Name
Arthur Aubrey Atkins
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
2264
Royal Munster Fusiliers
7th Battalion
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Arthur Atkins was one of four children of Arthur (senior) and Ada Atkins. The couple had three sons and a daughter, and two of the sons, Arthur (junior) and Henry served in the Great War. Arthur (senior) was employed as a Metropolitan Police Constable, and in 1891 was living in West Ham. Arthur (junior) was born in 1888 at West Ham. In the 1901 Census the family had re-located to Kensington, and Arthur (senior) had been promoted to Sergeant. Ten years later the family had moved on once again to 24 Breakspeare Road in Abbots Langley. Arthur (senior) had retired from the Police, and Arthur (junior) was elsewhere at the time of the Census, as he was not listed.
Arthur was first listed in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour in December 1914, where he was reported serving with the 11th Hussars. He was regularly recorded with the Hussars until in December 1915 when he was shown that he had moved to the 3rd Dorset’s. As the War progressed, and bogged down into the stalemate of trench warfare, there was little action for the Cavalry, and men were transferred out of Cavalry units to re-fill the depleted infantry ranks. The 3rd Battalion of the Dorset Regiment was a Depot and Training Unit and it remained in England throughout the War, so it is not known how long Arthur would have been associated with this battalion.
A year later, in the December 1916 Parish Magazine, Arthur was reported sick or wounded. It was indicated in the Parish Roll of Honour that he was still serving with the 3rd Dorset’s, but this was probably not accurate.
Sometime in 1916 Arthur transferred from the 3rd Dorset’s to the 3rd Royal Munster Fusiliers, where he remained for the remainder of the War.
Arthur was listed in the Autumn 1918, Spring 1919, and Autumn 1919 Absent Voters Lists serving with the 7th Royal Munster Fusiliers, and noting that his place of residence was 133 Breakspeare Road, Abbots Langley.
His brother Henry served in the Great War and returned at the end of the conflict. However two cousins, Ernest and Leonard were both killed in action. Ernest died at Passchendaele on 1st December 1917, and Leonard was killed on the Somme on 26th September 1916. His third cousin William Atkins survived, and another, Frank, also survived.
Arthur Atkins survived the War.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
