On this day in 1918, Private John Leslie Neale died

The formal ending of WW1 died not bring peace to all of those who had fought. Many men lived with the aftermath and died of wounds and illness long after hostilities had ceased. Two men named on the Stoke Climsland war memorial were amongst these.

John Leslie Neale, commonly known as Leslie, was the eldest child and only son of John Henry and Eliza Coumbe Neale. He had two sisters, Blanche and Ena. His father was a farmer and Leslie was born at their farm near Lewannick in 1898. He was baptised there (Newton Farm between Congon’s Shop and South Petherwin) under the auspices of the Launceston Bible Christian Circuit on 10th March 1898. Sometime after 1901, the family moved to Crockett farm, from where Leslie and his sisters went to the village school in Stoke Climsland.

Leslie with his sisters, Blanche and Ena. Blanche is on their horse, Tommy, whilst Leslie holds their dog, Shep

Leslie with his father and elder sister, Blanche. Both of these family photographs were taken on the farm at Crockett, near Stoke Climsland

Leslie, flanked by two of his friends

We don’t know exactly when Leslie enlisted but his regimental number and War Gratuity payment both suggest that it was in mid-1917. This being the case he probably spent some time with the 1st/5th Devons in Egypt and might have fought in the following campaigns: Third Battle Of Gaza (6th November 1917; Capture Of Junction Station (13th November); Battle Of Nabi Samweil (20th November); Tell ‘Asur (11th March 1918); Berukin (9th April). The latter was, perhaps, their most successful action whilst in Egypt, capturing the town at a cost of 88 casualties.

In May 1918 the 1st/5th Devons were ordered to France where they fought on the Marne and elsewhere in many engagements: Battle Of Tardenois (20th July); Battle Of The Scarpe (26th August); Battle Of The Drocourt-Queant Line (2nd September); Battle Of Havrincourt (12th September); Battle Of The Canal Du Nord (27th September) and during the Final Advance In Picardy, the Battle Of The Selle (17th October); the Capture Of Solesmes (20th October) and the Battle Of The Sambre (4th November). The Armistice found the 1st/5th Devons behind the line at Monplaisir after 30 months’ fighting in Palestine and France which had cost the lives of 342 of their comrades and won the two battalions ten battle honours.

At some point, Leslie was either wounded or developed an illness and he died on 12th December 1918, a month after the cessation of hostilities. He is buried in Plot S.IV.D.6 in the St. Sever Cemetery Extension in Rouen. During the war, Commonwealth camps and hospitals were stationed on the southern outskirts of the city. A base supply depot and the 3rd Echelon of General Headquarters were also established there. Almost all of the hospitals at Rouen remained there for practically the whole of the war. They included eight general, five stationary, one British Red Cross and one labour hospital, and No. 2 Convalescent Depot. A number of the dead from these hospitals were buried in other cemeteries, but the great majority were taken to the city cemetery of St. Sever. In September 1916, it was found necessary to begin an extension, where the last burial took place in April 1920. Leslie would have been a patient of one of these hospitals and was buried in the Extension.

Detail from Leslie Neale's death certificate

Leslie Neale’s Headstone with the inscription
A Devoted Son and Brother

Leslie’s effects of £38 16s 5p were given to his father.


The formal record of Leslie Neale's effects