Archer P Brookes 1897-1915

Archer was born in Lugwardine, Herefordshire in 1897. 

Archer’s father, Edmund Brookes, was a domestic gardener, born in Lugwardine (1858). His mother, Frances Brookes, was born in Mordiford, Herefordshire (1861). ‘Archie’ had five siblings. Nellie (born in 1900), Winifred (born in 1894/5), who married Private Thomas Osborne, Frederick (born in 1888), William (born in 1887) and Sybil (born in 1886). All of the Brookes siblings were born at the family home, Sweet Briar Cottage, Lugwardine, Herefordshire.

Unlike his brother William, Archer did not follow his father into gardening. Archer worked as a grocer’s assistant at Messrs Slater and Sons, Commercial Street, Hereford. Shortly before the war, he moved to Rugby, where he enlisted in the 9th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

Private Brookes saw action at Gallipoli. The 9th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment embarked at Avonmouth on 17 June 1915. They landed at Gallipoli on 13 July. They served off and on in the trenches, losing many men in fierce fighting. On 9 August, the British took the strategically important ridge of Sari Bair. The Turks rallied to a counter-attack. The British were forced back to the lower slopes from whence they started. One company of the Royal Warwickshire held on, till they were surrounded, and all perished. On this day, 9 August 1915, Archie died at Gallipoli. 

Hereford Journal

LUGWARDINE SOLDIER KILLED (HEREFORD JOURNAL 1915)

Pte. Archer P Brookes, 3,077, the 9th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, is officially reported killed in the Dardanelles on August 9th.  Pte Brookes, whose parents live at Lugwardine, was a brother-in-law of lance Corporal T.J. Osborne, 1st Herefordshire Regiment, who was recently killed.  Pte. Brookes, who joined the RWR at the outbreak of war, was formerly an assistant employed by Mr Slatter, Commercial Street, Hereford 

He was  18 years of age when he died.