Name
Percy Leaper
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
166068
Royal Engineers
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Percy Leaper was born in the spring of 1889 at Rickmansworth. He was the only child of Percy (senior) and Emily Leaper. In the 1891 and 1901 Census the family was recorded living at Ivy Cottages, Talbot Road, Rickmansworth. Percy (senior) was employed as a Railway Porter.
Percy (junior) enlisted at Bletchley on 17th December 1915, and gave his address at 78 Victoria Street, Wolverton, and his occupation as a Goods Clerk with the London & North-western Railway. He gave his Next of Kin as his father, Percy, who lived at Station Cottage, Kings Langley.
He remained at home for almost a year before being mobilised as a Pioneer in the Royal Engineers on 2nd December 1916. He was sent to Dunstable Depot where he achieved the rank of Sapper, and on 27th January 1917 he was punished for being Absent Without Leave for 13 hours and 10 minutes.
Percy’s Service Record has survived and it noted that he embarked at Southampton on 16th July 1917 en route for Basra, where he disembarked on 18th August 1917.
The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour first listed Percy in August 1917, when he was serving with the Royal Engineers. Throughout 1918 his name was recorded each month in the Roll of Honour, but his Unit was not specified, until the final List was published in December 1918. At that point he was shown serving with the Royal Engineers.
On 2nd September 1917 Percy was admitted to hospital, and was discharged on 16th September. He re-joined his unit on 1st October. He returned to hospital between 10th May and 17th June 1918, and again on 3rd August 1918. He recovered and remained in the Middle East with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, at Basra, until 25th January 1920, when he was returned to England for de-mobilisation. From 1st July 1919 he qualified for the skilled rate of Engineer pay, having qualified with the trade of Telephone Operator. Percy was demobilised on 27th March 1920.
Percy Leaper survived the War.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
