Name
Walter Sydney Pratt
1899
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
07/08/1918
18
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
GS/78830
Royal Fusiliers *1
11th (County of London) (Service) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BEACON CEMETERY, SAILLY-LAURETTE
Plot III, Row G, Grave 28.
France
Headstone Inscription
FROM ALL HIS LABOURS NOW HE RESTS IN GOD'S ETERNAL GLORY BLEST
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour, Christ Church Memorial, Watford, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead
Pre War
Walter Sydney Pratt was born in 1899 in Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of Sydney and Eleanor Pratt (nee Nockles), and one of six children. His parents married in 1893 in the Shoreditch district of London.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 71 Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead where his father was working as a Boot Maker. On the 1911 Census the family had moved to 17 Newcombe Street, Harpenden, Herts. His father continued to work as a Boot Maker and Walter was an 11 year old schoolboy.
His father died in 1935 in Watford aged 62, and his mother died on 21 February 1949 in Watford aged 79. Both were buried in North Watford Cemetery.
Wartime Service
Walter enlisted in Bedford, and initially joined the East Surrey Regiment as Private 37032, later transferring the Royal Fusiliers.
He was killed in action on 7 August 1918, aged 18, during the preparations for the Battle of Amiens and is buried in Beacon Cemetery, Sailly-Laurette, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £5 2s 7d. She also received a pension of 9 shillings a week. N.B. The name Walter Pratt on the Hemel Hempstead Memorial could be Walter Sydney Pratt or Walter James Pratt.
*1 Believed more correctly, (County of London) Bn. London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles).
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk), www.dacorumeritage.org.uk, www.hemelheroes.com., www.hemelatwar.org.
