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In
Loving Memory of our Fallen
THE FALLEN OF THE GREAT WAR
Surnames V to
Z
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VARNEY, R. T.
 Reginald Thomas Varney was born on 6 May 1899 at Kentish
Town, London. He had two brothers, Cyril George, who was born at
Mentmore in 1897, and Percy William, born at Kensal Rise, Willesden, in
1903. They were the sons of Alfred Varney, born at Mentmore, and his
wife Annie, born at Leighton Buzzard. The couple were probably married
in 1896 at Leighton Buzzard; if so Annie's maiden name would have been
Fookes.
The family lived at 135 Tickford Street. In 1911
their address was 6 Park View, Tickford Street, with Mr Varney working
as a coachbuilder bodymaker and Cyril as a coachbuilder mounter.
In 1901 Mr Varney was a wheelwright, and the family were living at 201
Harrow Road, Paddington.
He volunteered in April 1915 and became J/38258, Boy,
1st Class, in the Royal Navy. He took part in many actions, being
attached to the Grand Fleet in the North Sea. He was serving aboard HMS
Black Prince when it was sunk during the battle of Jutland; Reginald was
one of 857 officers and men who died from this vessel alone. He is
commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, panel 12.
"And doubtless he went in splendid company"
Memorial - SPi, SPo, URCo
photos of Plymouth Naval Memorial by Andy Macdermott
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 VICKERY, A. C.
Arthur Charles Vickery was born around 1892 in Middlesex,
London. In 1901 he was living with his grandparents, Charles and
Elizabeth Pratt, at 10 Riverside, Newport Pagnell. Mr Pratt, born about
1828, was a dealer in shoes, and came originally from Wellingborough.
Arthur enlisted in Bletchley and became a Private, 19327, in the
Coldstream Guards, 3rd battalion. He died on 1 December 1917, and is
commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial,
 Louverval, France, panel 2.
He left a widow, Kate
Mary, née Frost, whom he had married in 1916.
The headstone is in the churchyard of St Peter and St
Paul. It reads "In memory of Arthur Charles Vickery, 3rd Batt Coldstream
Guards, dearly loved husband of Kitty M Vickery, killed in action at
Cambrai, Dec 1st 1917 aged 26 years, interred at Gouzeaucourt". It
is placed on the grave of his wife's parents, right. The headstone
reads, "In ever loving memory of Henry James Frost born April 22nd 1867, entered
into rest August 29th 1931. Also to the sweet memory of our dearly loved
and devoted mother and wife Emma Frost, born August 9th 1870, passed
away May 10th 1943"
Memorial - SPi, SPo |
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WADSWORTH, A. R.
Arthur Reuben Wadsworth, born in 1886 in Newport Pagnell, was
the son of Reuben Wadsworth and his wife Maria, née Wesley. The
couple had married in 1877 and had seven children, one of whom died
early.
At home at 31 Caldecote Street in 1891 with Arthur
and his parents were John, born 1877, Alice Elizabeth, born 1878,
Gertrude Amelia, born about 1885, and Harry James, 1888. They were
joined by Eva May in 1895, and by 1901 were living at 40 Spring Gardens.
Mr Wadsworth worked with the railway, being a labourer in 1891 and
afterwards a gas fitter in the railway carriage works.
In 1911 Arthur was working as a labourer. He enlisted
to become a Private, 17812, in the Northamptonshire Regiment, 2nd
battalion. He died on 4 August 1916 and is buried at the Cambrin
Churchyard Extension, France, P27. At the foot of his headstone are the
words, "Some day, we know not when, we hope to meet again".
 Arthur served under the name Westley, very similar to
his mother's maiden name. The administration after Arthur's death
appears to have been done by his brother John, then a painter and
decorator, who lived at 39 Greenfield Road.
Mr Wadsworth died in
1939, aged 85. The grave, left, in the churchyard at Newport Pagnell, is
inscribed, "In loving memory of Maria Wadsworth, died Oct 5 1923, aged
73. Also of Arthur R Wardsworth, killed in France 8 April 1916, aged 30
years".
