The Proudlock Family
Lewis Proudlock (b 1861, Whittingham, Northumberland), was the son of George and Dorothy Proudlock of Kiln House, Lorbottle, Rothbury. The family farmed 58½ acres. Lewis married Jane Fulton (b c 1861, Scotland) in 1886, and later in the same year their first child George was born at Lorbottle. Their second son Isaac was born in 1888, and their third son John Thomas Proudlock was born in 1889; both were born at Whittingham. In the 1891 Census Lewis Proudlock was recorded as working as a ‘general labourer’ and the family were living in Lorbottle, but later in the year it appears that they had made the move to Lowick were their fourth son Clement was born; he was baptised in Lowick on 28th June 1891. Unfortunately, Lewis’s first wife Jane died in 1893. Lewis Proudlock married his second wife Grace Hills early in 1895, and the couple had one daughter Jane Hills Proudlock who was born late in 1895. return The family were recorded as living in Lowick in the 1901 census return, and Lewis was working as a gamekeeper. Later the family moved to Bowsden where they were living by 1911 and during the Great War and after. All four Proudlock sons served in the Great War. In 1901 the eldest son George Proudlock (qv), then aged 14, had been a cattleman but he later became a joiner and building contractor. He served with the 98th Field Company, Royal Engineers in the 21st Division. The 21st Division part of the British IX Corps which was sent to join the French in May 1918. George was missing presumed killed on 28th May 1918 during the German ‘Blücher’ Offensive which was launched on 27th May 1918. He is listed on the Soissons Memorial. The second son Isaac Proudlock (qv) was only 12 years old when the 1901 census was taken. By 1911 Isaac was working as a gamekeeper like his father and was boarding with George Jobson, farm steward and his family at Roddam Rigg House, Wooperton. Isaac married Mary Jane Ferguson in 1915. He served with the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and was killed in the Ypres Salient on 29th September 1917. He was then serving with the 8th (Service) battalion KOYLI. The couple were married only relatively short time before Isaac went to war and they had had no children. John Thomas Proudlock (b 1889) the third brother had trained as a teacher at Bede College Durham before the war from 1912 to 1914 and had taught at Bebside Boys’ School, Blyth and at Newnsham Mixed School, Blyth. His teaching career was interrupted by his war service.
No. 300254 (formerly No.8/2344) Sgt John Thomas Proudlock (b 1889, Lorbottle, Northumberland) served with the Bede contingent (“A” Company) in 1/8th (TF) Durham Light Infantry (The Bede, vol 11, no.1, p 14, col 2; vol.11, no. 2, p 4, col 2). The battalion was part of the Durham Light Infantry Brigade, Northumbrian Division. John Proudlock landed in France on 20th April 1915 with his battalion. By 23rd April the Division was concentrated in the Steenvoorde area. On 24th April units of the Northumbrian Division were ordered into action in what is now known as the Battle of St Julien (24th April-4th May 1915). Losses from the 1/8th Durham Light Infantry in the fighting were heavy (TNA WO95 2842/1, War Dairy 1/7th Northumbrian Fusiliers, 25th April 1915, and April, Appendix 4):
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The CWGC lists 105 men from the 1/8th Durham Light Infantry killed on 24th and 25th April, and a further 9 men killed or died of wounds on 27th and 29th of April. Of the 105 men killed on 24th and 25th, 95 have no known grave and are listed on the Menin Gate (Ypres) Memorial. John Thomas Proudlock was fortunate that he was one a small number of men of the Bede contingent who were uninjured following the fighting on 24th-25th April. From the Bede detachment in the 1/8th Durham Light Infantry, 8 had been killed or died of wounds, 9 were missing, 34 had been captured, many of them known to have been wounded, and 18 were wounded. The wounded included Thomas Chrisp (qv). Only 32 Bede men, including John Thomas Proudlock, were still with at the front (The Bede Vol. 11, no.3, June 1915, p 14, col 1). The photograph below of 21 surviving unjured members of the Bede Continingent with a small chalk board which reads "Bede - All that was left" was published in The Bede.[Note 1]
Early in the morning of 18th September 1916 Captain Oswell and Sgt Proudlock were wounded, Sgt John Proudlock suffered a wound to his right thigh. At the time the battalion had just come out of the frontline and was in trenches ('Swansea', 'Clark', 'Eye' and 'Hook') just west of High Wood and north of Bazentin le Petit on the Somme. John Proudlock wrote a brief account, which was published in The Bede (vol.13, no.2, April 1917, p 6) and described the circumstances of his wounding:
The wound would lead to his discharge from the Army in November 1917 being unfit for further service (Berwick Advertiser, 19th October 1917, p 6; 9th November 1917, p 6). After recovering from his wound and now out of the Army, John Proudlock was appointed to be master of Ancroft Church of England School in October 1918 as temporary replacement for Mr Ryding, who was ‘on war service’ (Berwick Advertiser, 4th October 1918). In 1919-1920 John Proudlock taught at Newburn Hall Boys School, Lemington and then in 1920 he was appointed head teacher of Carham Wark School. He remained in the post at Wark until he retired in 1949 on the advice of his doctor (Berwickshire News, 14th June 1949, p 3; 21st June 1949, p 6). He also served as a parish councillor.
