People of World War 1 Featured on greatwar.co.uk

This page lists some of the people featured on this website who played a part in the events of the First World War.

Remembering Our WW1 Ancestors

Arthur Hackett

Twenty members of our family served in the military during the First World War. This website is dedicated to them.

Remembering our WW1 Ancestors

Lance Corporal Thomas (Jack) Axford, VC, MM

Victoria Cross Gallantry Medal

Lace Corporal Axford was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry in action with the Australian Imperial Forces at Vaire and Hamel Woods on 4th July 1918 during the Battle of le Hamel.

Lance Corporal Thomas (Jack) Axford, VC, MM

Private Henry (Harry) Dalziel

Victoria Cross Gallantry Medal

Private Dalziel was serving with the Australian Imperial Force on 4th July 1918 at the Battle of Le Hamel. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry on that day.

Private Henry (Harry) Dalziel, VC

Nurse Helen Fairchild

Nurse Helen Fairchild

Helen Fairchild served as a U.S. Army Reserve Nurse in France and Belgium from June 1917. She became ill and died in January 1918 of complications believed to have been caused by exposure to Mustard Gas.

Nurse Helen Fairchild

Sergeant Simon Fraser

Sgt Simon Fraser, Cobbers Statue

Sergeant, later Second Lieutenant, Simon Fraser was one of many Australians who fought at the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916. He and his comrades went out after the battle to rescue wounded men over three days. He has been immortalized in a life-size sculpture at the Australian Memorial Park Fromelles.

Sergeant Simon Fraser, 57th Battalion A.I.F.

Rifleman Albert Edward French

Grave of Rifleman Albert E French

Albert E French was one of many young men who volunteered to join the British Army under-age. He claimed to be 19 years old when he enlisted despite being only 15 or just 16 years old in October 1915. Posted to the Theatre of War in France & Flanders at the beginning of May 1916 he was killed in action just six weeks later, aged 16.

Find out how an examination of Albert's British Army Service Record reveals fascinating and moving information about Albert, his family and his short period of service with the 18th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps (K.R.R.C.).

Rifleman Albert French

Captain Georges Guynemer

Georges Guynemer

Captain Georges Guynemer was a pilot and national hero of France, flying with the famous Storks Escadrille N.3. With a total of 53 victories he disappeared over the German lines on 11th September 1917 in the Ypres Salient.

Georges Guynemer Memorial

Lieutenant William Noel Hodgson, MC

William Noel Hodgson

Author of the poem Before Action. Lt Hodgson was killed on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme 1916.

Lieutenant William Noel Hodgson, MC

Captain Clarence Smith Jeffries, VC

Captain C S Jeffries, VC

Captain Jeffries was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions during the attack by the ANZAC II Corps on 12th October 1917 during the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge.

Captain Clarence Smith Jeffries, VC

Lieutenant John Kipling

Lieutenant John Kipling

John Kipling, only son of the author Rudyard Kipling, served in 2nd Battalion Irish Guards from September 1914 to September 1915. He was wounded and missing on the afternoon of 27 September 1915 at the Battle of Loos.

Lt John Kipling

Lance Corporal Fracis Edward Ledwidge

Francis Ledwidge

The Irish poet Francis Ledwidge was killed on the battlefield at Boesinghe, Ypres Salient, on 31st July 1917. It was the first day of the Third Battle of Ypres.

Lance Corporal Francis Edward Ledwidge

Sergeant Lewis McGee, VC

Sgt. Lewis McGee, VC. By kind permission of Patricia Downes.

Sergeant Lewis McGee was awarded a Victoria Cross for his gallantry with the ANZAC II Corps on 4th October 1917 during the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge.

(Photograph by kind permission of Patricia Downes)

Sergeant Lewis McGee, VC

Moina Michael

Moina Michael

Moina Michael, also known as “the Poppy Lady” was the American teacher from Georgia responsible for introducing the idea of the Red Flanders poppy as a symbol of Remembrance.

Moina Michael: the Poppy Lady

Corporal Thomas Pope

Corporal Pope was the first U.S. soldier to be awarded the Medal of Honour. He won it when serving with the 33rd U.S. Infantry Division at the Battle of le Hamel on 4th July 1918.

Corporal Thomas Pope

Captain Clement Robertson, VC

Victoria Cross Gallantry Medal

Captain Clement Robertson was the first member of The Tank Corps to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

Captain Clement Robertson, VC

Private James Peter Robertson, VC

Victoria Cross Gallantry Medal

Private Robertson was killed in action on 6th November 1917 while serving with the Canadian 27th Battalion in the last days of the Third Battle of Ypres (the Battle of Passchendale). He was awarded a Victoria Cross for his gallantry.

Private James Peter Robertson, VC

Sergeant John William Streets

John William Streets

John William Streets “Will” was born on 24th March 1886. Will found himself in a very active sector of the battlefield at Serre. Behind the British Front Line the men of the Sheffield Pals spent this time training and practising for the battle of the Somme. During this busy time Will wrote poems and ideas in a red-covered pocket-book. Now and again he sent some of these poems home.

For information about Will and to read some of his moving poems see our page at:

Sergeant John William Streets

Rifleman Valentine Joe Strudwick

Valentine was 15 years old when he died on 14 January 1916. He is buried in Essex Farm Cemetery near Ypres.

V J Strudwick, Essex Farm Cemetery

Related Topics

Tracing World War 1 Family History

Cpl Thomas Henry Parker, Royal Welch Fusiliers, killed in action 6 November 1916.

Our pages about getting started on tracing a person in your family who served in the First World War will help to give you information about what sort of detail you can find for medals, war graves, Service Records and where to look for it online or in archives and museums.

Tracing World War 1 Family History

WW1 Personal Experiences

A selection of autobiographies and official archive collections of diaries, letters and papers which tell the stories and experiences of the Great War 1914-1918 by the people themselves.

WW1 Personal Experiences

Useful Links

The National Archives, Kew, Surrey

Website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Ancestry.co.uk

Website: www.ancestry.co.uk

Findmypast.co.uk

Website: www.findmypast.co.uk

Forces War Records

Website: www.forces-war-records.co.uk

Photographs Forever: Photo Restoration and Photograph Retouching

Restore and preserve your precious WW1 photographs. Leading photograph restorers Photographs Forever provide a quality Photo Restoration, Photo Retouching Service and Photo Editing Service. Your photographs will be scanned in high resolution, they will be restored and digital files and/or fresh new prints of your old photographs can be provided. See the website for more information:

Website: www.photographsforever.co.uk