Name
Arthur John Boarder
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
5656
(Prince of Wales’s) Royal Canadian Leinster Regiment
1st Battalion
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Arthur Boarder was born at Aylesbury in the winter of 1883. His parents Jessie and Lydia Boarder, had three daughters and Arthur was their only son. In the 1891 Census the family was shown living at Abingdon and Jessie was employed as an Insurance Agent. By 1901 they had moved to Waddesdon, near Aylesbury, and Arthur was employed as a Steward’s Boy at Waddesdon Manor. In the spring of 1908 Arthur married Minnie Ashford and by 1911 the couple lived at 6 Harwood Road, Watford. A son was born in 1909, and Arthur worked as a Labouring Domestic Gardener.
The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour listed Arthur Boarder from September 1916, serving with the Essex Regiment. At that point he was employed as an Attendant at the Leavesden Asylum. By January 1918 he was recorded serving with the 1st Leinster Battalion, and would have probably have been transferred to this unit sometime in 1917. The 1st Leinster Battalion was despatched to Egypt on 14th September 1917, and subsequently served in Palestine, and Arthur may have transferred from the Essex Regiment in time to leave with the Leinster’s, or maybe he joined from an Essex Battalion that was already serving in the Middle East.
The 1st and 2nd Battalions (Prince of Wales’s) of the Royal Canadian Leinster Regiment was formed in Ireland at the start of the War. The Canadian connection was due to their original formation in Canada in 1881. In 1894 the Regiment was relocated to Ireland, and so was associated with Leinster. It was most likely that after suffering casualties the ranks were refilled by a draft from the Essex Regiment, and so Arthur would have become an Irish-Canadian by association.
It is not known if Arthur had moved to Abbots Langley before the War or before he enlisted, however he was recorded in the Parish Roll of Honour from September 1916 through to the end of the War. In the Absent Voter Records of Autumn 1918, he was listed with 1st Leinster, and his home address was given at 15 Tanners Hill, Abbots Langley. Arthur’s Medal Roll confirmed that he was de-mobilised on 17th April 1919.
Arthur John Boarder survived the War.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
