ARTHUR CHARLES HALL
Being a son of a serving soldier prior to WW1, there was a good chance that the family would be overseas at the time of the censuses and leave only intermittent records at home. This happened to Arthur Charles Hall whose father Albert was in the army and appears to have been abroad in 1901.
The first we see of Arthur Charles comes from the record of his time spent at the Secondary School (later Southern Grammar School) on Victoria Road North, Southsea. He attended the school from 1908 to 1910 after which 'he passed into the Army Ordnance Department, Woolwich, as a Boy Artificer, and continued his training at Ordnance College, where he did well and obtained the Superior Certificate in April, 1914.'
Although Charles was probably away at Woolwich for the 1911 census, his father had by that time retired from the army to become an insurance agent. This meant that the family appeared in the census as living at 73 Wymering Road. It consisted of Albert (b. 1864), Emma Blanche (b. 1866) with children Albert, Henry, Noah and Marion.
When the war broke out in August 1914 Arthus Charles '...went to France with the "Old Contemptibles," qualified for the Mons Medal, and was recommended for the D.C.M. After two years in France, he was gassed and received serious injury to his lungs.
'Then he went to the East where he served for a year and eight months. The old injury to his lungs caused him a great deal of trouble and he died of pneumonia on November 28th, 1918, in the Hospital at Ludd, a few miles south of Jaffa. He was buried in Ramleh Military Cemetery, 25 miles west of Jerusalem on the Jaffa Road.
'During his short career, Arthur C. Hall had risen to the rank of Fitter Staff Sergeant in the R.G.A., and at the time of his death he was serving in the 300th Siege Battery R.G.A. The Major of the Battery wrote of him :- "He could never be induced to take his duties lightly. The guns of the Battery were under his direct care and he never tired in his duty toward them ; as a result, during the whole course of the Battery's career we have never had a gun out of action when it was needed to fire."'
Further Information
The photograph reproduced is from a memorial booklet published by Southern Grammar School from which extracts also appear above.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website lists Fitter Staff Sergeant Arthur Charles Hall (158399), Royal Garrison Artillery, 300th Siege Battery, date of death, 27/11/1918, aged 22. Buried at the Ramleh War Cemetery. Son of Emma Blanche Hall, of 42, Finsbury St. Buckland, Portsmouth, and the late Albert Hall.
Arthur Hall is remembered on the Southern Grammar School WW1 memorial Plaque as well as on the Cenotaph. He is not listed in the 'National Roll of the Great War'.
Arthur's brother Henry Cecil Hall was also killed in World War 1.