Mark Kinchington

Family and Home ^{1, 2, 3}

Mark Kinchington was born at Inchmery, Exbury, Hampshire, the fourth of the 6 children of George Kinchington and Harriet Matilda née South. His father was a Domestic Gardener.

His siblings were:

• Bertie, born 20th June 1885
• Alice, born 20th January 1890
• William, born 22nd March 1894
• Ernest, born 2nd January 1900
• Stanley, born 16th August 1902

In the 1901 Census, the family still lived at Inchmery, Exbury in the New Forest.

Employment ²

However, the 1911 Census shows 14 year old Mark and his father George as Domestic Gardeners living at Langley, Fawley, Hampshire.  His younger siblings Ernest, 11 and Stanley, 8 also still lived at home.

A Servant of Lord Brownlow at Belton ⁴

We do not know the date on which Mark began working for Lord Brownlow, nor in what capacity he was employed. However, he must have moved between Ashridge and Belton because he is named on both the Little Gaddesden and the Belton Rolls of Honour. We know that he was at Belton in the summer of 1914, as the Grantham Journal of  Saturday 6th June 1914 records that, on the previous Saturday, he scored 14 runs and took one catch for the Belton Park Cricket Team in their match against Great Gonerby, which they lost by 10 runs.

Military Service ^{5, 6, 7, 8, 9}

Mark must have volunteered very early in the War. He enlisted at Southampton and served initially in the 10th (Service) Battalion, Hampshire Regiment which was formed at Winchester in August 1914 as part of the first wave of Kitchener’s Army. The Battalion then moved to Ireland, returning to Basingstoke in May 1915. On 7th July 1915, they sailed from Liverpool, proceeding via the Greek port of Mudros to Gallipoli, where they arrived on 6th August 1915. His Medal Roll Index Card shows that he first served overseas in theatre of war 2b, i.e. at Gallipoli in the Balkan theatre. He was then a Lance Corporal, Service Number 10090. Two months later, on 6th October 1915, the 10th Battalion landed at Salonica.

Mark later transferred to the 2nd Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, with which he served in France, and was promoted to Corporal. However, on 3rd September 1918, Corporal Mark Kinchington was killed in action. For his War Service, he was posthumously awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal. His next of kin would also have received a memorial plaque and scroll; an example of the scroll and covering letter can be seen in William Mayling’s entry.

Burial in France ¹⁰

Mark was originally buried at trench map reference T.21.c.9.1 (Sheet 28). There was no cross on that grave but he was identified by his disc.

Here is the same location on a modern map (courtesy Google Maps):

However, he is now buried in Trois Arbres Cemetery, Steenwerck, France where his grave reference is III. S. 6.

Beneath the badge of the Hampshire Regiment, the inscription on his headstone reads:

10090 Corporal
M Kinchington
Hampshire Regiment
3rd September 1918

Brothers in Arms ¹¹

In the 1918 Electoral Register for Fawley Parish in the Parliamentary County of Hampshire, New Forest & Christchurch Division, Mark and three of his brothers, Bertie, William and Ernest, are all listed as Absent Naval/ Military Voters of West Common, Fawley. Their youngest brother Stanley was too young to serve. The Register was produced before it was known that Mark had been killed. Fortunately his three brothers all survived the war. Mark is commemorated on the War Memorial at All Saints, Fawley, his family’s home parish.

Commemorated at Belton

Mark Kinchington is also commemorated on the War Memorial at Belton, although his name there is recorded as Kisington.

The inscription at the top reads:

In memory of
Our glorious dead
1914 – 1919

Ten names are then listed, the fifth of which is Mark Kisington. Beneath the names is the inscription:

Their glory shall not be
blotted out.
Their name liveth for
evermore.

The Belton Roll of Honour

Mark Kisington is also one of seven men named on both the original Roll of Honour for Little Gaddesden and the Roll of Honour in St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Belton. All were servants of Lord Brownlow, who owned Ashridge House in Hertfordshire and Belton House near Grantham. The other men named on both Rolls are: Harold Catt, Walter Darby, Frank Dove, Matthew Fowler, Herbert Jacobs and Ernest Moore. Herbert Flowers and Rupert Flowers, whose father was Lord Brownlow’s Coachman, are named on the Belton Roll and have been added to the Centenary Revision of the Little Gaddesden Roll.

Men who have answered their country’s call in defence of a “Scrap of Paper”

Mark Kinchington is named on the Roll of Honour, which hangs in St Peter & St Paul’s Church, Little Gaddesden and lists 119 men from Little Gaddesden, Ringshall and Hudnall who served in the 1914 – 1918 War. His entry records him serving in the 10th Bn. Hampshire Regiment, the battalion in which he first served, but does not indicate that he was killed. That information has been added to the Centenary Revision of the Roll.

Rolls of Honour photos: Jane Dickson, Michael Carver

References

1. https://www.findmypast.co.uk England & Wales births 1837-2006 Transcriptions and pdf copy of Birth Certificate

2. https://www.findmypast.co.uk 1891 – 1911 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcriptions

3. https://www.ancestry.co.uk The 1939 Register

4. https://www.findmypast.co.uk Newspapers & Periodicals – The Grantham Journal 6^th June 1914

5. https://www.ancestry.co.uk  British Army WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards 1914-1920

6. http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/hampshire-regiment/

7. https://www.footballandthefirstworldwar.org/operational-theatres-war-medal-index-card-codes/

8. https://www.ancestry.co.uk UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919

9. https://www.ancestry.co.uk UK, Register of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901 – 1929

10. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/203629/M%20KINCHINGTON/

11. https://www.findmypast.co.uk Electoral Registers 1832 – 1932