Name
Reginald Pratt
10 June 1898
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/09/1916
18
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
36425
Royal Berkshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 11 D.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley, Not listed on the Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Reginald Pratt was born on 10 June 1898 in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of Thomas and Eliza Pratt, and one of 10 children. He was baptised at St John the Evangelist Church in Boxmoor on 13 July. He was the youngest of nine children.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 41 Puller Road, Boxmoor, Herts where his father was working as a general labourer. They remained at the same address in 1911.
He was educated at Boxmoor School from 1904 and when he left school in June 1911 he started work at John Dickinson & Co., Apsley Mills, where four of his siblings were also working.
Wartime Service
Reginald enlisted in Hertford in June 1915 , initially into the Hertfordshire Regiment (reg. no. 5489). After basic training he was sent to France and assigned to the 6th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment.
He was in action on the Somme as part of a machine gun company, during the Battles of Albert, Bazentin Ridge, including the capture of Trones Wood, and the Battle of Delville Wood.
He was killed in action on 27 September 1916, aged 18, at the Battle of Thiepval Ridge when the 6th Battalion were at Authuille Wood and he was killed by an exploding shell.
Additional Information
His mother received a pension of 5 shillings a week. His father received a war gratuity of £4 and pay owing of £3 14s 1d. His brothers Frederick and William served in the war and survived. N.B. There is an entry for R Pratt in the National Roll of the Great War, however, that states that he was a Trooper with the Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars, that he volunteered in August 1914 and was drafted overseas the same year. It also says he was killed in action in 1917 and holds the 1914 Star and General Service and Victory Medals. The correct address of 41 Puller Road, Boxmoor is given. Most of the information in this entry cannot be verified by other records.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com., hemelatwar.org., dacorumheritage.org.uk.,
