robert James Nudd’s father, Robert, and his second wife Eliza Nudd (previously Cullum, nee Hughes), were still living at the Foresters Arms, Graffham in 1901. Robert Senior was a grocer/baker.
Midhurst Grammar School Pupil Admissions 22/9/1903-1916 records Montague Nudd as having been a pupil at the Midhurst National School, and then at the grammar school from 18 September 1906 until 27 July 1909, admitted on a scholarship. He took the Oxford Union Local examination.
In 1911 Robert (40) and Ada (44) were living in Graffham with Violet (13) and their youngest son Raymond Charles (b. 1910, Graffham). Their middle son George had died in his first year in 1907.
On census day 1911 Montagu was a visitor at 59 Elm Grove Road, Barnes, the home of his uncle, Henry Edward Cullum (41) and his wife, Florence Ada (34). Montagu (17) was at this time a railway hotel clerk with the Midland Railway. Also staying in the house was his grandmother Eliza Nudd (69) whose husband Robert Senior had died in 1901, and his uncle Frederick Nudd (26). Henry was Eliza’s son by her first marriage.
Eliza Nudd of the Laurels, Graffham, died 15 May 1915 in Barnes.
Military service
Montague Robert Nudd enrolled in the 8th Battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment in Halifax which was formed in Halifax in August 1914. The battalion moved to Belton Park in January 1915 and to Witley in April 1915. The Battalion at this time was part of the 32nd Brigade of the 11th Northern Division.
The Battalion sailed from Liverpool in July 1915, landing in Suvia Bay, Gallipoli, on 6th/7th August and moved forward in attack on Lala Bala. It withdrew to a rest area on 8th August and then moved to Tekke Tepe Ridge, where it was involved in the advance attack at the Cut. It was relieved on 11th August but on 13th August went to the Chocolate Hill area to man the trenches. On 21st August the Battalion was deployed to attack Ismail Oglu Tepe, fighting at Hetman Chair and Green Hill. It sustained heavy losses until relieved on 23rd August. It moved in to the trenches at Jephson’s Post on 27th August.
Death and commemoration
Montagu(e) Robert Nudd died of his wounds on 27 August 1915 aged 19. Although “Soldiers died in the Great War 1914-1919” puts his death in France and Flanders, his medal card identifies the Balkans as the theatre of war in which he first served from 7 July and his date of death as above. This fits in with the history of his battalion and his commemoration at Helles Memorial in Turkey.
He is commemorated on Graffham War Memorial, the Memorial Plaque in Graffham Parish Church and on the Board in Midhurst Rother College.
Subsequent family history
Frederick and Walter Nudd, Montague’s uncles, were among those listed as returning from the Great War.
Walter joined up for 7 years in 1898, aged 19, initially serving in the Royal Sussex Regiment. He had previously been a baker. He was transferred to the Military Service Corps in the same year. He served in South Africa and was re-engaged in 1909, having reached the rank of sergeant. He joined the British Expeditionary Force in 1914, and was sent “home” in September 1915. He had married Mabel Smith in 1910 in Cranbrook. He died in Midhurst district in 1935 aged 55.
Frederick served between 1914 and 1920 in the Royal Engineers, reaching the rank of 2nd Corporal. He married Margaret Mary Mann in Richmond in 1928. He died, whilst living in Laurel Cottage, Graffham, aged 67 in 1952. Margaret died in 1967 aged 78 in the Midhurst district.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records James and Ada Nudd living at 20, Kynaston Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey.
Robert James Nudd died in Chelsea in 1947 aged 77.
Ada Nudd died in Brighton in 1949 aged 82.
Violet Nudd married Arthur Albert Osmotherly at St Saviours, Croydon, on 26th December 1923. She died in Croydon in 1951 aged 54.
Raymond Charles Nudd married Eva Ayling in the Horsham district in 1934. He died in Shrewsbury aged 53.