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Charles Gully, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Esau Gully, France, Harold Gully, Lichfield, Silver War Badge, South Staffordshire Regiment, St Thomas' Church, Wednesfield
Thomas Gully and his wife Hannah Patten, of Lichfield Road and later 4 Wolverhampton Road in Wednesfield in 1911, lost two of their sons as a result of the war.
Lance Corporal Charles (or Charley) Sydney Gully, a safe maker, was a member of the 1st/5th Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment, service number 203417. He was previously wounded on 1 July 1915 when part of the 1st/6th Battalion. He was killed in action on 21 November 1917, killed by a snipers bullet whilst on sentry duty, and is buried at Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, in France. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, he was aged 25 when he died, but there is no birth record for a Charles Gully for that period. The most likely candidate is a Charles Sydney Gully, whose birth was registered in June 1890 in Plymouth, which would make him about 27 years old when he died.
His brother, Harold (or Harry) Francis, was a vermin trapmaker. His birth was registered in September 1893 in Barton Regis, in Gloucestershire. His entry on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site states that he was the husband of Mabel Alice Gully, who was originally from St Helier, in Jersey. No record of their marriage has been found, but this is possibly because it took place in Jersey. Harold served with the 3rd Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment, service number 9388. He died on 23 October 1918 and is buried in St Thomas’s Church in Wednesfield, so we can presume that he was ill or wounded and therefore died at home.
Both men are commemorated on the Wednesfield Village war memorial, and Harry is also remembered on the brass war memorial that used to hang in the Wednesfield Trinity Wesleyan Methodist Church in the High Street.
There was a third Gully brother who served during the First World War. Private Esau Gully entered the war on 21 July 1915 in the Balkans with the 7th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment (number 9773). He was discharged “sick” on 8 July 1917 whilst serving with the 2nd Battalion. He was awarded the Silver War Badge (number 208503) on 27 June 1917. He died in Lichfield in 1978.