Category Archives: Royal Berkshire Regiment

Thomas Perkins, Walter Perkins & Thomas Albert Perkins

Army, Commemorated name/s, Loos, Registered War Grave, Royal Berkshire Regiment, Somme

 

Thomas Perkins
Sergeant 10451
Depot, Royal Berkshire Regiment.

 Division 49
Right side of drive

Perkins gave cem

Thomas Perkins is buried in a registered war grave.  Grave number 16079.  His wife Lucy and one son, Archibald, who gained a Military Medal and survived the war, are also buried in this grave.  The name of Thomas Perkins is commemorated on the grave kerb stones, on these are also written the names of the two other sons, Walter and Thomas Albert, who were killed in the Great War.  An account of Thomas Perkins funeral was published on 13 March 1915 in the Reading Standard. The account indicates that the family was a large one comprising seven sons and seven daughters.  Three sons are reported as serving in the Royal Veterinary Corps, one in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps, and one in the Naval Brigade. Both Walter and Thomas Albert served with the Royal Berkshire Regiments.

The grave is located under trees in Division 49 and for some time was lost being overgrown by ivy.  In 1988 the CWGC erected a small memorial in the War Plot which lists the names of other men buried in registered war graves but without a war pattern headstone, whose graves had been lost.

The death of Thomas Perkins was announced in the Reading Standard  6 March 1915.

Colour Sergeant Thomas Perkins – March 6th 1915, who joined Lord Kitchener’s Army for the period of the war died on Tuesday from bronchitis.  The deceased aged 62 was a native of Jersey, and was for about 30 years in the Royal Berkshire Regiment.  He was a pensioner, and offered his services at the outbreak of war, being attached to No2 Company.  Colour Sergeant Perkins has three sons in his Majesty’s forces, two of whom are at the present time at the front.  The funeral took place Friday 5th March.

Walter Perkins
Private 9039
1st  Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment.

WPerkins photo

He was killed in action on 17 May 1915 during the Battle of Festubert aged 30.  Walter Perkins was a regular soldier and he had served in India.   The graved details state that he was the eldest son of Thomas Perkins.  From “Soldiers Died in the Great War” we learn that his full name was Walter Charles and he was born Chatham, enlisted London lived in St. Helier’s, Channel Isles.

Walter Perkins has no known grave and is commemorated on the La Touret Memorial, Pas de Calais, Panel 30.  The memorial lists the names of over 13,000 men who fell in the area before 25 September 1915 and who have no known grave.

Thomas Alfred Perkins M.C.
Company Sergeant Major 6589
“A” Company
5th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment.

TPerkins photo TPerkins Headstone

Thomas Alfred Perkins M.C.,   Perkins was a regular soldier and had served in the 2nd Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment.  He was the second son of Thomas Perkins and was probably known as  Alfred and in some documents is referred to as Alfred Thomas.

CSM Perkins was awarded the M.C. and this was reported in the Standard 30 September  1916 “ When his company officers had been disabled he carried on with great coolness and courage during three days of intense bombardment.  He moved freely about to keep the men at work.” His battalion was involved in the Battles of Flers/Courcelette, the concluding battles of the Somme, which began on 15 September 1916 when the British used tanks for the first time.  By the 13 October the day he was killed things were a little quieter in comparison to previous action.  However, a letter from Lieut. Reginald Cobb to his parents, written the day before both men were killed instantaneously by the same shell burst, gives some idea of the conditions they were experiencing.

“You can’t imagine what it is like here.  We are right in the middle of guns which are firing all day.  There is practically a continuous stream of shells.  The whizzing through the air and the noise of the shells exploding makes a pandemonium which we get so used to that we can sleep through it, although there are miniature earthquakes most of the time.  We have been in this region about 12 days, but, on the whole, we have not had a bad time.  I am out, but as you can imagine, sitting on the steps of a trench with a continual roar all round and above you is not the ideal place for letter writing.”

Thomas Alfred Perkins is buried next to Lieutenant Cobb in Bulls Road Cemetery, Flers.   Letters were written by the C.Q.M.S and his Commanding Officer to his mother and wife Milly.  Extracts were published in the Standard 28 October 1916.