John Proudlock had married Elizabeth Hogg at Jedburgh in 1919 and the couple had three children, Nancy (b 4th Sept 1920; d October 1952), Lewis (b 1923) and John (b 19th July 1924, d 13th September 2016). His wife died in 1955 and was buried in Lennel Churchyard (Berwick Advertiser, 22nd September 1955, p 7). John Thomas Proudlock died in Coldstream in February 1960. The fourth brother No. MS/3563, Acting Cpl Clement Proudlock (b 1891, Lowick) served as a driver with 73rd Company, Army Service Corps Motor Transport. No 73 Company (MT) served in the 3rd Cavalry Division as Division (MT) Company, No. 1 section, Divisional Supply Column (MT). The 3rd Cavalry Division had disembarked at Ostend on 8th October 1914. Clement Proudlock landed in France on 21st December 1914 and was eligible for the 1914 Star. In January 1919 Clement Proudlock was at home awaiting his discharge having been sent home on leave because of ill health (Berwick Advertiser, 24th January 1919, p 3).
Before the War Clement had worked as a chauffeur and in 1911, aged 22 years, he was lodging with another chauffeur, William Wilkins, and his family in Bathurst Mews, Paddington. Clement married Annie May Whitehead in October 1925. The couple had one daughter Enid born in 1926. In 1939 Clement and his wife Annie, their young daughter, and Annie Whitehead (b 1864) his ‘incapacitated’ mother-in-law, were living at No. 1 Wilberforce Road, Hendon, Middlesex. Clement was working as private chauffeur and mechanic. His wife was a ledger clerk for a dairy, and their daughter Enid aged 12 was at school. When Clement died in 1960, he and his wife were living at 696 Kenton Road, Kenton, Middlesex. Jane Hills Proudlock (b 1895), the brothers’ younger half-sister was mentioned in a short piece on the War service of the Proudlock family of Bowsden in The Berwick Advertiser (19th October 1917, p 6). It was reported that Jane (Jeannie) Hills Proudlock, the brothers’
The reference to ‘national work’ and to ‘farm work’ suggests that Jane Hills Proudlock (b 1895) was very probably a member of the Women’s Land Army.
Jane Proudlock and Alexander Speirs were married in Lowick Church (Berwick Advertiser, 25th August 1927, p.8). Unfortunately less that year after the marriage Alexander aged just 29 died suddenly at Bowsden on 27th April 1928 (Berwick Advertiser, 3rd May 1928, p 7; Berwickshire News, 8th May 1928, p 5). Jane Speirs (née Proudlock) did not remarry. In 1939 she was keeping house in Bowsden for her retired and widowed father Lewis. Also in the household was a schoolboy Kenneth Jeffrey (b 1927), who was probably the son of Agnes Jeffrey (née Wilson) and her husband Luke Jeffrey, who had married 1920. In 1939 Agnes and Luke Jeffery were living at 66 Fairfield Road, Newcastle upon Tyne. Luke was a 'retired farmer'. Jane Hill Speirs of Lorbottle House, Bowsden, died on 30th March 1970.
After the War it was decided to create a memorial in Bowsden; but rather than a monument naming the fallen or listing those who had served, it was determined to build as a memorial a Hall for the use of the whole village. The Memorial Hall was built by Mr Fairbairn, joiner and cartwright, and the 'site had been procured from Mr Proudlock' who purchesed the site and 'had given them a fair square deal and the hall was built on the site he had offered' (Berwick Advertiser, 13th November 1924, p 5). The hall was opened on Armistice Day 1924 by Mrs Hilton Philipson MP the member of Parliament for the Berwick constituency. 26/05/2022; 27/05/2022; 29/05/2022; 21/09/2022; 30/01/2023.
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