Category: Military
Rank: Lance Corporal G/18594
Regiment or Ship: 9th Bn Royal Sussex Regiment
Service Number(s): G/18594
Occupation: Postman.
Date of Birth: 1884
Place of Birth: Hastings, Sussex
Date of Death: 07.12.1964
Place of Death: Battle registration district.
Address: 24 Windsor Road, Bexhill
Photos and newspaper articles
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Family Information
Parents: Thomas Cheesman Elgar, b.1847 in Hastings, d. 1924, and Charlotte Honeyset Elgar (nee Streeter), b. 1848 in Hastings, d. 1910.
Siblings:
Alice M. Elgar, b. 1871 in Hastings.
Clare Elgar, b. 1875 in Hastings.
Ernest E. Elgar, b.1879 in Hastings.
Ethel Elgar, d. 1882 in Hastings.
Albert Elgar, b. 1887 in Hastings.
Alfred Elgar, b. 1889 in Hastings.
Ida W. Elgar, b. 1893 in Hastings.
Mabel Elgar, b. 1896 in Hastings.
In 1901 the family were living at 163 Queen’s Road, Hastings, and Thomas was employed as an upholsterer. Ernest was a postman, Ethel a dressmaker, Albert a grocer’s boy, and the younger children were all at school.
Spouse
Arthur married Harriett Holland in 1905. Harriett was born in 1879 in Battle, and died in 1964 in the Hailsham registration district.
They had two children, Ronald Geoffrey Elgar who was born in Bexhill in 1906, and Phyllis Kathleen Elgar who was born in 1909 and died in 2000.
In 1901 Arthur was employed as a Telegraph Messenger but by 1911 was working as a postman. In 1911 the family were living at 121 Station Road, Bexhill, but before 1918 had moved to 24 Windsor Road, Bexhill.
First World War Experience
Sadly, Arthur’s service records have not survived – apart from his Medal and Award Rolls details – so we do not know exactly what his role was in the war years. However, from the local newspapers, the Bexhill Chronicle and the Bexhill Observer, we know that he was taken a prisoner of war sometime in March 1918. He was imprisoned until November 1919 and the following article appeared in the Bexhill Observer:-
“Among those safely returned is L/Corporal A. B. Elgar, 9th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, of 24, Windsor-road.
He was captured last March, and was sent to Lagensalza*. Some others were badly treated, but he personally was not. He worked at platelaying on a railway, and much preferred this to the camp. He got the regimental parcels regularly, but of those sent personally, containing cigarettes or tobacco, he only received one. Coming back through Holland he had a very good reception.”
* Langensalza was a POW Camp in the Thuringia province of Germany.
Arthur enlisted on 6th March 1916 and he was finally discharged on 5th April 1919. He started his army service as a Private but ended his service as a Lance Corporal. He served in the 3rd, 7th, and 9th Battalions of the Royal Sussex Regiment and was awarded both the Victory Medal and the British Medal.