Name
Wilfred Arthur Overy
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
490583
London Regiment (Kensington’s)
13th Battalion
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Wilfred Overy was born in 1897 at Abbots Langley. He was one of seven children (two sons and five children) born to Robert and Mary Overy. In 1891 the family lived at Abbots Langley and Robert was employed as a School-Master at the Asylum. In the 1901 Census the family was registered living in Abbots Road, Abbots Langley, and Robert worked as a Rate and Tax Collector. By the time of the 1911 Census the Overy family lived at Linden Villas, Abbots Road. In the 1912 Kelly’s Directory Robert was listed as Clerk to the Parish Council and the Registrar of Births.
Wilfred attested on 7th September 1914 to the 13th Battalion of the London Regiment, known as the Kensington’s. He was employed as an Insurance Clerk by George H Fryer & Co. The Kensington’s had mobilised to Abbots Langley when war was declared on 4th August 1914. He was recorded for the first time in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour in October 1914, serving with the 13th London’s (Kensington’s). On 10th February 1915 he was sent to France and embarked at Southampton.
On 12th March 1915 Wilfred was wounded during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, and spent from 14th March to 2nd April at the 5th General Hospital at Rouen suffering from a slight gun- shot wound. The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine reported him wounded and missing in the April 1915 edition. However Wilfred survived and he returned to the Kensington’s and fought at the Battle of Aubers Ridge on 9th May 1915 where the Kensington’s were cut to ribbons. The battalion lost 13 officers and 453 men (70%) of its strength in the attack, and the Kensington Regimental Association’s records noted that Wilfred Overy was taken prisoner during the action.
Wilfred was officially recorded as missing on 11th May, and as a Prisoner of War on 1st June 1915. In June 1915 the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine reported “No news has been heard of Wilfred Overy, of the 13th (Kensington) Regt, since the engagement at Aubers on May 16th”, and in August 1915 the Magazine reported “No news has been received of Wilfred Overy, a prisoner of war in Germany”.
A year later on 12th August 1916 the Parish Magazine recorded “A remarkable publication is produced by the British Prisoners of War at Munster, in Germany, called ‘The Rennbahn Church Times, a record of camp spiritual work’. A copy of the first printed series is before us. The number contains an excellent article by an Abbots Langley man, our friend Wilfred Overy, on ‘The only Englishman who ever became Pope’. It is nice to hear of him again in this way, and it is strange to see his name and that of the Parish in print in a War Prisoners' newspaper. By God's good grace, may they soon be set free.” The article was also published in the Hertfordshire Advertiser on 12th August 1916.
Wilfred was repatriated on 1st December 1918, and attached to the 13th London Regimental Depot. On 7th February 1919 he was attached to the 119th Company RDC at Feltham and discharged and demobilised on 25th April 1919. He was discharged awaiting a hernia operation at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. He had been injured during his time as a prisoner lifting heavy coke at the coal pits. He had received treatment from a German doctor but had been supplied with an unsuitable truss. A Medical Board, held at Watford on 2nd July 1919 noted that Wilfred be considered 20% disabled, and presumably eligible for a War Pension.
Wilfred Overy survived the War as did his brother Harold.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
