Name
Arthur George Gentle
17 June 1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
16/07/1916
29
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
9262
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CORBIE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
1. D. 10.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Ashwell Village Memorial, St Mary’s Church Roll of Honour, Ashwell, Ashwell Merchant Taylors School Roll of Honour (LOST)(*1), We are not aware of any memorial in Caldecote
Pre War
Arthur George Gentle born on 17 June 1887 in Caldecote, Herts, the son of James and Emily Gentle. He was one of ten children, but one died in infancy. He was baptised on 31 July 1887 at the church of St Mary Magdalene, Caldecote (now redundant).
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Caldecote where his father was working as a farm labourer. Arthur was educated at Merchant Taylors School in nearby Ashwell and the family were still living in Caldecote in 1901 at which time 13 year old Arthur was working as an agricultural labourer along with his father and three older brothers.
By 1911 his parents and four of his siblings had moved to High Street, Ashwell, but Arthur had enlisted into the army in Hitchin on 16 January 1908, and was serving as a Private in the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment which was then stationed in Bermuda. He also saw service in Gibraltar and South Africa.
Wartime Service
Arthur was a serving soldier at the outbreak of war and would have completed his service in 1915, but upon his return from South Africa in October 1914, the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment were sent to fight in France. They left Southampton, Hampshire on the S S Winifredian on 5 October 1914 heading to Dover where they took on supplies for men and horses. They arrived in Zeebrugge, Belgium early on 7 October, and suffered the first casualties on 18 October on the Ypres-Menin Road near Poezelhoek.
In 1915 he was wounded in March and repatriated to England, being treated at the General Northern Hospital in Leicester and convalescing at Newton Harcourt before being returned to the Front in August.
Arthur is recorded as dying of wounds on 16 July 1916, aged 29. The 2nd Battalion war diaries suggest he was probably wounded in action at Trones Wood on 11 July (part of the Battle of the Somme). He is buried in Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £11 and pay owing of £9 14s 11d. She also received a pension of 7s 6d a week.
Brother to Thomas Gentle who also served, was wounded, but survived.
*1 The memorial is currently ‘lost’ but as this man has a connection with the school, he is likely to be on the memorial.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, Ian Kelly, www.ashwellmuseum.org.uk
