Category Archives: Other Regiments

Walter Barnes

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments

Walter Barnes
Private 36433 (A Company)
9th Worcestershire Regiment

 Division 58

Walter Barnes, was the son of Charles and Susanna Barnes of 19, Mill Lane, Reading.   His wife was Caroline Ethel Barnes of 8 St. George Street, Reading. 

 Walter was at first reported missing in Mesopotamia on 14th September 1918.  On December 6th 1919, the Reading Standard, ‘In Memoriam’ column carried the confirmation that Walter Barnes, aged 28, had now been reported killed on the 14th September 1918. His relatives had waited over one year for official confirmation of his death. 

A verse from his wife accompanied the notice: 

“The passing of the sweetest soul that ever looked with human eyes.
Ah, true brave heart, God bless thee where so’er; in the great Universe today thou art.
Deeply mourned and never forgotten by his sorrowing wife.”

 Walter’s body was never identified and so he is commemorated on the Tehran Memorial, Iran.   Panel 3 Column 1.

 

Wilfred Augustus Allen

Army, Other Regiments, Registered War Grave

Wilfred Augustus Allen
Private 8/117935
3rd Battalion Devonshire Regiment.

Division 56

Wilfred Augustus Allen was the son of  Herbert James and Florence Annie Allen, of 96, Spring Gardens, Reading.   

His is a registered war grave with a CWGC war pattern headstone.  Grave number 15907.  He died on 5th February 1918 of pneumonia, aged 18.  

The Reading Standard, February 16th 1918, carried a report: 

Wilfred Augustus Allen: Devon Regt. son of PC and Mrs H.J. Allen of 96 Spring Gardens Reading on February 5th from pneumonia, aged 18.  Before enlisting he was employed at the tramways Depot, Reading.  The funeral took place with military honours at Whitley Hall on Tuesday.  

His officer writes:  “I realise only too well, what the loss will mean to you, and I know you will feel it hard that a promising boy should be taken away from you in this manner.  It is so hard for parents to have to give their boys up  to the army and to loose them on this side of the water, but he has died for his country just as much as if he had fallen in battle.  Though he had only been with us a month he had come under my notice as being a particularly bright clean mannered and promising boy, and he was a general favourite in the company.  He was a goal keeper in the company team, and a genuine sportsman”.

 25rd October 1999.

William Adnams

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Primitive Methodists' Memorial

William Adnams
Gunner 129930
99th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery

Division 71
Extension

ADNAMS W CEM

William Adnams died of gas shell wounds on 28th June 1916.  He was the son of William and Emily Adnams, of Reading.  William was the husband of Lizzie Adnams, of 55 Spring Gardens, Whitley, Reading.    He is commemorated on the family grave. Number 18121.  The Berkshire Family History Society classification is 71J13.

The notification of his death appeared in The Standard July 13th 1918 commented, “He was a dutiful son and devoted husband and beloved by all”, together with the following poem.
Not now, but in the coming years.
It may be in a Better Land,
We’ll know the meaning of our tears,
And then sometime we’ll understand.

 William Adnams was aged 32.  He was buried in Aire Communal Cemetery, pas De Calais.  Location III.E.5.  Aire was a peaceful centre used by Commonwealth forces as corps headquarters.  Burials in plots II.III.IV. rows A – F, relate to the fighting of 1918, when the 54th Casualty Clearing Station came to Aire and the town was, for a short time, within 13 kilometres of the German lines.

 *Further research is required to discover the service career of William Adnams.