Genealogy
Phillip Gell Spencer
Phillip Gell Spencer was born in Crich, Derbyshire in 1862, the son of a lead miner, Thomas Spencer. He married Sarah Anne Cleweley at St. Johns Church, Worksop in 1886. Sarah was born in Hednesford, Staffordshire in 1864. They had 13 children:
- Phillip Gell (died age 1)
- Sarah Anne
- Anthony
- Phillip Gell born at Shotton Colliery, Co Durham on the 11 Dec 1891
- Thomas
- Mary James
- John
- May
- Bessie
- Frank
- William Clewley
- Benjamin
Phillip was a merchant seaman and later a miner. He fought in the Egyptian War 1882-1885. Sarah was once a domestic servant but later became a teacher at Treeton. They lived in Shotton, Co. Durham and Attercliffe before moving to 149 Well Lane, Treeton in 1902.
In 1936 Philip and Sarah celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Congratulatory messages and gifts were received from Capt. C. Ward Jones of Rother Vale Collieries, Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Leeding of Sheffield and members of Treeton Baptist Church.
The newspaper extract records some of Mr. Spencer's adventures at sea
Phillip died in 1951, six years after Sarah.
Their son, Phillip Gell was killed at The Somme on 1 July 1916 aged 25 years. He was in the 9th Bn. of York and Lancaster Regiment and was buried at The Thiepval Memorial Cemetery, Grave/Memorial Reference: Pier and Face 14 A and 14 B.
Each year a major ceremony is held at the memorial on 1 July.
On 1 July 1916, supported by a French attack to the south, thirteen divisions of Commonwealth forces launched an offensive on a line from north of Gommecourt to Maricourt. Despite a preliminary bombardment lasting seven days, the German defences were barely touched and the attack met unexpectedly fierce resistance. Losses were catastrophic and with only minimal advances on the southern flank, the initial attack was a failure. In the following weeks, huge resources of manpower and equipment were deployed in an attempt to exploit the modest successes of the first day. However, the German Army resisted tenaciously and repeated attacks and counter attacks meant a major battle for every village, copse and farmhouse gained. At the end of September, Thiepval was finally captured. The village had been an original objective of 1 July. Attacks north and east continued throughout October and into November in increasingly difficult weather conditions. The Battle of the Somme finally ended on 18 November with the onset of winter. In the spring of 1917, the German forces fell back to their newly prepared defences, the Hindenburg Line, and there were no further significant engagements in the Somme sector until the Germans mounted their major offensive in March 1918. The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. The memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial. The memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, was built between 1928 and 1932 and unveiled by the Prince of Wales, in the presence of the President of France, on 31 July 1932.
Son, John was the Chairman of the Treeton Reading Room Football Club in 1937.
William and Ben were two of the children whose initials were inscribed on the porch of the Baptist church during a Stone Laying Ceremony on Saturday July 7th, 1923.
Anthony’s son, also Anthony, ran the chip shop in Catcliffe.