Name
Josiah Swain
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/05/1918
34
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
18695
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIENNES BRITISH CEMETERY
Row A, Grave 11
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Holy Trinity Church Memorial, Weston, Not on the Stevenage Old Town memorials
Pre War
Born in 1885. Baptised on 1 November 1885 in Weston. Son of William and Susan Swain of Dane End, Weston.
Married Annie Hemmings in 1911. They had three children and later lived at 33 Letchmore Road, Stevenage. 1911 Census; living with family at Dane End, Weston and working as Farm Labourer.
Wartime Service
Spent three and a half years in service. Was slightly gassed in 1915 and wounded in the face in 1916. Hospitalised in England, then returned to France in 1917.
Drafted to Italy, but returned to France after a few months. Wounded on 29 May when the battalion moved to the front line after training and died in a field hospital the following day.
Additional Information
Two brothers, [Percy] Alfred (22) and Jim (20) also died. Alfred died of wounds in France in 1916 and Jim died of fever in 1901 in Mafeking in the Boer War. ( J Swain is among those named on the South African Campaign memorial in Bedford). The youngest br
Acknowledgments
Peter Handy, Brenda Palmer
