On Tuesday 28 April 2026, at 15h30, a ceremony was held at Zantvoorde British Cemetery in Zandvoorde. Lance Corporal Lionel Weller Sandell was given a new gravestone bearing his name, thanks to research that proved he was indeed buried there. 

Lionel Weller Sandell - known to his family as Solly - was born in Worthing, Sussex in 1899, the oldest of three chilkdren, and the only son of Herbert Weller Sandell, a builder, and his wife Edith Marian Corlass. Lionel seems to have had a loving and supportive family life, splitting time between his parent's home with his sisters, and his grandparents' home - they lived just a short walk away, and Lionel's aunt Kate - a school teacher - also lived there. 

Lioenl first attempted to join the war effort during the early wave of patriotism that swept Britain in 1914. Many young men signed up during this period seeking adventure and travel - and a break from their ordinary lives, and he wasn't alone in attempting to join up underage. Solly presented himself at the recruiting office on 9 November 1914 - he was just 15 years old.

Despite his young age he successfully managed to enlist in the 2/4 (Home Service) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment under Service No. 2654. He told the recruiters he was 17 1/2 years old - he was measured at 5ft 5 inches tall with 'good physical development', and could well have appeared older than his 14 years. The recruiters and medical staff evidently believed that he was old enough and fit enough to serve and recorded his 'apparent age' as 17 years and 7 months. He was sent into training. At this point the minimum age to be sent for overseas service was supposed to be 19 years old, so Solly was taken on with time for a proprer amount of training before he would be sent to the front.

On the 4 September 1915 he was posted to the 72 Provisional Battalion to continue his training. He had completed nearly 15 months of home service, and was likely preparing to go overseas when his father intervened - sending a letter dated 18 February 1916 which sought to re-claim his underage son.

"Dear Sir,
I want to claim my son Lionel Weller Sandell, age 16 years last birthday No. 2654 D Company of the 72nd Provisional Battalion for which purpose I enclose, his birth certificate. Would you kindly send me any forms that may be necessary to be filled in or any other information that will be useful to me for this purpose apologising for troubling you and hoping for an early reply."

Following his intervention, Lionel was discharged on 25 February 1916. The reason for his discharge was given as "having made a mistatement as to age on enlistment". On his discharge papers Lionel was described as being 16 years and 10 months old, his height was 5ft 7 inches, and he had a fair complexion, blue eyes, and light brown hair. He was returning to live with his father in Worthing.

Lionel re-enlisted with the East Surrey Regiment at Worthing in May 1917 when he was 18 years & 1 month old, having spent some time working as a chauffeur / mechanic in the intervening year.

His initial period of service was at home with the Army Service Corps, Motor Transport battalion under service no. M/322187. In June 1917 he was posted to 4 Battalion, East Surrey Regiment under service no. 34214. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on 7 November 1917 and attended the Brigade School of Musketry, undertaking a Lewis Gun Course, and eventually the standard of 1st Class Gunner.

Lioenl finally embarked for France on 30 March 1918, posted to 1 Battalion, East Surrey Regiment. On 2 April 1918 he was tranferred to the 10 Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment, and he arrived with them on 5 April 1918. He suffered poor health whilst in France - likely due to the conditions in the trenches - and was hospitalised several times for conditions including influenza and trench fever.

On 20 May 1918 there was an incident when Lionel failed to follow the correct procedure for cleaning his Lewis Gun, and inadvertently injured a comrade. This was brought to a military tribunal on 6 August 1918 and Lionel was deprived of his Lance Corporal stripe for misconduct - neglect of military discipline. He was evidently too good a leader to be kept down though as the demotion did not last long - on 5 September 1918 - just a few weeks before his death - he was re-appointed Lance Corporal.

On the morning of the 29 September 1918 the 10 Battalion formed up to attack along the eastern side of the Ypres-Comines canal. The war diary records that this was their first experience of open warfare that year, and that their final objective was a location east of Houthem and 500 yards north of the railway station at Comines. The morning was fine, but ground fog hid the attack from the enemy and allowed the 10 Battalion to overcome several machine gun posts with little loss. The day was initially successful with the battalion reaching their objective with only six casualties, however later in the day they were compelled to withdraw to Houthem. The total casualties by th end of the day were:

• Officers - 7wounded
• Other ranks - 35 killes, 90 wounded and 20 missing.

Lionel was one of those killed. In the chaos of the withdrawal, any records which might have been made of his death were lost, and following the war his name was placed on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing at Ypres. Recently research has now revealed that Lionel was in fact been buried at Zandvoorde and his grave was rededicated accordingly.













The service was conducted by Reverend Vikki Day CF, Chaplain to 22 & 26 Royal Engineers



Reverend Richard Clement









The Last Post



Presenting the fag to the family.







Laying of the wreaths





































Michiel Vanmarcke of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission did the research on this case and explained how he did this to group of Australian visitors.


  Page made by WO1.be / Greatwar.be.