2/8th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment
Leonard Harold Pankhurst was born in 1897 in Allensmore, Hereford and was the son of John Smith Pankhurst and Mary Jane (née Preece), and Christened in Allensmore, on 6 June 1897.
In his time, his father was a Wheelwright, Carpenter and Farmer.
Leonard’s siblings were Mary Florence (1885), Beatrice Annie (1887), Ernest John (1889), Arthur William (1892), Gertrude Jessie (1894), Percy Geoffrey (1901) and Cecil Walter (1904).
In 1901, the family resided at Moorfield Place, Allensmore; and by 1911, they had moved to Haskins Farm, Hill Cottage, Taynton.
Leonard enlisted at Sandown, Isle of Wight and joined the 1/8th Isle of Wight Rifles, Princess Beatrice’s Battalion. The unit was stationed at Newport, Isle of Wight in August 1914.
In April 1915, it was attached to 163rd Brigade in the 54th East Anglian Division, moved to Bury St Edmunds and then to Watford. On 30 July it was mobilised for war and embarked for Gallipoli from Liverpool.
As part of the Territorial Force, 1/8th Battalion landed at Suvla Bay in Gallipoli on 9 August 1915.
Due to heavy losses from combat, disease, and severe weather, the unit was evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt on 3 December 1915, and on 31 October 1918 ended the war in Palestine near Beirut.
There appears to be no service records for Leonard, which may indicate they were part of the burnt documents’ (WO 363) damaged or lost during the WW2 bombing of London in September 1940.
However, the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects lists Leonard as being of the 2/8th Battalion Hampshire Regiment.
The 2nd Battalion had a totally different war experience to that of the 1st Battalion because they stayed on the Isle of Wight until August 1916.
His father John received the War Gratuity Leonard died on 12 March 1916, aged 19 years, at the Military Hospital, Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight.
His Theatre of War was given as ‘Home’, and therefore he was not entitled to war medals.
He is buried in the churchyard of St Lawrence, Taynton.
Leonard is commemorated with 23 other parishioners on the Taynton War Memorial which is located in front of the entrance to St Lawrence Church, Taynton.
The original inscriptions on the Memorial became difficult to read; so metal plaques were installed below each panel. He is also commemorated in the Drill Hall, Newport, and the Chapel of St Nicholas Carisbrooke Castle – both on the Isle of Wight.
Researched by Baden Russell October 2020