Name
Arthur Walker
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/09/1916
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2364
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BOULOGNE EASTERN CEMETERY
VIII. C. 143.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton Village War Memorial, St Mary’s Shrine, Pirton, Methodist Chapel Plaque, Pirton, Pirton School Memorial, 4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Biography
Arthur Walker is also mentioned in John Parsell's biography, as he also died from wounds received in the same shell explosion.
Arthur was born in Pirton on November 13th 1892. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records confirm him to be the son of George and Sarah Walker of Pirton and husband of Mrs A. Walker of Pirton. George and Sarah Walker (née Odell) had seven children(*1); three girls and four boys, all served and all survived but Arthur.
The family lived in Bury End, near Great Green, and like his elder brothers, Sidney and Herbert, Arthur attended the Pirton School and appears on its war memorial. George worked as a farm labourer and Sarah a strawplaiter, but they knew nothing of the war or the service of their sons because they died before the war; Sarah at fifty-nine in March 1907 and George at sixty-four in 1911.
Sidney married a girl called Susan some time around 1908, and moved out of the family home. Herbert remained and in the 1911 census is listed as the head of the household with Gertrude and Arthur still living there. Arthur was working as a labourer on one of the local farms.
He was another Pirton born man and another in the Hertfordshire Territorials and signed his attestation papers for them in February 1914, six months before the war. He was twenty-one at that time and an agricultural worker, working for Mr Knowles at Oughton Head, near Hitchin.
When war came the Territorials were only obliged to undertake home defence duties, but Arthur, like many other Territorials, volunteered and he signed the papers agreeing to overseas service with 1st Battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment, on August 31st 1914. Before leaving for France he became very friendly with a Pirton girl called Rose Males. Perhaps the fact that Arthur was going to war was involved, but they became close and Rose became pregnant. Whether he managed to see her before his embarkation to France on the November 5th is not known, but it is likely, and perhaps that is when he learnt of her pregnancy and a future marriage was discussed.
The Battalion war diary records that just before embarkation they were issued with the new, short magazine Lee Enfield rifles. They arrived at Le Havre and marched to rest camp before moving to St. Omer by train and then motor bus to Vlamentinghe in Belgium, arriving on the 11th. They came under shrapnel fire as they marched through Ypres and two men were slightly wounded. The next day, while bivouacked, another shell landed, but fortunately it failed to explode. On the 14th they moved into the trenches for the first time and their first death in action occurred on the 18th - it rapidly got worse as the next day eight men were killed and more wounded.
They were only in Ypres briefly and quickly moved to France where the Hertfordshires saw a great deal of their war action. They fought in the trenches around Bethune - Givenchy, Cuinchy, Vermelles, names that mean much to students of the war. This whole area, along with great swathes of France, was a fierce battlefield and by the end of the war, towns and the surrounding villages were destroyed and the land laid bare. The war diaries, which provide much of the following information, rarely dwell on the terrible conditions in which the men fought or the fierceness of the fighting.
In the North Herts Mail of February 4th 1915, he is recorded as in “G” Company and in a letter he wrote on January 4th, he confirmed that they were all alive and kicking and in the best of health. They quote from his letter, ‘We can all think ourselves lucky,’ explaining ‘to be in good health after being in so much mud and water for eight days.’ and of Christmas ‘We were happy all the time, and had a good sing-song to keep the Germans in good spirits, for they could easily hear us, as their trenches were only twenty yards away in one place. But the Germans were careful not to show their heads for us to get a shot at them.’
They went turn and turnabout in the trenches with Guards’ battalions (Grenadier, Coldstream and Irish), but they were not ‘Regulars’. It would have been understandable if the regular troops, particularly the Guards, with their proud reputation, had thought themselves a cut above the ‘Territorials’, but the Hertfords dug in (literally) and earned their respect. In February 1915 The G.O.C. (General Officer Commanding) sent the following message to the Hertfordshires: ‘The GOC received with unqualified satisfaction your report of the steady soldier-like bearing under heavy fire of the 1st Bn Herts. Regt. (TF) both in support of the attack on the 6th February and again during the bombardment in the afternoon on the following day. He will be glad if you would convey to Major CROFT and the Officers, NCOs and men his appreciation of their action.’
In April 1915 Arthur would have received news of his son, Stanley Arthur, born to Rose on March 31st. The Hertfords continued with their dangerous existence, in and out the trenches around Bethune, Givenchy, Sailly le Bourse and Vermelles. The North Herts Mail of May 27th 1915 reported that Arthur was with Privates Smith and Roberts, also from Pirton, when they had been hit by shrapnel. Arthur had escaped injury, but had been covered by debris.
They continually supported the Guards, relieved them and held the trenches. The Guards had a proud reputation; they were a cut above everyone, smarter, more disciplined and feared by the enemy. By the end of June, Brigadier General the Earl of Cavan, C.B., M.V.O. who was relinquishing command of the 4th (Guards) Brigade wrote: ‘On leaving the Brigade to take command of a Division it would not be seemly to recall the various actions since 18th September in which it has been my privilege and delight to command you but I may say – whether in action, in the trenches or in billets, no unit of the 4th (Guards) Brigade has ever disappointed me, nor has any battalion ever fallen short of that great standard set by our predecessors. We welcomed the 1st Herts. Territorials at YPRES and most worthily have they borne their part with the rest of us. To you all I convey the gratitude of a very full heart and I wish you Goodbye and Godspeed.’
