Private Maxim Kuznezow
| Date of Birth | 1879 |
|---|---|
| Age at Death | 43 |
| Date of Death | 19.02.1921 |
| Service Number | 30430 |
| Military Service | Royal Lancaster Regiment |
| Merton Address | 51, Ashen Grove |
| Local Memorial | Wimbledon Cemetery |
Additional Information
Maxim Kuznezow was a seaman born in Saretow, Russia in 1879. He was a Russian national who enlisted in the 2/7 Middlesex Regiment in Cardiff in February 1917. At the time he was living at 56 Loudoun Square, Bute Street, Docks, Cardiff. This was in the Tiger Bay area of Cardiff where many seafarers from around the world lived while working in the docks. He was 39 years old. Few details are known about his earlier life or the circumstances of his arrival in Cardiff. At the time of his enlistment he was married to Ekaterina Kuznezow (formerly Zupickow) and had two children, Parupp(14) and Olga(12), who lived in Saretow in Russia.
In September 1917 Private Kuznezow was transferred to “C” company, First Battalion, The Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment and posted abroad to the Western Front. He was reported missing while fighting in the Battle of Bethune on the 18th April 1918 and was held by the Germans as a prisoner of war from this date. The regiment’s war diary records that on 18th April the German Sixth Army attacked south from the breakthrough area toward Béthune. The enemy was repulsed but only after heavy fighting when a number of officers were killed or wounded and 262 members of other ranks reported missing, either killed or captured.
Just before the end of the war, on 18th August 1918, Private Kuznezov was repatriated. He was clearly injured although the details and circumstances of his injury are unknown. He was transferred to hospital in Manchester on 18th November 1918. When not hospitalised he lived in Wimbledon Park after his repatriation. He had his left arm amputated in the South African Military Hospital in Richmond Park in May 1920. On 10th August 1920 he was transferred to Queen Mary’s Convalescent Hospital in Roehampton. On 21st August he was discharged, permanently unfit, to his home at 51, Ashen Grove, Wimbledon Park where he died on 19th February 1921.
Pension details show that from 27.08.1917 a weekly separation pension of £1.3s.0p was paid to his wife and children who lived at 206 Kirpichnay Street, Konstantinovna, Saratow-on-river Volga, Russia.
He is buried at Wimbledon (Gap Road) Cemetery L.B. 649.