Joseph (Joe) Phillips was born in Strood in the early months of 1892. According to the 1901 census, his father, William was a brickfield labourer who was born forty years earlier in Hoo, while his mother, Rose Ann, came from Rainham. In 1901 the family lived at 87, Cuxton Road, Strood. Joe had an elder sister, two older brothers, and a younger sister and brother (c/f George Phillips).
By the time of the 1911 Census Joe had left home. It seems that Joe had been in the regular army for some time before the outbreak of war: it is highly likely that he was the ‘Joseph Phillips’ recorded on census night at the Badajos army barracks in Aldershot (although there are slight discrepancies in both his place of birth – recorded as Chatham – and his age, which was given as twenty rather than nineteen). In 1911 Badajos was an infantry barracks, housing the 1st battalion of the Hampshire Regiment and named after an 1812 Peninsular War battle in which forces under Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) had triumphed over Britain’s Napoleonic foes. Built in the late 19th century, it was a red-brick barracks, probably similar to the naval buildings at Brompton in Gillingham, and was one of several at Aldershot named after Wellington’s victories. [Film of the Aldershot barracks shot before its demolition can be viewed here.]
At some stage Joe must have moved to the 2nd battalion of the Hampshires. At the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914 they were stationed at Mhow in the Madhya Pradesh region of India. Along with other regular army units scattered across the British Empire, Joe’s battalion was soon recalled from India to join the 88th brigade of the of the 29th army division. Once back in Britain, they were stationed at Stratford-on-Avon and Warwick, before embarking at Avonmouth to sail to Egypt in late March 1915. From Egypt they sailed onward to Cape Helles on the Gallipoli peninsula. The battalion arrived on 25th April 1915 and tragically Joe lost his life the very next day.
Joe’s page on the Every Man Remembered website is here.
Ancestry.com sources:
Census 1910: Class: RG13; Piece: 720; Folio: 129; Page: 8
1911 Census: Class: RG14; Piece: 3123
Ancestry.com. [database on-line]. Original data: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA), 1911.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England
Military-Genealogy.com, comp. UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: British and Irish Military Databases. The Naval and Military Press Ltd.
National Army Museum; Chelsea, London, England; Soldiers’ Effects Records, 1901-60; NAM Accession Number: 1991-02-333; Record Number Ranges: 173501-175000; Reference: 68
UK, Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Soldiers’ Effects Records, 1901–60. National Army Museum, Chelsea, London, England.
Other internet sources:
https://hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk/content/badajos-barracks-west-infantry-barracks
http://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/documents.php?aid=1&nid=1&start=0
Research by:
Anne Logan, 2016