Category Archives: Memorials

Thomas Pocock

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Passchendaele, St. Batholomew's Church, Ypres

Thomas Pocock
Private 43323
2nd/9th Battalion Manchester Regiment

 Division 39

Pocock Th photo  CIMG2001

Thomas Pocock  lived at 44, Amity Road, Reading.  He was the son of Thomas and Mary Pocock. The 1911 census indicates that he had two older brothers Albert and Harry and one younger brother Ernest Frank who were living in the family home. His mother had given birth to ten children of whom seven were living. Thomas was a labourer at the biscuit factory like his father and older brothers. He was aged 22 when he was killed in action on 9th  October 1917.  This day marks the beginning of the third phase of the Third Battle of Ypres.   

Passchendaele by Martin Matrix Evans describes the scene that Thomas Pocock would have been a part of: “..troops moved up in anticipation of the attack of 9 October.  Lieutenant P. King described the horrors of the march up from Ypres.  ’It was an absolute nightmare.  Often we would have to stop and wait for up to half an hour, because all the time the duck boards were being blown up and men being blown off the track or simply slipping off – because we were all in full marching order with gas masks and rifles, and some were carrying machine guns and extra ammunition’.

At 5.20am on 9 October the 2/9th Manchester Regiment and the 2/4th East Lancashire (both 198 Brigade, 66th Division) advanced against Dab Trench.  Fire from Hamburg Redoubt, the strong point in the centre of the obstacle, cut the men down and an attempt by the 2/5th East Lancashire to take it failed.  King describes it.  ‘We went over this morass, straight into a curtain of rain and mist and shells, for we were caught between two barrages.  Well, of course we lost direction right away….The machine gun fire from the German positions was frightful…. We could hardly move because the mud was so heavy that you were dragging your legs behind you, and with people being hit and falling and splashing down all round you, all you can do is keep moving and look for some form of cover’.”

 It is not therefore surprising that Thomas Pocock has no known grave.  He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial Panel 120-124 and 162-162A and 163A

Horace Lacey Pinker

Alfred Sutton School War Memorial, Trinitiy Congregational Church War Memorial

Horace Lacey Pinker
Private 203760
1st/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment

Pinker HL grave

Private Horace Lacey Pinker was the son of John and Jane Pinker of Reading.  He was killed 5th April 1917, aged 22.  The 1901 census information indicates that his father was a master stone mason. The family were living at 69,London Road and it was from there that John Pinker ran his business. There were then three children with Horace being the middle child, older brother was called Stanley and the younger Harold. By 1911 Jane was a widow, still living at the same address. Horace is misrecorded as Florence and the census return also bears other mistakes. There is no occupation given for Horace and it is assumed that he is either still at school (he was then aged 15) or had no job.

At the time of his death actions were taking place between Cambrai and St. Quentin.  

Private Pinker would have experienced the events which follow in the weeks leading up to his death.   (Details are taken from Petre – History of the Royal Berkshire Regiment)

During misty weather in February 1917 the German army made its secret withdrawal to the Hindenburg line, masked by continuous shelling of the British positions.  Allied Commanders had not fully realised the extent of the withdrawal but partial and curious retreats resulted in more raiding parties to collect prisoners and information. In March as the retreat became obvious and the 48th Division was in the forefront of the chase and open warfare once more took place.  The 1st/4th’s reached Peronne on 20th March.  The mudscape of the battlefields was now far behind and for the first time in many months the men were in open and green countryside where signs of spring breaking could be seen.  The battalion engaged with the enemy again only as they approached the well defended Hindenburg line.

 At the beginning of April the battalion was involved in fighting around Ephey and the village of Ronssoy where a heated battle took place and several men were also killed when the British barrage fell on them by mistake.  It may be that Private Pinker was killed during this fighting.  However, the spirits of the 1st/4th were high.  After this battle the battalion moved back to Hamel for a rest, returning on 13th April to Ronssoy.

 Private Pinker was buried at Templeux-Le-Guerard British Cemetery, the Somme. Grave location I. A. 13.

John Piggott Wheeler

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Reading School War Memorial, Ypres

John Piggott Wheeler M.C.
Major – “D” Battery,
92nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

 Division 32

CIMG2175 CIMG2176

 

John Piggott Wheeler, was the youngest son of Samuel Wheeler and Elizabeth Wheeler of, 30, Craven Road, Reading.  He is commemorated on a family memorial in the corner of Division.  John Wheeler was born in June 1892, and entered the Royal Artillery from the Territorial Force in August 1914. 

 He received his M.C. for “Conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.  He, with great coolness and disregard of danger, reorganised his drivers and teams, and succeeded in getting his guns into action under the most trying conditions”.

He was killed in action on 29th October 1917, aged 25.   He is buried in Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery, Belgium, location Plot 9, Row E. Grave 23.