Category Archives: Alfred Sutton School War Memorial

Fred Bird

Alfred Sutton School War Memorial, Army, Australian, Dardanelles, Somme

Fred Bird
Lance Corporal 102
24th Battalion Australian Imperial Force. 

 Bird Fred photo Bird Fred name

Fred Bird has no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Australian National War Memorial at Villers Bretonneux.  The small town had been well behind British lines until April 1918 and the German Spring Offensive.  The town was taken by the Germans on April 24th 1918 but recaptured the same evening by the Australians.  Twelve hundred Australians lost their lives in the battle.  The war memorial bears the names of all the Australians missing on the Somme battlefields. 

 From the top of the memorial  tower the Cathedral spire at Amiens, away to the west,  can be seen on a clear day and during spring and autumn months the trenches of the battlefield are outlined in the chalky soil.  It is not known what action Fred was involved in when he was killed.

 Fred Bird had enlisted at the age of sixteen. A comment under the photograph published in “Berkshire and The War” states that he had been in the Scouts for several years and was a “piper” in the YMCA  He was also a native of Newtown.  Fred had reached the rank of Lance Corporal and had fought in the Dardanelles and France.  He was reported missing in November 1916 this was later confirmed as killed in action, he was in his 19th year. 

  “In Memoriam” The Standard 24th November 1917 gives the following details,  the youngest son of the late George Bird of Reading and Mrs. Bird of Mentone, Melbourne, and brother of Mrs. Wilkinson, Recreation Rd. Tilehurst.  In addition is a poem

 He heard the call of his country,
Far o’er the sea he came,
On Britain’s Roll of Honour
You’ll find the brave boy’s name.
The path of duty is the way to glory.

The 1911 census indicates that Fred and his family lived at 15 School Terrace, Newtown. His sister Ivy, then 15, was two years older than Fred. Fred’s father, George, was aged 72 and his occupation was given as Army Pensioner and Biscuit Factory Labourer. Fred’s mother, Kate was aged 56. Fred and George had been married for sixteen years.

Leslie Ernest John Beard

Alfred Sutton School War Memorial, Loos, Park Congregational Church War Memorial, Reading University College, Royal Berkshire Regiment

Leslie Ernest John Beard
Lance Sergeant  200528
2nd/4th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment.

Beard LEJ photo Beard LEJ name

The 2nd/4th battalion was formed in early September 1914 with men coming from all over Berkshire. Their first base was at Hitcham, in Buckinghamshire, on their commanding officers farm.  The War Office could not spare any equipment and kit was supplied initially by the general public. In November they moved to Maidenhead from where some two hundred men were sent to the 1st/4ths in exchange for a draft of men who were not passed fit for general service or who had not volunteered for service abroad.  Training at the time involved a good deal of route marching and drill.

In December the battalion numbered one thousand and their first task was the guarding of German prisoners-of-war at Holyport.  By February 1915 they were in Northampton, as part of the 2nd South Midlands Division, moving in April to Chelmsford where they dug trenches for the defence of London and patrolled the Essex roads looking for spies who might use  lights to signal enemy aeroplanes.  It was not until 25th May 1916 that the battalion finally left Southampton for France, ending up eventually at Merville near ArmentiÀres south of Ypres. After a short period of instruction in trench warfare attached to other battalions the 2nd/4ths took over trenches near Laventie.

The battalion took casualties from their first days in the trenches and these gradually increased as the men were involved in carrying out patrols to investigate enemy wire and trenches.  During the last week of June when the bombardment of the Somme was underway there was activity all along the British front line in order to keep the Germans guessing about where exactly the offensive would come. The 2nd/4ths were involved  in such work loosing several junior officers and men before retiring to billets on 27th June.  They went back into the front line on 6th July  moving to Croix Barbee on 13th July.  It was on this day that an elaborate raid on enemy trenches was carried out involving five officers and one hundred men.  The objective was the capture prisoners, identification enemy units and the  killing of Germans.

Officers and men were divided into ten groups some men were carrying a Bangalore torpedo which would be used to blow a gap in the wire.  The company set out at midnight and formed up, five yards between each line, in front of the British wire, in No-Mans Land.  When all was ready the first wave moved forward, but reaching the German wire found only a partial gap.  It was decided  to use the Bangalore torpedo but by this time the Germans had observed the movements and were shelling No-Mans Land.  The torpedo carriers were wounded in the shelling and the fuse lost.

Four or five machine guns opened up as the first wave cut through the wire by other means and “gallantly penetrated the enemy’s first line under severe opposition”. (Commanding Officers report)  The rest of the raiding party lost touch with the first wave and in a short time the signal was given for recall.  Three officers were wounded and two killed: six men were killed and eleven recorded as missing, fifteen men were wounded.

Leslie Beard was one of the missing and his name is recorded on Panel 93 the Loos Memorial to the Missing sited around the Dud Corner Cemetery. Leslie was the son of Joseph John and May Beard of 95, Wokingham Road, Reading.  His name  appears on both the Alfred Sutton School and the Park Church memorials.  He was 19 years old.

Douglas Walter Baker

Alfred Sutton School War Memorial, Army, Commemorated name/s, RFC / RAF, Royal Berkshire Regiment, Somme, Y.M.C.A.

Douglas Walter Baker
Flight Cadet 

Division 7

BAKER DW CEM  CIMG2084

Douglas Walter Baker was accidentally killed whilst flying at RFC/RAF  Beaulieu, (a flying training school) in Hampshire on 26th October 1918.  His parents, Mr and Mrs Henry Baker, lived at 196, Kings Road, Reading.  Douglas was their youngest son.  Douglas is commemorated on the  family grave Number 12830, Berkshire Family History Society classification 7G20.   However, his registered war grave is in St. Paul churchyard, East Boldre.  Beaulieu flying school was based at East Boldre between November 1915 and 1919.

Details of his career  appeared in the Standard 9th November 1918.  Douglas joined up in September 1914 and after 5 months training went to France with the 1st/4th Royal Berkshire  (Territorial) Regiment in February 1915.  After eleven months on active service he was selected because of his previous mechanical training, along with a number of others, to return home and go into the workshops at Farnborough as a 2nd Air Mechanic.  He was very quickly promoted to 1st Mechanic.  In 1916 he was ill for four months with rheumatic fever.  Six months before the end of the war he volunteered for service as an officer in the RAF.  Having passed the Central Air Board in London he went for training as a pilot at Hastings, Bristol and Uxbridge.  Within three months he was sent to Beaulieu to qualify for his ‘Wings’.  On qualifying he would have gained an automatic commission.  Tragically it was on eve of finishing his instruction when the accident happened; he had been allocated his service machine .

Douglas Baker was spoken of very highly by his officers and tutors.  He was considered to have great promise as a pilot.   Douglas was very popular and had many friends.  Douglas lost his life so near to the end of the war, however, his parents may have been comforted by the words that concluded the article.  “It seems very hard to have one dear to us killed in England, but we must realise that the fact that he was doing his duty to his home and country just as much as the most renowned airman in France”.