” He died without any suffering, being killed instantly by the same shell that killed Lieut. Cobb.  Both he and Lieut. Cobb were buried together and a cross marks their resting place”.

 “I beg to tender to you, on behalf of my fellow officers and my self, what poor expression I can of our sympathy for you in your sad bereavement.  It is a fearful loss to us all, so we may appreciate your loss accordingly.  Your husband was one of the best – we all thought worlds of him – not only for his bravery but for his soldierly qualities.  He was always cheerful.  No trouble was too great for him so long as his company was well looked after.  He was admired by every officer, non-commissioned officer and private soldier, so we feel his loss tremendously. As his Company Commander I knew that what ever I entrusted to him would be carried out to the letter.  I shall never be able to replace him”.

Richard Penford

Arras, Canadian, Registered War Grave, Royal Berkshire Regiment

Richard Penford
Corporal 7495
1st Batt. Royal Berkshire Regt.

Division 34

RPenfold photo RPenfold grave

 

 Corporal Richard Penford was the son of George and Mary Penford. He had emigrated to Canada where he had a wife, Mary, and two children. They lived at 196A, Gowan Avenue, Todmorden, Toronto. He was in the “reserve” and at the onset of WW1 he returned to Britain when “called up”. His CWGC headstone states “Missed by wife and children”. The Standard 12June 1915 reports:

 Penford Military Funeral
Hero of 1st Berks. Charge at Festubert

“previously wounded in the head in March 1915, he had spent a month at the Base. Corporal Penfold on returning to the front fought at Festubert on May 16th, where he received the injury which proved fatal.  He and his comrades had taken one line of German trenches and were taking the second when shrapnel caught him in the groin.  He died at Sheffield Royal Hospital on 3rd June.  Full military honours were accorded at the funeral. His widow and young two children were unable to attend his funeral being in Canada at the time but several other family members were in attendance, there were  beautiful floral tributes.”

 Like most of the Canadians buried in the Reading Cemetery, Corporal Penford, has had his name recorded in the “Books of Remembrance”.  It is to be found in the Addendum to the 1915 B.E.F. entries.

Penfold Remembrance Page

Walter Pearce, Ernest Albert Pearce and Charles Edward Pearce

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Royal Berkshire Regiment, Ypres

Walter Frank Pearce
Private 19987
8th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment

 Division 64
Extension

Pearce WF photo Pearce bros Rcem commemorat Pearce EA photo

Walter Frank Pearce and Ernest Albert Pearce are commemorated on a large family headstone.  Their parents were the late William Edward and Phoebe Pearce of 22, Chesterman Street,  Reading.  The 1911 census indicates that Wlater, then 17, was working as a confectionary apprentice. Ernest was a grocers assistant. Other family members included William 29 and Charles 19 who were drapery porters; sisters Hilda 22 and Florence 14 no occupation is given for either sister.

Walter died of wounds at Cambrai as a prisoner of war on 21st September 1916, aged 22.  He is buried at Porte de Paris Cemetery, Cambrai.  Location I.B.7.

 Ernest Albert Pearce
Private Royal Berkshire Regiment

 Ernest was killed in action at St. Julien on August 16th 1917 aged 27.  He was part of a Trench Mortar Battery.  The allied forces had on that day attacked along a nine mile front north of the Ypres – Menin Road crossing the Steenbeek River.  The ground was torn by the barrage and the low water  table made No-Mans Land a morass.   All the objectives were captured and the British reached Langemarck and half a mile beyond however,  the  Germans pressed the British back from the high ground won earlier in the day.

Charles Edward Pearce was also injured in the war.
Private 43978
7th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment

Charles service record indicates that he enlisted in February 1916 and was posted to the Royal Berkshire Regiment. However he was serving with the 7th Warwickshires when he wasinjured. He suffered from trench feet in the winter of 1916 and received gun shot wounds to his neck and chest on 5 December 1917. It is believed that he recoved from these injuries and was able to walk again. He signed his own medal receipt and it is believed that he survived the war.