Category Archives: Other Regiments

Frank Griffin

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Passchendaele

Frank Griffin
Lance Corporal PLY/1800(S) (Plymouth Battalion?)
Royal Marine Light Infantry

Division 38

Griffin F photo

 

Frank Griffin was the son of Cornelius and Annie Griffin, of 53, Mount Pleasant, Reading; and husband of Ethel Annie Griffin, of 45 Highgrove Street, Reading.  Frank Griffin died leaving a small daughter called Doris.  He is commemorated on the kerbs of the family grave. Frank was killed in action on 26th October 1917, aged 32. 

 The 26th October 1917 was the first day of what came to be known as the Second Battle of Passchendaele.   On this day the British and their allies improved their positions from Passchendaele to Poelcapelle.   Matrix tells us that the attack began at 5.40am.  On either side of the Menin road the British 7th and 5th Divisions were frustrated by marshes.  The Australians and Canadians took their objectives moving off in a mist that became a heavy rain as the day progressed.  The Canadians had 70% casualties.  Poelcapelle means church in the bog and it was in a bog that the British fought.  Several days later New Zealand troops came upon the remains of the Northumberland Fusiliers and Durham Light infantry lying in rows where they had been mown down by German machine guns as they had made their advance on the first day of the battle.

 Frank Griffin is buried in Poelcapelle British Cemetery. Location XVI. F. 10 

This cemetery was made after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from other cemeteries and from the battlefields.  The great majority of the dead fell in the last five months of 1917, particularly the month of October.

The 1911 census shows us that Frank, now aged 26, was as yet unmarried. He was living wth his parents and other brothers at 3 Mount Pleasant, Silver Street. His father and olderbrother Henry worked at the biscuit factory, Frank and his younger brother Edward were house painters and his brother Ernest was a butcher. Another brother, Albert was not living at home.

Cecil Gregory and George Gregory

Army, Other Regiments, Registered War Grave, Royal Berkshire Regiment

Cecil Gregory
Private 48229
Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry (formerly Royal Warwickshire Regiment)

 George Gregory
Private 20001136
Royal Berkshire Regiment

 Division 44

 

Gregory G photo  CIMG2221

 

Cecil and George Gregory, were the sons of  Albert and Alice Gregory, of 29 Orchard Street,  Reading.  Theirs is a registered war grave and has a CWGC war pattern headstone, number 3275. 

 Cecil Gregory died of sickness on 12th December, 1917.  Aged 18.  He had been training at Salisbury Plain when he died from pneumonia.

 The Chronicle August 4th 1916 reported that George Gregory had been wounded in his back and right arm and was being treated in Sheffield Hospital. He was 20 years of age.  He died at home on 30th October 1918. He worked at the biscuit factory before the war and was in the Territorials.  The report stated that he once had a very narrow escape after a mine explosion.

 It is not known when he received his injuries or his age at death.  Further research is needed to establish his service battalion.  It is likely that he received his injuries on the Somme.

The 1911 census tells us that Albert Gregory was a labourer at the Biscuit factory. Albert and Alice had been married fifteen years and they had five children. George was the eldest and was a Tin Worker (probably Huntley, Bourne and Stevens). The other children, including Cecil, were in school. In addtion to George and Cecil, Albert and Alice had another son, Alfred and two daughters, Nellie and Doris.

Albert Walter Grant

Other Regiments, Registered War Grave

Albert Walter Grant
Pioneer 231037 Carrier Pigeon Service
Royal Engineers

 Division 76
Extension

 

Albert Walter Grant was the son of Lewis William and Beatrice Grant and husband of Bertha Florence Grant.  His grave is a registered war grave but the headstone is a family memorial.  His story is one which is particularly tragic but in its day not uncommon.  The headstone reveals that both his daughter and wife lie  with him in the same grave.  He had served two years in France returning after demobilisation on the 17th  February 1919.  He was immediately struck down with influenza which developed into pneumonia.  He passed the influenza on to his 2½ year old daughter, Phyllis Mary.  Neither father or daughter survived.  Albert died on the 28th February 1919 and Phyllis  on the 5th March 1919.  The Reading Standard of 8th March 1919 carried an account of  the funeral.

 “The deceased who was only 31 years of age, joined up in Jan 1917 and went to France a month later in the RE Pigeon Service Section.  After serving just over two years he returned from France on February 17th last and took to his bed, from which he never again rose.  Unfortunately his little daughter was stricken with the dread disease, with fatal results, and both were buried together.  Before joining up Mr. Grant was a well known figure in Reading, having been connected with dairy business from his youth.  His one hobby was pigeon racing, and to this he devoted much of his spare time.  He was a member of local pigeon clubs and had won several prizes for the excellence and swiftness of flight of his birds.” 

 Bertha Grant survived her husband and child, living until her 80th Year, she died  in 1961.

Albert Walter Grant, known as Bert was brought up at Battle Farm.  Tragedy struck the family again later in the year 1919 when his brothers wife died aged 33.  Both family graves lie near each other in Division 76.   The grave number of Albert’s grave is 16591.

The 1911 census shows that Albert’s mother was the head of the family and she and her four sons and one daughter were running their dairy farm at Battle Farm, Oxford Road, Reading. This had been the family farm in 1901 when Lewis Grant was also alive.