In Memory of MAURICE CHARLES MANSFIELD Lieutenant General List - British Military Mission, Russia Who died on Friday, 11th Febuary 1916 Aged 47 Buried in Petrograd, Russia Stone 11 - Archangel Memorial, Russian Federation Commemorated in Perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission & Remembered with Honour

Archangel Memorial, Russian Federation1

Maurice Charles Mansfield was born in Spondon, Derbyshire in 1868², the eldest of six children of Joseph and Eliza Ann (née Antill) Mansfield. Joseph, who was born in Derby in 1843, had joined the Midland Railway as a clerk after leaving school and was to rise to a senior level in its goods department. Eliza Antill, whom he had married at Ockbrook Church, Derbyshire in July 1867, was the sister of Frank Dalby Antill (1862-1926) who was also employed in a managerial position with the Midland Railway. It was a background that was to shape the future of their eldest son, Maurice Charles Mansfield.

In 1871 the family, now including two children was living in Ockbrook with Joseph still working locally as a railway clerk³. Also with the family was Eliza's 11-year-old sister Elizabeth Sarah Antill, who was to stay with the generations of the family for the rest of her life. Around the middle of the next decade the family moved to live near Bradford, Yorkshire where Joseph had been appointed Agent for the railway. By then the family had extended to four children with Maurice as a 12-year-old schoolboy⁴. By 1888, Joseph had been appointed railway goods manager in the Manchester area and the family had moved to live in Stretford. By then, the family was complete with five of their six children still alive. Significantly. Maurice, now aged 22, was working as a civil engineer, probably with the railway.⁵. Sadly, in 1899, Eliza Ann died there, aged only 54.

During the next decade and into the early years of the next, Maurice traveled widely as a railway civil engineer, often in remote parts of the world, notably in West Africa and the interior of China⁶. During that time, his father, Joseph, retired and, by 1911, he was living at Trent House, 1 Meadow Road, next to the station in Beeston⁷. Also living there were his already widowed daughter, Marion Maud Hollins and her daughter Mary Evelyn⁸ as well as Joseph's sister-in-law Elizabeth Sarah. Joseph died in July 1911, age 67⁹.

In the years leading up to the outbreak of war in August 1914, Maurice's railway work had taken him to Siberia and the Caucasus and he undoubtedly gained experience of these areas which would have been valuable to the Allies. Although his age - about 46 - would have been beyond the upper limit for volunteers, it seems that he was accepted into the General List because of his specialist experience and knowledge. In December 1914, he was posted to Russia, attached to the British Military Mission there. Russia, of course, had entered the war on the side of the Allies in accordance with the terms of the Triple Entente between Great Britain, France and Russia, that had been agreed in 1907. This British Military Mission appears to have provided an coordinating and support role with the Russians, alongside similar French and Italian Military Missions. Maurice's specialist knowledge of railway in the area would have provided vital input with the maintenance of supply lines. In May 1915, he was promoted to the rank of Temporary Lieutenant¹⁰.

Lieutenant Mansfield died on 11 February 1916, in Petrograd¹¹, of causes and in circumstances that not currently known. However, the attendees at his funeral, held on the 14th at the local Anglican Church, are a clear indication of the respect and standing in which he was held. They including the Assistant Minister of War, in the unavoidable absence of the Minister of War himself, and a number of high-ranking Army officers as well as the Chiefs of the British, French and Italian Military Missions¹². Again, although we have no record, it is likely that he was buried in the Anglican Cemetery there. He is also remembered on the Archangel Memorial, Russian Federation which commemorates 219 British officers and men who died in Russia, mainly but not exclusively during the north Russian campaign in the final years of the 1st World War and beyond, and whose graves are not known¹³.

Lieutenant Mansfield was posthumously awarded the Victory and British Medals and the 1914-15 Star¹⁴. His estate, initially valued at £516 10s 11d was proved at Nottingham on 29 December 1918 by his sister, Marion Maud Hollins. Remarkably and inexplicably, the value of his estate was resworn in July 1928 at £10,516 10s 11d¹⁵.

Maurice's sister, Marion Hollins, and his aunt, Elizabeth Antill, continued to live at Trent House up to Marion's death in July 1938, after which Elizabeth moved to Belper to keep house for Wilfred Mansfield who was working there as the manager of a pickle factory, She died in 1943 in Nottingham, aged 84. Mary Evelyn Hollins, Marion's daughter, married the Reverend Christopher James Gurnhill at Beeston Parish Church on 16 October 1923. He was the son of Rev James Gurnhill, Vicar of East Stockwith, Lincolnshire and later Clerk and Canon of Lincoln Cathedral. Reverend Christopher Gurnhill later became Vicar of a parish just south of Peterborough and, finally, of Clevedon in Avon. Mary Evelyn died there in 1976, followed by her husband in 1981¹⁶.

Footnotes
¹The photograph of the Archangel memorial is from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. (http://www.cwgc.org.
²His birth was registered in Spondon Registration District in Q2/1868 (Ref 7b 365). He was baptised at Ockbrook Parish Church, Derbyshire on 12 July 1868.
³1871 Census - Ockbrook, Derbyshire: Piece 3778 Folio 7-8.
⁴1881 Census - Manningham, Bradford, Yorkshire: Piece 4464 Folio 110 - 26 Fairfield Road.
⁵1991 Census - Stretford, Lancashire: Piece 3159 Folio 206 - 589 Chester Road.
Maurice's living siblings were then Edith Mary (1870-1901), Marion Maud (1871-1938), Wilfred Antill (1881-1943) and Arthur Norman (1887-1966). A brother, Percy Frank, born in 1876, had died in 1890.
⁶This outline of his career is derived from a brief obituary published in the Derbyshire Advertiser on 16 February 1916.
⁷1911 Census - Beeston, Notts: Piece 20429 RD429 SD3 ED4 Sched 265.
⁸Marion Maud Mansfield had married William Henry Hollins, a cotton spinner, on 31 December 1895 at Stretford Parish Church, Lancashire. Their daughter, Mary Evelyn Sadly, was born on 6 November 1896. Sadly, William Henry died on 22 May 1897.
⁹Joseph died on 9 July 1911. Administration of his estate, valued at £1,841 18s 7d, was granted to Maurice Charles Mansfield, at Nottingham Probate Registry on 8 January 1912.
¹⁰London Gazette - 25 May 1915
¹¹Petrograd had been 'Saint Petersburg' up to 1 September 1914. It was then renamed because of German elements in its name. It has now reverted to its original name.
¹²The date of his death and details of his funeral are from an account in the Derbyshire Advertiser of 16 February 1916.
¹³More details of the memorial may be seen on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.
¹⁴Details from his Medal Card, available on ancestry.com. His original entry date into Russia (Dec 1914) is also from this source.
¹⁵Details of the Administration of his estate are from the Probate Calendar, available at ancestry.com and elsewhere.
¹⁶These family details are derived from standard genealogical sources.

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