Life story retold by Kate Amos with additional information from Yota Dimitriadi
There appears to be very little on this gentleman having searched various online databases. His burial record suggests that his surname is De Pinto, but his death is registered under De Pinko, but this is likely to be due to the handwriting on his death certificate (above). It could also be read as De Pinho.
Due to the lack of information (including having searched the British Newspaper Archive), the best lead is from the occupation section of the certificate.
Further searches online show that there was a camp called the Ufton Canadian Forestry Camp, in the Mortimer area, more information on it can be found on the Englefield Estate.
Records relating to the Canadian Troops (No.102 company is associated with Mortimer) can be found on a catalogue on the Canadian Forestry Corps by Canada Library and Archives.
The camp was established in the autumn of 1917 (Reading Mercury 3.11.1917) by the Canadians.
“Six districts were in operation in the UK at war’s end (at Carlisle, Egham, Southampton and East Sheen in England and Stirling and Inverness in Scotland). Some 43 companies were in operation, with a strength of 12,533 including 3,046 attached labourers and prisoners of war. Their base depot was located at Smith’s Lawn, Windsor shortly after the 224th Battalion arrived overseas, and all newly arriving soldiers for the corps arrived at the depot before reinforcements for companies in France or the UK were selected. The average monthly turnover at the depot was 1,500 men. In total, the combined strength of the corps on 11 Nov 1918, including attached officers, foreign soldiers (including British, Portugese, Finns and prisoners of war) was 31,447.” This information comes from www.canadiansoldiers.com
This clearly notes that some of the labouring was done by Portuguese workers, of whom De Pin*o must have been one. The Imperial War Museum has a page dedicated to men of the Portuguese Forestry Corps (Corpo De Lenhadores Portuguese), but perhaps because he isn’t known to them, as Luciano doesn’t appear. (Community: Portuguese Forestry Corps (Corpo de Lenhadores Portugueses) | Lives of the First World War (iwm.org.uk))
The Portuguese Fireplace is a war memorial in the New Forest National Park dedicated to the Portuguese men who helped with the timber production during WW1. Next to it a plaque explains the significance of the fireplace and states that it was part of the cookhouse at the camp.
1918 is significant in terms of his date of death, as it heralded the outbreak of ‘Spanish Flu’, which became one of the deadliest pandemics in history. It would appear that Luciano was one of it’s many victims, causing him, like so many others involved in the war effort, to die far from home and loved ones.
It isn’t clear from the online records whether the forestry labourers were classified as soldiers, or were merely workers. Even if he was termed a soldier, records for the Portuguese army do not seem to be easily accessible, so finding more information on him, or even just confirming the correct spelling of his surname is not going to be easy.
However, a search of the records on the Family Search website does give a possible birth and baptism – in the name of Luciano de Pinho, birth – 21st Dec 1887, baptism on 25th same month, in Vermoim, Maia, Porto, Portugal to Manoel De Pinho and Maria Viera Da Silva.
Despite knowing little about him personally, his burial here in Reading shines a light on a little known aspect of the wartime era – the provision of timber to help shore up the trenches – grown in England, but harvested by the Canadians with the assistance of the Portuguese and other nations, truly a joint effort.
Luciano was buried at midday on 12 July 1918. He died at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, St Giles. His widow ‘Senora Maria da Silva Manella’ bought the grave, which is listed as ‘family grave’ in the order book- grant dated 20th October 1918. Her address is listed as Logar de Brandingaes Barreiro, Maia, Porto, Portugal. The grave is unmarked and there are no other family members buried with Luciano.
We have now contacted CWGC with a request to recognise the grave as others from the Portuguese Forestry Corps (Corpo de Lenhadores Portugueses) listed on the Imperial War Museum.
Division 24, Row L, Plot 17.