Private Robert Samuel Marsh (G/278)

Robert Marsh was the son of William and Mary Marsh of Hill View Cottage, Malvern Wells, Malvern. At the outbreak of the war he joined the Royal Garrison Artillery ^[1] at Nottingham, and transferred to the 7th Royal Sussex Regiment ^[2]. He was buried with several others in a cellar his by a shell and found to be dead when the debris was removed.

Robert Marsh was the son of William and Mary Marsh of Hill View Cottage, Malvern Wells, Malvern. At the age of 20 he enlisted for general service in the Royal Garrison Artillery at Nottingham on the 24th August 1914 and joined the regimental depot of the Royal Sussex Regiment five days later. At enlistment he gave his occupation as an ironmonger’s assistant. On the 1st September 1914 he was posted to the D Company of the 7th Battalion, the first service battalion of Lord Kitchener’s new army to be formed in the Royal Sussex Regiment. Indeed as Paul Reed notes, it was one of the very first in the whole of Kitchener’s Army, beginning recruiting at Chichester on 12th August. All the original recruits were given a ‘G’ prefix to their regimental number, as was Marsh.

From Chichester the battalion moved to Sobroan Barracks at Colchester, where it became part of 26th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division. In October 1914 it moved again, to Shorncliffe, and in December to Folkestone, in billets. In March 1915 the battalion moved to Ramillies Barracks, Aldershot. The Battalion landed at Boulogne on 31st May/1st June 1915.

At the end of October, the battalion was involved in the Battle of Loos ^[3], and during this battle he was buried with several others in a cellar his by a shell and found to be dead when the debris was removed.

His elder brother, Bdr George Marsh RFA ^[4] was killed in June 1915.