Name
Joseph Preston
1883
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/09/1918
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
315419
Royal Sussex Regiment
16th (Sussex Yeomanry) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
STE. EMILIE VALLEY CEMETERY, VILLERS-FAUCON
Sp. Mem. A. 7.
France
Headstone Inscription
Special Memorial dedicated to 21 casualties believed to be buried in the cemetery with inscription: THEIR GLORY SHALL NOT BE BLOTTED OUT
UK & Other Memorials
Sunnyside Memorial, Berkhamsted
Pre War
Joseph Preston was born in 1883 in Berkhamsted, Herts, the son of Henry and Emily Preston and one of nine children. He was baptised at Great Berkhamsted on 10 October 1883.
His mother died in 1889 and on the 1891 Census the family were living at Middle Road, Berkhamsted where his widowed father was working as a general labourer. They remained there in 1901 at which time both Joseph and his father were working as a nursery labourers.
By 1911 only Joseph was living at 2 Middle Road, Berkhamsted with his father and was working as a general labourer. His father died in the summer of 1911.
His brother James Preston lived at 71 Ellesmere Road, Berkhamsted, Herts.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Berkhamsted and initially joined the Bedfordshire Regiment under reg. no. 27766, later being transferred to the Royal Sussex Regiment, serving with the 16th (Sussex Yeomanry) Battalion.
He was killed in action on 18 September 1918 and is buried in St Emilie Valley Cemetery, Villers-Faucon, France.
Additional Information
Both his parents having died, his brother Ernest received a war gratuity of £11 and pay owing of £17 16s 1d was divided equally between his brothers Ernest, Arthur, Frederick, James and Thomas and his sister Jane.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild
