Leonard Philip Maris was born in 1886 in Willesborough, Ashford, Kent, the youngest of the ten children of Alfred Maris (1841-1886) and Mary Ann Maris née Chittenden (1846-1930).His birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1886 in the East Ashford registration district, Kent.
In the 1891 census he was shown as aged 4 years, living at 6 Church Lane, Willesborough, with his widowed mother, together with five siblings: Frank Maris (1870-1939) - a blacksmith; John William Maris (1872-1946) - a turner's apprentice; Beatrice Alice Maris (1878-1951) - a scholar; Augustus Maris (1881-1958) - a scholar and Sidney Ernest Maris (1885-1967) - a scholar.
He was described as a baker's assistant, aged 14 years, in the 1901 census, still living at 6 Church Lane, Willesborough, with his mother and two brothers: Augustus Maris - a railway engine cleaner and Sidney Ernest Maris - an apprentice.
He enlisted on 11 August 1914 at Canterbury, Kent, in The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) and was posted on 20 August 1914 into the regiment's 6th Battalion (Territorial Force). His service number was 56. On his enlistment form he claimed to have previously served as territorial private in the Royal Army Medical Corps before resigning upon going abroad and that his mother was residing in Montreal, Canada. He gave his current occupation as a labourer at the South Eastern and Chatham Railway works. He entered France on 1 June 1915.
On 10 February 1916 he married Mary Mabel Ann Welfare (1891-1947) in St Barnabas Church, South Kennington, London, where in the marriage register he is shown as aged 29 years, a bachelor and a Private in the 6th Buffs whilst his wife was described as aged 24 years, a spinster of the St Barnabas Parish, South Kennington, the daughter of John Welfare, a game keeper. Their son Phillip Leonard Maris (1916-1958) had been born out of wedlock on 16 January 1916.
In July 1916 he received a severe gunshot wound to his left hip, and was made a prisoner of war. He was taken to the Reserve Lazarett Hospital in Oberhausen, Germany where he died on 17 July 1916 from cardiac paralysis. His body was buried in Plot 4, Row A, Grave 1, in the Cologne Southern Cemetery, Höninger Platz 25, 50969 Köln, Germany.
On 9 December 1916 his army effects totalling £3-6s-4d were sent to his widow. She was remarried on 21 December 1918 to Edward Charles Lintott (1886-1970) and she was also sent his £9-0s-0d war gratuity on 3 October 1919. He was posthumously awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal
He is shown as 'L.P.MARIS' on both the Loco Carriage & Wagon Department section of the Victoria Station war memorial - east, London, SW1V 1JT and the Dover Marine Railway war memorial at Dover Marine Station (Now Cruise Terminal), Western Docks, Dover, CT17 9EQ. He is listed as 'L. MARIS' on the war memorial plaque attached to the organ case inside St Mary the Virgin Church, Church Road, Willesborough, Ashford, TN24 0HZ.
Leonard Maris is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website and the A Street Near You website. The Yumpu Electronic Publishing Company's website contains more information about this man together with two images.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
