Name
Douglas William Prout
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/09/1916
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
Royal Berkshire Regiment
8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 11 D.
France
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted - Berkhamsted Collegiate School,
Not on the Sawbridgeworth memorials
Pre War
Son of William Andrew and Jessie Sophia Prout, of 34, West Lodge Avenue, Acton Hill, London. Douglas William Prout was born in Sawbridgeworth in 1891, the son of William and Jessie Sophia, who were later recorded of 34, West Lodge Avenue, Acton Hill, London.
William described himself as a solicitor and farmer at the time. The family lived at Hillfield House Knight Street. Douglas’s grandfather was John Prout, the agriculturist, author and entrepreneur who worked from Blounts Farm Allens Green. Douglas Prout attended St. Paul’s independent school in Richmond.
By the time of 1911 census the family had moved to Ealing and Douglas was working as a bank clerk. Later on though he must have moved to a solicitor’s office as he entered military service through the Inns of Court Training Corps. Douglas ended up a 2nd Lieutenant in the 8th battalion of Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire) Regiment.
Wartime Service
In 1914, this unit set up a semi-permanent training camp at Berkhamsted, and there is a memorial to them on what is now part of Berkhamsted Golf Course.
Douglas was first commissioned into the 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, before being transferred to the 8th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. This Battalion arrived in France at Le Havre 8 August 1915 and was assigned to the 1st Division of the Army.
Douglas Prout’s date of death is given as 3 September 1916, and he was ‘killed in action’. At this time, his unit was involved in the Battle of Pozieres, a part of the Somme offensive.
He has no known grave and is commemorated on Thiepval Memorial, France. He was aged 25.
Additional Information
He is mentioned on neither the High Wych, nor the Sawbridgeworth memorial
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Douglas Coe
