Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

At the outbreak of war the British, together with Indian troops, resolved to protect oil supply in the region by occupying the area around Basra at Abadan. This evolved into a series of campaigns towards Baghdad against the Turkish forces as Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) was part of the Ottoman Empire. Meetings in late 1914 and into 1915 led the Viceroy and Indian government at Simla to reconsider the limited involvement of troops and they decided to order further advances with a view to securing the Shatt-al-Hai, a canal connecting the Tigris and Euphrates river and potentially capturing Baghdad. The British government disagreed and wished to conserve forces for the Western front. The Viceroy was given permission to act as it wished, but told in no uncertain terms that no reinforcements should be expected.

The initial success experienced by the British and Indian forces quickly disintegrated in the face of Ottoman opposition. The Siege of Kut-Al-Amara began on 7th December with the besieging of an 8,000 strong British-Indian garrison in the town of Kut, 100 miles south of Baghdad, by the Ottoman Army. These campaigns produced few tactical benefits, indeed the catastrophic defeat at Kut in 1916 was a major setback. Badhdad was eventually taken in March 1917.

The conditions in Mesopotamia were dreadful. The climate, sickness and disease produced large losses in addition to battle casualties. About as many men died of disease as were killed in action. The Mesopotamia front was part of a strategy hoping for success at lower cost than the Western Front but no decisive victory was achieved.

Detail :

Appears on the Carpenters' Company Roll of Honour - "Private Robert Algernon Stuckey died on 27 Jul 1917 aged 46 of heat stroke whilst on active service at Sadiyeh in Mesopotamia (now Iraq). He was born on 26 July 1871 in Ealing, Middlesex, the son of Robert Bosworth Stuckey, a Liveryman of the Carpenters Company and Hannah Eliza Stuckey. His grandfather Robert James Stuckey was Master of the Company in 1864. He went up to Queens’ College, Cambridge in 1889 and became a Freeman of the Carpenters’ Company in 1892 by patrimony, and a Liveryman in 1894. The family had been associated with the building trade since the early 19th century, and Robert went into partnership with A. R. Aston in King’s Cross London as Stuckey and Aston, Builders and Estate and Insurance Agents, until 1908. He married Eva Smyth on 9 September 1908 in Hendon, and had one child Derek, Master of the Carpenters' Company in 1974. He enlisted when he was over age with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers 8th Battalion (the upper age for conscription was 41). The Battalion was formed as part of the First New Army and joined the 13th (Western Division) which was was deployed to Mesopotamia in February 1916 as reinforcements for the relief of Kut. The relief effort failed, and in December the division advanced again on Kut, driving the Turkish forces from the town, and going on to take part in the capture of Baghdad in March 1917. The harsh climate conditions produced large losses in addition to battle casualties, with about as many men dying of disease as were killed in action. The Regiment’s war diary records that in July 1917 alone eight men died of heat stroke whilst stationed at Sadiyeh, including Private Stuckey who was buried at Kut War Cemetery, Iraq."

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley