Handley Dobbs
1903 - Labourer
1903 - Regular soldier, transferred to the Army Reserve, 1 April 1911.
1914 - Mobilized
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Handley was the son of Handley Gibson Dobbs and his second wife Eliza (née Ratcliff/Ratcliffe).
His father, a brewer, married Emma Bunting at Sneinton St Stephen in March 1879 (both signed with their mark). The couple probably separated the following year (see 'Extra information') and Emma died the same year (1880 OND, age 25). In 1881 Handley Gibson, described on the census as a widower, was living at 15 Howard Street, Nottingham, with his daughter Eliza Ann Dobbs (sic) age 3. Eliza had been born in 1877 (surname reg. Bunting) and later lived with her maternal grandmother, Ann Bunting.
Handley Gibson married Eliza Ratcliff in 1897 (reg. JFM). With the exception of their youngest child, Joseph, their children were born before their marriage and apart from Handley and Joseph whose surnames were registered as 'Dobbs', the other children were registered as 'Ratcliff/e': Handley (1886 AMJ), Emma (1890), Charlotte (1894) and Joseph (1897). Another child, Ernest Ratcliffe (1883), who is included with the family on the 1891 Census with the surname Dobbs, is recorded as Ratcliffe on the 1901 Census and described as Handley's stepson.
In 1891 Handley Gibson, a brewer, Eliza who was working in the lace trade, and Ernest, Handley (4) and Emma (6m) were living at 20 Mount East Street. Charlotte was born three years later and Joseph, who was born in 1897, died in a tragic accident when he was two years old. (See 'Extra information')
Handley's second wife Eliza died in 1899 aged 36 (burial 3 November).
Handley married Rose Maltby (née Robinson), a widow, in 1901. Rose had married Daniel Thomas Maltby at Nottingham St Nicholas on 25 December 1872 and they had four sons, John Maltby Robinson, who was born in 1871 before their marriage, Daniel Thomas (1875), Arthur (1879) and Charles Frederick (1890). Her husband died in October 1899.
Handley, who was still working as a brewer, and Rose were living at 32 Greyfriar Street in 1901. In the home on the night of the census were two of his children, Handley and Charlotte, who were both school age, and his two stepsons Ernest Ratcliffe, a brewer, and Charles Maltby who was at school.
Handley jnr. joined the Army in 1903 and named his father Handley and Rose of 32 Grey Friar Road (sic), and his brother-sic Ernest, who was serving with the Grenadier Guards, as his next of kin. A later addition was made, 'wife Mrs HE Dobbs c/o Smith' (address illegible).
By 1911 Handley, who was working in a public house, and Eliza, a shopkeeper (provisions) on her own account, were living at 32 Queens Road.
Handley jnr., who had joined the Army in 1903, was serving with the 1st Battalion Sherwood Foresters in India in 1911. On the night of the Census 'A' and 'B' Companies of the 1st Battalion, including Handley, were in Gough Barracks, Trimulgherry, Deccan (officer commanding Lt Col Cadogan Wolley Dod DSO). Trimulgherry was a suburb of Secunderabad, the cantonment area of Hyderabad. Recorded on the Census were 281 persons: 4 commissioned officers, 263 warrant officers, NCOs, trumpeters and drummers, rank and file, 2 wives of commissoned officers, 7 wives of soldiers and five soldiers' children (2M, 3F).
Handley's father died in 1913 aged 57, burial 6 November. His stepmother Rose Dobbs died in 1921, burial 17 February.
Pension records show that Handley married while out in India. He had transferred to the Army Reserve on 1 April 1911, receiving permission to remain in India (Authority dated 31 March 1911), and probably married shortly after this date. He and his wife Harriet Emma (b. August 1889) had two daughters, Marjorie b. 28 July 1913 and Margaret b. 10 July 1915. (Handley was mobilised in 1914 to the 1st Bn Sherwood Foresters, but remained in India until August 1915 having been attached to another Regiment which was still serving there.) Harriet remarried (Smith) and the pension records, which date from 1919, are in her married name. Her husband, 'J Smith', was a railway guard, and they lived at Shalapur [Punjab]. Harriet was awarded a pension and in addition £58 18s, was invested in the purchase of 76 (15/6d) National Savings Certificates, dated 6 January 1921, 38 Certificates for each child.
Handley Dobbs had served in the Militia, 4th Battalion Sherwood Foresters, before joining the Army. He enlisted in the Sherwood Foresters on 18 February 1903 on a Short Service Engagement, 12 years, 3 years with the Colours, 9 years Reserve, but on 31 December 1903 he was given permission to extend his period of Army service to complete 8 years with the Colours (1911).
His service record gives his age as 18 years 1 month on enlistment. He was born in 1886 (reg AMJ) and so in February 1903 would have been about 17½. He was 5 feet 6 inches tall.
He was posted to the 2nd Battalion and initially served in Woolwich and Aldershot, but was then posted overseas with the 1st Battalion to Singapore on 4 December 1905 (where he had two antityphoid innoculations in November 1906). The 1st Battalion had been posted to Singapore in October 1902 on a two year tour after active service in South Africa. Handley was posted to India with the Battalion on 12 December 1906; he had been medically examined in Singapore on 30 November 1906 and 'found fit for India'.
During his career Handley was promoted lance corporal (12 December 1906) and then demoted to private, 'deprived of his Lance stripe for 'Drunk' and forfeit of 1 Good Conduct Badge (without pay)' in July 1907. He was appointed lance corporal again in October 1908 but reverted to private at his own request.
He contracted dysentery on at least three occasions while serving abroad.
He transferred to the Army Reserve on 1 April 1911 and was given permission to remain in India, possibly working on the Indian Railway. He was mobilised on the outbreak of war and his Army Service Record has two stamps, 'mobilized Lichfield 30 August 1914' and 'Posted 30 August 1914 to 1st Battalion', although it is unlikely (although possible) he returned to England with 1st Battalion. The 1st Battalion had returned to England after the declaration of war and landed in Plymouth on 2 October 1914 then embarked for BEF France, landing at Le Havre on 5 November. Handley was, instead, attached to the 1st Battalion Oxfordshires and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry which was already serving in India when war was declared.
Handley entered theatre (Mesopotamia) on 25 August 1915 but was admitted to hospital on 29 August 1915, suffering from bronchitis. He was discharged on 6 September.
On 29 April 1916 the 1st Battalion OBLI were captured at Kut Al Amara when the garrison was surrendered to the Turks by the garrison commander Sir Charles Townshend. On 15 October 1916 Handley was reported to be a Prisoner of War, interned at Afion, Karahissar. On 10 November 1917 he was reported as having died at Ada Pazar and this is the date of death recorded by CWGC.
Service: Home 18 February 1903-3 November 1905 (2y 259d), Singapore 4 November 1904-11 December 1906 (1y 38d), India 12 December 1906-29 (sic) August 1914 (8y 248d). Subsequent entries altered several times and the document is damaged, but it is likely that he embarked 17 August 1915, with the Ox&Bucks for Mesopotamia, HMHS Varsova (formerly SS Varsova), disembarking 26 August (alternative date 25 August). Total service to 10 November 1917, 14 years 266 days.
Handley is commemorated in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq (Ada Bazar Mem. 185).
CWGC history of the War Cemetery (extract): 'In 1914, Baghdad was the headquarters of the Turkish Army in Mesopotamia. It was the ultimate objective of the Indian Expeditionary Force 'D' and the goal of the force besieged and captured at Kut in 1916. The city [Baghdad] finally fell in March 1917, but the position was not fully consolidated until the end of April. Nevertheless, it had by that time become the Expeditionary Force's advanced base, with two stationary hospitals and three casualty clearing stations. The North Gate Cemetery was begun In April 1917 and has been greatly enlarged since the end of the First World War by graves brought in from other burial grounds in Baghdad and northern Iraq, and from battlefields and cemeteries in Anatolia where Commonwealth prisoners of war were buried by the Turkish forces ... At present, 4,160 Commonwealth casualties of the First World War are commemorated by name in the cemetery, many of them on special memorials. Unidentified burials from this period number 2,729.' (www.cwgc.org)
John Morse (additions RF)
Additional research and family and military histories revised and updated (RF Aug. 2025)
Nottingham Evening Post, 19 June 1880. 'Police News. Threatening his wife. Handley Dobbs brewer, was charged with using threatening language towards his wife last night. Mr Lees defended. The parties expressed a desire to live separately, and after hearing evidence, Mr Manning ordered that Dobbs should allow his wife 5s per week.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Nottingham Evening Post, 6 July 1899. ‘Accidental Death of a Child in Nottingham. The Deputy Coroner (Mr FW Rothera) held an inquest last evening at the Mortuary on the body of Joseph Dobbs, aged two years, whose death occurred on Tuesday. The mother, Eliza Dobbs, deposed that she resided at 26, Friar-gate. On Monday night her daughter, aged seven, took the deceased in her arms into the yard, and shortly afterwards witness heard a cry. She went out and found that the girl had evidently collided with a bath which was in the centre of the yard, and the baby had slipped from her grasp. The child was in an unconscious condition when picked up. A medical man was sent for, but the child died early on Tuesday morning. Mr JC Harcourt, surgeon, of Castle-gate, deposed that he was called in and made an examination of the child. He found signs of concussion, and there was complete paralysis of the lower limbs. The jury returned a verdict of ‘Accidental death.’ (wwwbritishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) Death reg. 1899 JAS Nottm (age 2)
Nottingham Evening Post, 31 August 1899: ‘A Nottingham Boy Injured At Play. Yesterday, Henry-sic [Handley] Dobbs, aged 13, whose parents reside at 26, Friar-gate, Nottingham, was admitted to the General Hospital suffering from concussion of the brain. It appears that the lad was playing with some schoolmates on Saturday, when he fell down a steep bank and hurt his head. He was not medically attended, but as his condition gradually grew worse he was taken to a chemist, when his removal to the hospital was seen to be necessary.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Baptism: Private Handley Gipson-sic Dobbs 1st Bn Sherwood Foresters, b. 17 May 1887 (sic), adult son of Handley Gipson-sic, mother Eliza, was baptised at Secunderabad, Madras, India, on 21 July 1910.
HMHS Varsova formerly SS Varsova. A passenger cargo ship launched and completed in 1914, for the British India Steam Navigation Company, but requisitioned on her arrival in India in October 1914. Although converted to a hospital ship in support of the Mesopotamiam campaign, in the early stages of the war she was probably also used as a troop/transport ship as in 1915 for the Gallipoli campaign.
Photo of Handley Dobbs
Bagdad (North gate ) War Cemetery, Iraq