Name
Arthur Austin
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/04/1917
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
12082
Bedfordshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CHILI TRENCH CEMETERY, GAVRELLE
E.16
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Rickmansworth Urban District Memorial,
St. Peter’s Church Memorial, Mill End,
St. Peter's C & E Primary School Memorial, Mill End
Pre War
Arthur was born in Rickmansworth on the 28th of December 1893 and baptised on the 10th of January 1894. His parents were Charles, a Stoker, and Emma. His father died in 1898 age 40 , and in 1901 Arthur was living with his widowed mother and seven siblings in a cottage in Wharf Lane, Rickmansworth. No occupation was given for his mother, but two of his brothers were working as Labourers. By 1911 the family was in Church Lane, Mill End. Arthur was age 18, a Mill Hand Spinner, living with his mother and two brothers, Joseph age 28 a General Labourer, and William age 19 a Farm Labourer.
Recorded as enlisting in Watford.
Wartime Service
The 6th Beds were in action at the second Battle of the Scarpe on 23rd and 24th of April 1917 and again at the Battle of Arras on the 28th when they began an assault on Greenland Hill, a long incline between Gavrelle and Roeux. They almost reached their objective but then encountered heavy enfilading fire from the chemical works near Etree-Wamin.
Arthur lost his life at some point during this action – when the Battalion came out on the 29th just 58 men remained. Fellow Rickmansworth men privates Edwin Baldwin and Joseph Green died during the same series of actions.
Acknowledgments
Tanya Britton, Mike Collins
