Pte 22805 Ross Hamlet Penny

• Age: 19
• From: Bootle, Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 6th February 1916
• Commemorated at: Cerisy-gailly Mil Cem
  Panel Ref: II.G.25

Ross was born on 20th March 1897 at St Johns Road, Bootle, the third of nine children born to Thomas Hamlet Penny, a carter, and his wife Jane (nee Thompson).  His parents married in 1892, and all  their children, eight sons and one daughter, were given the middle name Hamlet. Sadly, their first two children died young: John William at 10 months and Tom at 12 months. After Ross, the eldest surviving child, came George, Wilfred, Alice May, Ernest, Arthur, and Harold.

The 1901 Census finds the family living at 65 St John's Road, Bootle. Ross is 4 years of age and lives with his parents and younger brother George H. aged 1. His father is a 29 year old carter born in Liverpool whilst his mother is 25 years of age and was also born in Liverpool.

In 1911, the family is boarding at 71 St John’s Road, Bootle with the family of Thomas Jones. Ross' father Thomas, who had lost his mother at birth, seems to have lived in several houses in St John’s Road as a boarder, together with his widowed father, William. He is now 39 years of age and a  carter in a saw mill. His wife Jane is 35. Ross is listed as aged 14 and an apprentice engineer in a sawmill. His siblings are reorded as George Hamlet 11, Alice May Hamlet 5 and Ernest Hamlet 4. Wilfred, aged 9, is with his paternal grandparents a few doors away at no. 65 St John's Road.

Two more sons were born after the census: Arthur in 1912 and Harold in 1914 (who died at 3 months old).

Ross enlisted at Liverpool on 09^th November 1914, giving his age as 19 years and 1 month, his occupation as engineer and his next of kin as his father of 71 St John’s Road.  He was described as being 5' 5 and a half inches tall, weighing 118 lbs, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes, and light brown hair. As already shown he was born on 20^th March 1897, which would have made him only 17 years old on enlistment. It is obvious that he gave a false age and in fact the date of birth he gave, presumably in answer to a question from the recruiting officer, is shown on his attestation papers as 09.10.1895. It is possible that he gave a false date of birth in order that he would be deemed old enough to be posted overseas. 

Formed in November 1914 the 20^th Battalion were originally billeted at Tournament Hall, Knotty Ash before on 29^th January 1915 they moved to the hutted accommodation purposely built at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 20th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. He arrived in France on 7^th November 1915.

CWGC shows his date of death as 06^th February 1916, while Graham Maddocks and SDGW give it as 02^nd June 1916. His service papers clearly show that Ross Penny was killed in action on 06^th February 1916. In fact a letter to his father about Ross’s effects and medals is dated 20^th April 1916.

The Battalion diary records the events as follows:

All available men employed making dugouts and filling water tanks, enemy artillery active. On the night of 6th-7th the enemy fired shrapnel shells at a communication trench under construction. Casualties: 1 O.R. killed, 2 O.R. wounded.

It is highly probable that Ross was the 1 Other Rank indicated in the diary.

His death was reported in the local press in the Liverpool Evening Express on 16th February, Liverpool Daily Post 26th February 1916 and the Liverpool Echo on 21st March 1916 :

A Braver Man Never Breathed 

News has been received of the death in action of Private Ross H. Penny, aged 18, of the 20th Battalion (Pals) King's (Liverpool Regiment). He was shot through the head by a sniper as he was entering the trenches and suffered no pain. He has been buried in the Military Cemetery close behind the firing line, and a cross will be erected to mark his grave. Before the war he was an apprentice employed at Messrs.Quayle's Saw Mills,Bootle. He was the eldest of a family of six children,and lived with his parents at 71,St.John's-road, Bootle. 

He was buried in Maricourt Military Cemetery, his grave marked by a cross, and after the war, when graves were concentrated, his body was removed and reinterred at  Cerisy-Gailly Cemetery, Grave II G 25 where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"HIS DUTY NOBLY DONE HE SLEEPETH"

He earned his three medals, which his father signed for.

Soldiers Effects to father Thomas Hamlet, including a War Gratuity of £4-10s to his mother. Pension to mother Jane.

Personal items returned:- disc, leather wallet with letters and photos, leather cigarette case, french dictionary, book "the happy warrior", purse, coin, metal wrist watch, key, handkerchief.

He is commemorated on the family headstone in Bootle Cemetery:

In Loving Memory of:

                             ROSS HAMLET   
                             Pte. (20th Pals)    
                   Beloved son of T. & J. PENNY                             
KILLED IN ACTION 6TH FEB. 1916 AGED 19 YEARS
                        “He answered the call.”

In a sworn declaration dated 13^th July 1916, his father names his surviving family as himself and his wife Jane, his 4 brothers - George, 19 years and serving with the RMLI aboard HMS Lucia; Wilfred, 17 years; Ernest, 12;Arthur, 6 - and one sister, Alice May aged 15 years.

His parents lost their only daughter when Alice died in 1922, at the age of 18.

George enlisted on 27th November 1916 when he was 17 in the Royal Marines Light Infantry. He served until September 1945 (through WW2 at the R.M. Reserve Depot).

In 1939 his parents lived at 52 Benedict Street. Thomas was 69 and retired, and Jane was 64.

Ross is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 54.

Bootle Civic Memorial

Trinity Presbyterian Mens Bible Class which was situated at Millers Bridge in Bootle. The Memorial Board is kept in safe keeping at the Central Library in Liverpool.     

Research shows that  his father Thomas was found dead in the Leeds-Liverpool Canal on Christmas Eve, 1940. This was reported in the Liverpool Echo on 27th December 1940

BODY IN CANAL

An open verdict was returned by the coroner for South West Lancashire (Mr C. Bolton) at the inquest at Litherland today on Thomas Hamlet Penny, aged 70, retired carter of 52 Benedict Street, Bootle, whose body was found in the canal at Litherland on Christmas Eve. Wilfred H. Penny, 183 Granton Road, Everton, a member of the A.F.S., said his father came to live with him on December 23, he went to the barbers with his grandson, age 7, who returned later and said "Grandad is in the barbers chair." Witness did not know why his father went along the canal, he had no worries or financial troubles.

Ross' mother Jane lived until 1966, aged 91.

We currently have no further information on Ross Hamlet Penny, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.