In August, when the Guards Battalions left the area, their route was lined with other regiments. Colonel Page-Croft of the Hertfordshires Regiment noted that ‘the Herts. were given pride of place’. The Hertfordshire men cheered louder than anyone else as the Guards marched past. The Colonel of the Grenadiers gave the order ‘Eyes right’ to his Battalion and saluted them as they went. In military terms high praise indeed.
The Hertfords continued fighting in the trenches of Northern France and in late September they were ordered to provide close support to an attack by the 1st Kings, but they never made it to the enemy trenches – the Kings were cut down by machine gun fire and the Hertfordshires were ordered not to advance. Two days later the Hertfordshires launched a gas attack, but that had little effect on the Germans, so they did not advance. In fact it seems that the wind may have changed as they had a number of their own men recorded as casualties to the gas.
Later, another letter written by Arthur was reported in which he mentioned that a friend from Lilley had died. This could be Herbert Clarke, who is included in the chapter Should these names be on our War Memorial? If that is the case then his letter would have been written in late September or October 1915. Arthur says that ‘they had been in the firing-line for thirty-six days, with one day out.’
He was given some respite in November when he was given nine days leave to return to Pirton to meet his son and marry Rose. A number of Arthur’s comrades from the 1st Herts were at the wedding and after their experience they were probably determined to enjoy the event. Perhaps their over exuberance could have been forgiven in the circumstances, but, as can be seen in the Parish Magazine article reproduced here, the vicar was not very understanding and was disappointed that they treated the event with merriment and not the solemnity it deserved.
Note the pointed positioning of the article on temperance between ‘A Disgrace to Pirton’ and the announcement of their marriage ‘Holy Matrimony’. Whatever the vicar thought, ‘Private Walker and his bride received the hearty congratulations of many khaki-clad and civilian friends.’
Arthur returned to the war and his Battalion and they fought on, but they were lucky enough to spend a good period out of the trenches at Christmas including Christmas Day.
January 1916 began with training and the arrival of new drafts of men and then returned to the normality of their war, regular turns in and out of the trenches, holding the front line and casualty numbers continually rising. In February they added Festubert to their collection of infamous French areas of trench warfare.
On April 4th the Hertfordshire snipers claimed ten Germans killed. In May Serjeant G. Gregory was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry at Givenchy, ‘carrying two wounded men to a place of safety during a hostile artillery barrage of fire following the explosion of a mine.’
In July, the Germans attacked with trench mortars during the day and then at night attempted a raid on the British lines, but were driven off with Lewis gun fire. A few days later the Hertfords raided the German lines.
On September 3rd the Hertfordshire trenches suffered badly from shelling, the Germans using gas shells from 11:30pm to dawn and on the 10th yet another shell exploded which wounded Arthur. It was reminiscent of his near miss from a similar explosion in May the previous year, but this time it was much more serious. One wonders how many other unreported near misses they had each experienced. The event is described in detail in the chapter on John Parsell, who was killed, but it also wounded George Roberts, and, more seriously, Arthur - both had also been present at the previous incident in 1915.
Arthur’s wounds were to his left shoulder, wrist and right hand and the first indications for Arthur were not too bad. The Rev. E J Welsher, Chaplain of the hospital where he was taken, wrote to reassure his wife. ‘Your husband was brought in wounded yesterday, and he thinks you might worry until you hear, so he has asked me to write and so relieve your mind. He asks me to say there is no need to worry, that he is doing quite well, and hopes soon to be on the way to the base of England.’ It was meant in kindness, but the result was cruel. His wife was led to believe that he would recover, but he died from his wounds on September 18th 1916.
He died in one of the hospitals local to Boulogne or on his way back to England. Arthur was buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas de Calais. It is a large cemetery in a built-up area of the town and it contains 5,577 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, almost all of whom are identified. Its entrance is a very unusual design, with predominantly low stone walls and railings together with a gatehouse.
Over the years the nature of the ground caused the headstones to move and resulted in an untidy line, unacceptable to the normal formality of the Commonwealth War Graves and disrespectful to the men. So the very unusual solution of laying headstones flat was adopted. When compared to what is almost universally applied elsewhere, this gives the cemetery an odd feel, still very respectful, but slightly disconcerting when recalling the usual style.
After the war all the next of kin were sent the fallen man’s medals and a memorial plaque, often called a death or dead man’s penny. The one pictured here was provided by Andy Males who is Arthur’s grandson. It was originally sent to Rose, Mrs A Walker, nr Baptist Chapel, Pirton, Hitchin, Herts.
Arthur is also commemorated on the Hertfordshire Territorial Army Memorial in Hitchin.
(*1) John (bapt 1868), Alice (bapt 1871), Frederick (bapt 1882), Gertrude (bapt 1885), Sidney (b 1888), Herbert (b 1890) and Arthur (b 1892).
Additional Information
Text from the book: The Pride of Pirton.
Acknowledgments
The Pride of Pirton book – www.pirton.org.uk/prideofpirton Chris Ryan / Tony French / Jonty Wild
