Category Archives: Commemorated name/s

Charles Palmer

Army, Commemorated name/s, Loos, Royal Berkshire Regiment

Charles Palmer
Lance Corporal 13156
“B” Company 8th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment 

Charles Palmer  was the son of William and Ellen Palmer,  of  22, St. John’s Street, Reading.  He is commemorated on his parents grave, the inscription is very indistinct, many of the lead letters are missing.  His name appears on the Loos Memorial to the Missing.  Panel 93 – 95.  He died on 25th September 1915, the first day of the battle, aged 19. He was educated at Christ Church School and employed by Messes Knil and Co. for four years.  He was one of the first to enlist in Lord Kitchener’s New Army.

 In “Responding to the Call” by Colin Fox et al a detailed account of the battle which started September 25th 1915 is given. Training and rehearsals for the battle by the 8th Battalion had included bomb throwing “with live bombs” and preparations were made for the discharge of chlorine gas which the British Army used for the first time, some six months after the Germans first gas attack. 

 The order to “stand to” had been given at 3.30am and fix bayonets at 6am.  Immediately a bombardment of the enemy trenches began and a release of gas and smoke.  In the copses of La Haie and Bois Carré, in front of the attacking 8th Royal Berkshires and the 10th Gloucesters, the Germans had set up machine guns which caused many casualties in the attack across No Man’s Land.  Eventually the 8th Battalion captured La Haie and had advanced 400 yards from their starting point.  In a second charge the third line, at Gun Trench, was reached by 8.00am and the advance was now 1,200 yards.  The final objective was to be Hulluch village but there was strong German resistance and eventually the 8th Battalion pulled back to form a line in Gun Trench. In “Responding to the Call”  (page 48) Chapman states that Charles Palmer was amongst the first to fall as the 8th Battalion lead the attack, his body was never found.  Charles Palmer had been with a small group of Reading men who had trained and worked together for almost a year.  Only two of the group escaped death or injury.  Casualties among the men were recorded as 56 killed, 176 wounded and 268 missing.

Cedric Charles Okey Taylor

Army, Arras, Commemorated name/s, Marlborough House School, Other Regiments, Reading School War Memorial

Lieutenant C.C. Okey Taylor
3rd Battalion East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) & Trench Motar Battery

Division 48

OKEY TAYLOR CC  CIMG2137CIMG2138

Cedric Charles Okey Taylor  was the grandson of a local Reading dignitary. His death is reported in The Chronicle of 15th December 1916.

“Attached to the Trench Motor Battery Z/14, 14th Division, BEF, France, fell in action on Sunday, December 3rd 1916.  He was not quite 22 years of age and the only son of Mrs. Taylor, of 31, Weltje Road, Ravenscroft Park, London, and the late Charles Warmsley Taylor, of Reading.”

His Captain communicated the news to his mother.

“He was at a gun position with his men when the dug-out was blown in.   His death must have been instantaneous, and two of his men were killed with him.  We have recovered his body, and he will be buried tomorrow, and as many of his brother officers that are available will attend.  I need hardly say how deeply sorry all his friends are, and to me it I is a personal loss, since he has been associated with me  longer than any other officer, and we have been together since he joined the Expeditionary Force.  One cannot speak too highly of his ability, his devotion to duty, and the keen interest he took in all his men and their welfare.  It is a sad loss which we all feel, and offer you our deepest sympathy.”

He is commemorated upon the grave of his grandfather in the Reading Cemetery and is buried in the Faubourg D’Amien Cemetery, Arras. Location I. J.58.

Upon his death he left his estate to his married sister Olive Margaret Okey Allner.

Ernest Frederick Nott

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments

Ernest Frederick Nott
Private 29031
Border Regiment attached to Machine Gun Corps.

Division 9

Ernest Frederick Knott is commemorated on the grave of his family number 9931.  He died on the 31st March 1918 aged 24. He was the son of John and Sarah Nott. The 1911 census gives the address as 127/9 Southampton Street, we are told that his father was a coal merchant. Living at home his brothers were Horace aged 10  was still at school and Walter aged 25 who was a general labourer. Ernest, then aged 16 is recorded as a club assistant.

The 1901 census records the name of third brother, Harry James Knott. He attested in Burton on Trent for service with the 6th Battalion North Staffs Territorial Force on 8 September 1914,  he gave his occupation as ironmongers assistant and his age as 23 years. His next of kin was given as Mrs Nott of 129 Southampton Street. He served 70 days until the 17 November 1914 when he was discharged. His war records do not give the reason.

Ernest Frederick Nott is buried at Bellacourt Military Cemetery, Riviere, location I. O.9.

An ‘In Memoriam’ of March 29th 1919 gives a little information about his family.  We know that he was married, and in addition to his parents he had brothers.    His sister Annie was living in Winnipeg, Canada. The verse was from his sister:

He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes,
He kissed their drooping leaves,
It was for the Lord of Paradise
He bound them in his sheaves.
And the mother gave, in tears and pain,
The flowers she most did love;
She knew she would find them all again-
In the fields of light above.