Name
Walter Pepper (MM)
1885
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/06/1918
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
P/13932
Military Police Corps
Military Mounted Police
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Military Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BAGNEUX BRITISH CEMETERY, GEZAINCOURT
III. C. 16.
France
Headstone Inscription
The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial,
Town Hall Memorial, Hitchin,
St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin,
Standon War Memorial,
St Mary’s Church Memorial, Standon,
Puckeridge Village Memorial
Pre War
Walter was born in Standon in 1885 and baptised at St Mary’s Church 9th August that year. His parents, George and Ellen Pepper, ran the Red Lion pub in Standon from about 1890, although George must have had a second income as through the various records he is sometimes referred to as an Innkeeper or Beer Retailer, at other times as a Labourer or Roadman. Walter was one of nine children and was the eldest boy. They were obviously a very patriotic family, as when another boy, Charles, was born in 1887 his middle name was Jubilee – reflecting the 50 years that Queen Victoria had been on the throne.
In 1891 the family were living at The Red Lion, Standon Street, Standon. Present were both parents: George (31) and Ellen (32), with George recorded as working as a farm labourer. Their children were: Esther (7), Walter (5), Charles Jubila (3) and George William (2).
In 1901 the family were living at High Street, Standon. Both parents were present, George now recorded as a roadman labourer. Of their children Esther was absent, Walter was 15 and working for a draper. New siblings were Ellen (9), Annie (4) and Alfred (1). A boarder, David Hills (63) was also present.
Walter married Bertha Martha (b 28/2/1890) in the third quarter of 1910 and in 1911 they family were living at 16 Cannons Gardens, Hitchin Hill, Hitchin. Walter was 25 and Bertha 22. Their first child, Percy W Budd was recorded as 9 months old. He was born on 13 June 1910, before their marriage. George was as a police constable. They went on to have more children Violet M (b 12/10/1911), Irene (b 5/4/1914) and Marjorie (b 13/8/1916).
Officially Walter was recorded as born in Standon and was living in Hitchin when he enlisted in Stratford.
From the newspaper report given below we know that Walter had served 3 years as soldier sometime before he became a policeman. However, the same report suggests that he had also been in the Army Reserve for 7 ½ years. However, is must be wrong as he was home in 1901, married in 1910 and police constable in 1911 so there is not enough time between those dates for it to be true. More likely is that he was still in the Army Reserve and was called up when war was declared or soon afterwards.
Wartime Service
He was mobilised in Stratford on the 5th August 1914 and went to France on the 5th September 1914 with the East Surrey Regiment and held the Regimental Number 8220.
On the 6th May 1917 he was struck on the hand by a piece of shrapnel and this was the second time that he had been wounded.
His wounds, combined with the fact that he had been a police constable before the war, probably led to him being transferred to the Military Mounted Police with the Number P/ 13932 in November 1917. They were desperately short of the right calibre of men for that role, and it perhaps did not need the highest standard of fitness. The Military Police, although probably viewed with mixed feelings by the ordinary ‘Tommy’, played an important role in several areas, apart from the normal policing. They controlled the movement of men and material in the congested environment of the Western Front, helped re-locate men who had become detached from their units, guarded strategically important areas such as ports, railways and the rear troop concentrations, took control of the ‘walking wounded’, as well as prisoners of war. The caps they wore with a crimson cloth cover gave them the name ‘Redcaps’ and sometimes made them an easy target.
He served at Arras and on the Somme where he was wounded yet again. He was awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in the field at Passchendaele Ridge whilst acting as a Company stretcher bearer.
He was killed by a bomb behind the lines at Doullens in France. He is buried in Gezaincourt which is a village at the south west end of Doullens and was the site of various Casualty Clearing Stations. His grave is in Plot 3, Row C, Grave 16 in the Bagneux British Cemetery.
The following article was found in the Herts & Essex Observer dated 27th July 1918:
“Death of Corporal Walter Pepper. Corporal Walter Pepper, of the M.M. Police, the eldest son of Mr and Mrs George Pepper, of the Red Lion Inn, Standon, was killed by a bomb on June 29th. His wife and four children reside at Hitchin, where he was a police constable for five years prior to the war. She received the sad news from a chaplain, who wrote: “I read the service over his body in the village where he was hit, and we then took the body to a cemetery several miles away at a casualty clearing station, a place called Gezaincourt, near Doullens, and buried him there. Please accept my very sincere sympathy in your loss.”
Mrs W. Pepper has had the news of her husband’s death confirmed by a telegram from his regimental depot at Aldershot. Corporal Pepper, who had previously served three years in the Regulars and seven and a half years in the Reserve, joined up on August 5th, 1914, and went to France a month afterwards. He belonged to the East Surrey Regiment and was transferred to the Military Mounted Police in November 1917. He was a brave soldier and distinguished himself by winning the Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry at the Passchendaele Ridge. On the day of his death he wrote a letter to his wife acknowledging the receipt of a birthday parcel, his 33rd birthday having occurred three days previously."
Additional Information
A private inscription on the headstone reads "The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God".
After his death £20 8s 3d pay owing was authorised to go to his widow Bertha Mary on 2 November 1918 and then £1 9s 4d on 30 April 1919 . Later, a war gratuity of £22 10s was authorised to be paid to her on 8 December 1919.
His pension cards record his widow as his next of kin and living at 39 Periwinkle Lane, Hitchin. She and her children were awarded a pension of 33s 9d a week from 20 January 1919. The children were recorded as Percy W Budd – born 13/6/1910 (before wedlock), Violet M (b 12/10/1911), Irene (b 5/4/1914) and Marjorie (b 13/8/1916).
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Di Vanderson, Jonty Wild
