Category Archives: Commemorated name/s

Frederick Edward Wilcox

Army, Arras, Commemorated name/s, Graves, Other Regiments

Frederick Edward Wilcox
Sapper 96365
204th Field Company Royal Engineers

Division 63

Wilcox FE photo

Frederick Edward Wilcox was the youngest son of George and Elizabeth Wilcox.
He had two older brothers and one older sister. Frederick was born in Slough although his parents were from Reading and the family had resettled in Reading at the time of the 1911 census. George Wilcox was then a widower aged 65 years. The family home was run by daughter Louisa May, aged 30, who also worked at home as a dressmaker. Albert, who was 5 years older than Frederick was also living at home and was the manager of a grocers shop. In 1911, George’s second son, Henry Charles was working as a Coppersmith and boarding in Northamptonshire. He worked for a firm of motor body builders. The Green family with whom he boarded worked in the shoe trade. Like his father Frederick worked for the Great Western Railway.

Frederick Wilcox married Florence Chamberlin in the first quarter of 1915 and enlisted in May the same year. The couple had made their home at 133, Cumberland Road, Reading.

Frederick was killed in action on the 31 May 1916, aged 28. By this time he had been married sixteen months and the couple had a child.

The circumstances under which Frederick met his death are unknown. There are no service records pertaining to Frederick Wilcox other than his name on the Medal Role. However, an extract of a letter to Florence from Frederick’s Commanding Officer was published in the Standard 17th June 1916.

“All the men and myself miss him very much.  He was so willing, so cheerful and so brave, for he set us all a splendid example and we are proud to have had such a man in our company.  He was buried, not where he fell, but in a beautiful English cemetery near other of his comrades”. 

 The English cemetery is St. Vaast Post Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoue.  Location III. K.4.   The cemetery stands in an old orchard between two farm buildings, where a tramway had its terminus and a dressing station was established.  The cemetery was begun in May, 1915, at the time of the Battle of Festubert, and was used by fighting units and Field Ambulances until July, 1917.

Albert Henry West

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

Albert Henry West
Private 201566
2nd/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment

Division 40

West AH photo West AH mem name

 Albert Henry West, is  commemorated on a family memorial with the words “Dear son Dick, Killed in Action March 21st 1918 aged 19.

 A CWGC search reveals only one West killed on that date.  It is assumed that they are one and the same person. This was confirmed by an Ancestry UK search.  Relatives have begun a family tree which contains the known information.

Albert was the third son of George Alfred West and Jane West nee Palmer. His brothers were George and Thomas. He had an older and a younger sister called Florence and Gertrude. Sadly Florence also died in 1918, in October, as a result of the flu epidemic.

The 21 March was the first day of the German Spring Offensive. This was a time of rapid movement by the German forces and as a result it would have been almost impossible to remove the dead from the field of battle. Albert Henry West has no known grave and is listed among the missing on the Pozieres Memorial Panel 56 and 57.

Charles Edwin Moores Weller

Army, Canadian, Commemorated name/s, Passchendaele

Charles Edwin Moores Weller
Private 255768
46th Battalion Canadian Infantry (Saskatchewan)

Division 26 

CIMG2165 CIMG2164

Charles Edwin Moores Weller was the  son of Charles Weller, of 127, Queens Road, Reading.  He is commemorated on the headstone of the grave of Fanny Briden and Charles Weller.  Grave number 8711. Charles was the eldest son of this marriage.  The inscription, which is now very feint,  states that he was killed in action at Passchendaele on 26th October 1917, aged 37.

 The 26th October marked what was officially designated  the 2nd Battle of  Passchendaele. The action began at 5.40 in the morning.  British divisions were either side of the Menin Road.  Along the Passchendaele ridge and the Passchendaele to Broodseinde road were the 46th Canadians and the 18th Australian Battalions. They moved forward in the early mist and later steady rain.  The Canadians and Australians took there objectives.  However,  the Canadians paid heavily with 70% casualties and because two different units had been used in the capture of Decline Copse, and each left it to the other unit to consolidate, the Germans were able to mount a successful counter attack and they were not ejected for a further 24 hours. 

 Charles Weller was first reported missing and his father had many appeals for information published in local papers, it was not until March 1918 that he was confirmed as killed. 

Charles Weller’s body was lost and therefore his name was commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, Panels 18-26-28. His name is listed in the Canadian Book of Remembrance.