Name
Bertram Prewett
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/08/1918
39
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Rifleman
608485
London Regiment *1
18th (County of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
SAILLY-SAILLISEL BRITISH CEMETERY
Plot IX, Row A, Grave 9.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour, Watford Grammar School Memorial, Watford, Watford Grammar School Book of Remembrance, Bushey Memorial, Clay Hill, St James’ Church Memorial, Bushey, St Paul’s Church Memorial, Bushey, St Matthew’s Church Memorial, Oxhey
Pre War
Born in Hampstead, London on 12 October 1878, Bertram Prewett was the only son of Jacob and Caroline Mary (nee Davies) Prewett of Oxhey. His parents were married in the third quarter of 1874 in the registration district of Holborn. Caroline died on 18 January 1921 in Bushey, aged 68, and was buried on 21 January at St James’ Church in Bushey. Jacob died on 7 March 1936 in Bushey, aged 93, and was buried on 10 March, also at St James’ Church.
Bertram attended Watford Grammar School from June 1886 to July 1894. From about 1894, he was a well-known bell-ringer, especially at St Matthew’s, Oxhey, Herts. and at St James’, Bushey. After an open competition he was appointed Post Office Assistant Clerk (Abstractor) on 27 April 1898.
At the 1901 Census, Bertram was 22 years old and living with his parents and 26-year-old sister, Florence, at 83 Upper Paddock Road in Bushey. Jacob was aged 58 and working as a railway clerk (audit), and Caroline was 49 years old. Their birthplaces were Aldebury in Wiltshire for Jacob and Marylebone in London for Caroline. Both Bertram and Florence were working as Clerks for G.P.O. savings bank and their birthplaces are Hampstead and Hammersmith, respectively.
At the 1911 Census, the family were still living at 83 Upper Paddock Road, a five-room property which was now referred to as ‘Park House’ in Oxhey, Watford. Jacob was retired, whilst Florence and Bertram were both employed by a Savings Bank, with Florence being a First-Class Clerk Civil Service and Bertram a Second Division Clerk Civil Service.
Jacob married Ida Lizzie Elton on 12 July 1913 at St James’ Church in Bushey and the wedding was described as follows in the St James’ Parish Church magazine:
“A Double Wedding 1913.
Bushey Parish Church was the scene of a very pretty double wedding on Saturday, July 12 when Mr Bertram Prewett of Bushey was united to Miss Ida Lizzie Elton of Parfey Street, Fulham, and Mr William Franklin of Twickenham, to her sister, Miss Maud Mary Elton. The brides, who were dressed in white satin and carried bouquets of white carnations and lily-of-the-valley, were given away by their mother. A large company witnessed the ceremony, which was performed by the Rector, assisted by the Vicar of Oxhey. As each of the parties passed through the chancel and the nave, the organ played the Wedding March and the bells crashed forth a joyful peal. The whole company re-assembled at Buck’s Restaurant, Watford and thoroughly enjoyed the wedding breakfast. Mr and Mrs Prewett left at 4 pm en route for Scotland and Mr and Mrs Franklin for Shanklin.
In the evening the Bushey Bell Ringers rang a peal of Kent double-bob-major in 2 hours 54 minutes. The previous Sunday Mr Prewett was presented with a very handsome bar by the Bushey Church Officials and the Bell Ringers’ Band. Bertram and Ida made their home at ‘Alderbury’, Oxhey Avenue, their house named after the birthplace of Jacob Prewett, Bertram’s father.”
Altogether, Bertram rang 957 peals, a considerable achievement 100 years ago, and his last peal was rung at Wrentham, Suffolk.
He has an entry in the 1914 Kelly’s Directory of Hertfordshire, with the address of 32 Oxhey Ave. Oxhey.
Wartime Service
Bertram enlisted at Bunhill Row in London during March 1915 as Private 301083 in the 5th (City of London) Battalion of the London Regiment. He was later transferred as Rifleman 608485 in the 18th (County of London) Battalion (London Irish Rifles) and went to France in January 1917.
Serving in France in 1917, he
injured his foot but was able to cook for others in his battalion. He wrote:
“They went over the top the other night and took the village of B____, which has changed hands ten times lately. You can hardly imagine the ruin over here. Hardly a wall standing in the villages; fruit and other trees wantonly cut down; huge craters in the roads; and churches blown to pieces. In a village near here the only part of the church standing is the west end, and also a huge crucifix in the churchyard. In the latter lay German and our dead side by side and I saw the grave of a Queen's man, surmounted by a cross, who had been buried by the Germans on 11th March last.
There are no traces of any bells – I expect they have gone to Essen for cannon. I saw, in a huge, ruined sugar refinery the stock and lever of the factory bell, but there was no trace of the bell itself. It is very hot out here now, and it is a great contrast to a month ago, when we had frost and snow. I'm glad to say that I am quite well, with the exception of my foot, but the life is rather trying.” [1 June 1917]
Bertram was wounded again on 23 March 1918 during the German Spring Offensive and was later killed in action in France on 31 August 1918. He was entitled to the Victory and British War medals and was killed in action at Bouchavesnes.
