Working on my 2x great grandparents John Blake and Ann (Farmer) Blake, I was trying to find more information on the eldest son of Harry Joseph Moth and Jane (Annetts) Moth. Jane was the daughter of Robert Annetts and Martha (Blake) Annets and my 1st cousin twice removed. Francis was my 2nd cousin once removed.
Since I could not find him in the 1939 Register I decided to search for him in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site. I did locate him and Private Francis William Moth, Service Number 2056 1st/4th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, died the 21st of January 1916 in Mesopotamia. His parents were listed as the late Mr. H.J. and Mrs. J. Moth of 15 Mount Pleasant, New Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire. His mother died in 1920 and his father in 1927.
Francis William Moth was the eldest of six children (3 sons and 3 daughters). He is commemorated on the BASRA Memorial in Iraq. Total identified casualties on the memorial numbered 40,640. The particular battle in which he may have died was the First Battle of Hanna which was fought on the 20-21 Jan 1916 between the Ottoman Army and Anglo-Indian Forces. On the 20th/21st January the 7th Division sustained 2700 casualties. This was a prelude to the surrender of the garrison at Kut-al-Amara 29 Apr 1916.
His five siblings all survived the first world war although one of his sisters died during the second world war at Croydon, Surrey.
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