“Brian (whose second name in some records is written as “Denis”) was born in Epsom Q4 1918, apparently the only child of Dennis Alfred and Elsie Morgan Neal.
Although his father had been born in Beccles, Suffolk in 1884, the next two Censuses record him in Epsom. As a 7 year old in 1891, he was living with three siblings in Pikes Hill – their early 40s parents (Edward and Susan) being away, perhaps in connection with Edward’s being an “Evangelical Protestant Missionary”. The 1901 Census records the 17 year old, Dennis – now a “Shorthand Clerk” – and two siblings living with their now early 50s parents in Albert Villas, 1 Church Road, Epsom.
“Brian’s mother had been born Q2 1881 in the Isle of Wight as Elsie Morgan Westmore. The 1901 Census records her as a 19 year old “Schoolteacher” living with her parents (49 year old Alfred, a “Dairyman”, and 46 year old Phoebe, a “Dairywoman”) and four siblings (aged from 10 to 20) at Chillerton, Gatcombe on the Isle of Wight. Every member of the family had been born on the island, and it was there that Elsie married Dennis in Q3 1908.
Dennis and Elsie set up home in Epsom. The 1911 Census records them, aged 27 and 29 respectively, living alone at “Beechwood”, Temple Road. Dennis’s occupation is listed as “Clerk, Bank of England”. As noted at the beginning of this article, the birth of what seems to be their only child, Brian, was registered in Epsom in Q4 1918.
Dennis and Elsie appear only twice more in the readily available records. The manifest of the Orient Line’s RMS Ormonde leaving London on 17 August 1935 for Sydney, Australia lists them as passengers whose last address in the UK was the Barkston Gardens Hotel, Earls Court, London SW5 and that their “Country of intended future permanent residence” was New Zealand. Nevertheless, they returned (if only briefly) to the UK and the manifest of the Orient Line’s RMS Orion leaving London on 10 September 1937 for Sydney, Australia lists them as passengers whose last address in the UK was “C/o NZ House, Strand, London WC2” and, again, that their “Country of intended future permanent residence” was New Zealand.
No record has yet been found of their son Brian’s move to New Zealand, but he clearly did so. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that he had married Mary Isobel Neal, of Point Chevalier, Auckland, New Zealand and that his WW2 service was with the 4 Field Regiment, New Zealand Artillery.
Brian’s Regiment was part of the forces New Zealand sent to assist the UK during WW2. It was attached to the British Eighth Army and saw action in Greece, North Africa (not least during the key battles of El Alamein) and Italy.
The Allies invaded the Italian mainland on 3 September 1943, coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side. Progress through southern Italy was rapid despite stiff resistance, but the advance was checked for some months at the German winter defensive position known as the Gustav Line. After protracted fighting (not least at Monte Cassino in which Brian’s Regiment was involved), the line eventually fell in May 1944 and as the Germans fell back, Rome was taken by the Allies on 3 June.
After being driven from Rome, the Germans made their first stand around Lake Bolsena about 60 miles to the north. It was in the wide-ranging action to break this stand that Brian was killed in action on 25 July 1944. He is one of 597 Commonwealth WW2 burials in the Bolsena War Cemetery (Grave III.A.7) situated on the eastern side of Lake Bolsena. – Roger Morgan © 2018” [Source: https://eehe.org.uk/?p=40868#NealBD, accessed:7/07/2022]
