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CRASTER WAR MEMORIALS

World War One

The Memorials
The Fallen
Roll of Honour

Arthur Denmead

Arthur Denmead of the Royal Naval Reserve, a ship saloon steward, Service No. 33819, died in Craster, at the coastguard station, on October 25th 1918, aged 20. His death certificate gives the causes of death as 1. Pulmonary Tuberculosis (12 months) 2. Haemoptysis. The latter is a condition associated with TB. The informant was his father, W. L. Denmead.

An enquiry was made to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission asking why Arthur is not recorded on their data base. Their reply states, "having checked the criteria required for the Mercantile Marine, we were only informed for inclusion within our records if they died between 4 August 1914 to 11 November 1918, and where death occurred as a result of enemy action and is confirmed by the forces." This suggests that Arthur sailed in the merchant navy, rather than the Royal Navy.

It is not known at present where Arthur is buried

Arthur was the son of William Llewellyn and Sarah Denmead. His father was chief coastguard in Craster during the war and they lived in the top house in the row of Coastguard cottages on Whin Hill. Theirs was a large family and one that moved around, as the 1901 census return tells us, as William's job as a coastguard took him around the country. Their eldest son William was born in 1890 in Weston Super Mare, the next four children, Elizabeth (1891), Ernest (1892) Edgar (1893)  and Florence (1895) were born in Burnmouth. Llewellyn (1896) was born in Newton by Sea and Arthur (1898), and Frederick (1900) were born in (here the census return is not clear, but it looks like) Hauxley, Northumberland.

The family cannot be found in the 1911 census, although by that time Edgar, aged 18, had returned to Burnmouth where he was working as a 'boyservant'. The Commonwealth War Grave citation for Llewellyn gives a Weston Super Mare address for his father William.

Arthur's brother Llewellyn died on the Somme in 1916 and brothers Frederick, Edgar and Ernest fought in the war and are listed on St Peter's Roll of Honour.