The news of his death did not reach his wife and parents until October. Two letters were sent to Ida after his death and describe what happened. The first, dated 1st October 1918, informed her of Bertram's death and mentions that “the majority of his friends became casualties.” The second letter contained the following: “Sergeant Reeves saw the body. He was shot through the throat with a machine gun bullet and his death must have been instantaneous. 600 yards east of the main Peronne to Bapaume road opposite the village of Bouchavesnes.”
Bertram was originally buried at Aldershot Cemetery, Bouchavesnes, about 800 metres north of the village. Like those of many servicemen originally buried in small or isolated cemeteries, his body was later exhumed and reburied at the Sailly-Saillisel British Cemetery in France. On the white marble stone, with a rose planted at the base, the Rifle Brigade’s cap badge engraved above his name, Bertram Prewett’s tribute says, ‘The Supreme Sacrifice’. Bertram is also commemorated on the Bushey Memorial on Clay Hill, and at the churches of St James and St Paul in Bushey.
After his death, his parents moved to ‘The Cabin’ Bushey Hall Road, Bushey. Florence remained single and was still living at ‘The Cabin’, Woodlands Road, (one end of Bushey Grove Road was re-named) Bushey, at the time of her death, aged 77, in 1954. Ida never remarried and died, aged 89, on 6 November 1974 in Bushey.
There is an entry for Bertram in the National Probate Calendar for 1918, which reads: PREWETT Bertram of 32 Oxhey-avenue Watford Hertfordshire died 31 August 1918 in France Administration (with Will) London 16 December to Ida Lizzie Prewett widow. Effects £981 18s. 3d.
There is also a brief article about and Death announcements for Bertram in the West Herts. and Watford Observer dated 26 October 1918, plus an In Memoriam in the issue dated 30 August 1919.
The following obituary also appeared
in the St James’ Church magazine, in December 1918:
“The death of Mr Bertram Prewett is a great loss to Bushey and the ringing world in general. Born in Hampstead, he was brought as an infant to Bushey. He was educated at Watford Grammar School; at 16 years he won a place in the Civil Service. Mr Prewett began ringing at St Matthew’s Church at the early age of 16. He rang nearly a thousand peals, two hundred and thirty-six of which he himself conducted. He rang all over England and Ireland, in thirty-seven counties, and in two hundred and forty towers. He was a member of the following associations - College Youths, Middlesex, Kent, Hertfordshire, Sussex and Midland counties. No one hated fighting more, but at an early date of the war he offered himself and joined the Rifle Brigade. He was wounded in the German offensive on 23 March 1918. When in hospital at Etaples, his ward was heavily bombed and all its occupants killed. He had just gone out to help the orderlies. We offer our sincere sympathy to his aged father and mother, who live in Bushey Grove Road, and to his wife.”
The Ancient Society of College Youths, established in 1637, is the premier change ringing society in the City of London, with a national and international membership that promotes excellence in ringing around the world. The Master’s initiative of a visit to the World War I war graves and memorials came to fruition on 26 and 27 July 2015, when a group including ten past masters of the Society made the journey to Ypres and visited some dozen locations over two days. At Bertram Prewett’s grave at the Sailly-Saillisel British Cemetery, they rang Stedman Caters in honour of one of the leading ringers of the early twentieth century. Alan Regin, Steward of the Rolls of Honour of Church Bell Ringers, then unexpectedly produced a bag and pulled out some old leather-bound peal books, in which Bertram Prewett had recorded all the peals that he had rung, his whole ringing history. Peals were rung in Suffolk in 2016 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Bertram Prewett’s last peal on 14 May 1916.
Information about bell-ringing provided by Alan Regin, Steward of the Rolls of Honour in The Central Council Memorial Book of Church Bell-ringers who fell in the Great War.
Additional Information
The published Watford Grammar School Book of Remembrance entry reads:
“PREWETT, BERTRAM. School period: June, 1886, to July, 1894. Rifleman, London Rifle Brigade. Joined up in March, 1915; went to France, January, 1917; killed in action at Bouchavesnes, 31st August, 1918.”
After his death he was recorded as the son of Jacob and the late Caroline Prewett, of Bushey, Herts; husband of Ida Prewett, of "Alderbury," Oxhey Avenue, Watford, Herts.
There is a brief article about and Death announcements for Bertram in the West Herts and Watford Observer dated 26 October 1918; plus an In Memoriam in the issue dated 30 August 1919. There are a number of Internet sites that detail his time as a bell-ringer. Additional information provided with kind permission of Bushey First World War Commemoration Project – Please visit www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk.
*1 Believed more correctly, (County of London)
Bn. London Regiment (London Irish Rifles).
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk) Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
