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Captain Laurence William TUTTIETT
12th (Service) Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment (2nd South Downs) Date of birth: 3rd June 1891 Date of death: 3rd September 1916 Killed in action aged 25 Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial Panel and Face 7C
Laurence William Tuttiett was born at the Rectory, Westley, Newmarket in Cambridgeshire on the 3rd of June 1891 the only son of the Reverend Laurence Rayner Tuttiett, Rector of Kevedon Hatch, and Jesse (nee Champion) Tuttiett of Avenue House, Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex. He was educated at Lancing College where he was in News House from September 1904 to July 1906. He left for South Africa, and on the 5th of May 1908 he enlisted as a Trooper in the British South African Police until the 16th of July 1911 when he was discharged due to being medically unfit. Following the outbreak of war he applied for a commission on the 14th of December 1914 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 6th Battalion Dorset Regiment on the 18th of December 1914. He was due to report for training at Cambridge. He wrote to the War Office on the 19th of December to tell them that he had been offered a commission with the rank of Lieutenant with the 12th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment which he had accepted and requested that they cancel his other appointment. He reported for a medical examination and was passed fit for general service on the 1st of March 1915. He was married at All Saints Church in Ealing on the 10th of April 1915 to Frances Alice (nee Clarkson). They had a son, Laurence Anthony, who was born at Princes Gate, Knightsbridge on the 3rd of March 1916. The battalion embarked for France at Southampton on the 4th of March 1916 and landed at Le Havre at 2am the following morning. They disembarked at 7am. On the night of the 2nd of September 1916 the 12th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment moved forward to Mesnil on the Somme where it had been ordered to provide carrying and working parties during 116th Brigade's attack at Hamel which was scheduled for the following morning. The attack began at 5.10am on the 3rd of September and the assaulting troops managed to gain their objective of the enemy's third line but found it impossible to hold and were forced back to the enemy's first line where they held onto a small section of it until they fell back to their start line at 6pm. After the attack the battalion assembled at Hamel and were relieved by the 1/6th Battalion Cheshire Regiment. During these operations one officer was killed and three were missing; one of the missing officers was Laurence Tuttiett. A few days later Frances Tuttiett received the following telegram dated the 8th of September 1916:- "Regret to inform you Capt L.W. Tuttiett Royal Sussex Regt reported missing Sept 3rd. This does not necessarily mean that he is either wounded or killed. Any further news if received will be posted immediately." In 1920 a letter arrived at the War Office in London dated the 28th of May 1920 (spelling, English and punctuation as in the original letter):- "To the Military Government in London. Enclosed I send 3 photos wich I got from a dying English captain. He is the man, left on the offizerphoto X. I found him dying and was present, when he closed his eyes forever. It was impossible, to give this officer a resting place, because the fire was too strong the following days. This arguments give me occasion to think that the fallen held is signed in the lost list as missing. Therefore I beg the government, to send to the wife, left behind. Her husband was captain in the Sussex Regiment and I hope, that the government will find the adress of the wife on hand of the pictures. The officer is fallen on the Ancre on the 3rd of September 1916. I hope it is possible for the government to find the adress of the wife and please will you send her the letter and pictures, that she is informed." I remain J Muller Stanfenstrasse 1 Schwenningen, a.N. Wurtt. On the 3rd of June 1920 the War office passed the letter and photos on to Frances Tuttiett at "Rosebank", Tatsfield in Surrey. Following some research, they had established that Laurence Tuttiett was the only missing Royal Sussex officer from the 3rd of September 1916 who was married. On the 11th of June 1920 she replied confirming that the officer in the photo was her husband and requesting that they send her the address of Johannes Muller so that she could write to him. On the 24th of June 1920 the War Office wrote to her to tell her that her husband's name was being removed from list of missing and that he was now officially considered to have been killed on the 3rd of September 1916. He is commemorated on the war memorial at St Mary Magdalene Church, Bexhill-on-Sea

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