Memorial - SPi, SPo |
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WATSON, J. J.
Josiah James Watson was born in 1885 at Cranfield. He was the
son of James Watson, a bricklayer, and his wife Ellen, née Goodman, who
had married in 1883. The couple had nine children, two of whom died
young. Those who survived were George Albert, born 1884, Josiah, Ellen
Elizabeth, born about1888, William John, 1889, Harold Frederick, 1891,
Emily, about 1896 and Oscar Reginald, about 1901. The family lived at
The Firs, Cranfield, in 1891, and then moved to Mount Pleasant, Aspley
Guise.
In 1901 Josiah was a bricklayer's labourer, and by
1911, named as Joseph, he had become a bricklayer. He married on 21
September 1912, at the St Peter and St Paul, Newport Pagnell, Mary
Elizabeth Tooth. The couple had no children.
On 8 December 1915, Josiah enlisted at Bletchley. His
papers describe him as just three-quarters of an inch shy of six feet
tall and working as a bricklayer. On 10 March 1916, he was tested as a
bricklayer by Charles Sinfield and Sons, builders, of 1 Bedford Road,
Aspley Guise, and found to be "very good". The firm referred to him as
"Joseph".
Six days later, on 16 March 1916, Josiah began his
service, at home. He was sent out with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force
on 24 July 1917 and arrived at Alexandria on 9 August. Unfortunately, by
25 November 1917 he was described as "dangerously ill" from dystentery,
and died from his illness on 10 December 1917. He was then serving as a
Sapper, 522812, in the Royal Engineers, 569th Devon Army Troops Company.
Josiah is buried in the Port Said War Memorial
Cemetery, Egypt, grave C 17. At the foot of his headstone are the words
"Though death divides, fond memories cling", requested by his wife.
Mrs Watson, of 79 Tickford Street, received a pension
of 13/9 a week. Returned to her in July 1918 was a damaged wrist watch,
leather strap. She queried this, stating that she was sure he would have
had more things, including money and perhaps his pay book. She added
""It does seem hard to think that after a man has sacrificed life and
everything that better care is not taken of their small personal
belongings". She asked that if anything else were found it could be
returned to her.
A response from the Royal Engineers Record Office at
Chatham was that on 28 May 1918 inventories had been received of
personal effects which had been "submerged and salved" and that no
corresponding effects had yet arrived. It was therefore feared that any
effects may have been lost by enemy action.
Memorial - SPi, SPo |
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 WEST,
A. E.
Alfred Edward West was born in 1892 in Great
Linford. The second child, he was named after his father, a shepherd on
a farm in 1911; his mother was Susan, née Riley. The couple had married
in 1888 and there were ten children born to the family of whom two died
in infancy. Living at Broughton with their parents in 1911, the surviving children were Emily Gertrude,
born 1889, then Alfred,
followed by William Thomas, 1895, Ernest Douglas, 1898, Ellen Elizabeth,
1903, Leonard George, 1906, Albert
Joseph, 1908, and Dorothy Lowesher (Louisa?). That year Alfred was
working as a farm labourer.
Alfred served in the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry,
2nd battalion, as a Serjeant, 8034. He was awarded the Military Medal
for carrying an officer under heavy fire. Very sadly he died from
influenza on 27 February 1919 at Gravesend while travelling home to
resume civilian occupations. He was buried in the churchyard at Newport Pagnell
on 5 March. At the foot of his headstone should be the
words, "In loving remembrance from his dear wife. Not dead, but sleepeth".
Currently, the foot is blank.*
In 1918 Alfred had married Bessie Lake. She was
living at Priory Street, Newport Pagnell, at the time of his death.
Alfred was her second husband, her first,
Edward Lake, having died at the beginning of the Great War. Although
as yet unconfirmed, it is possible that Mrs West married for the third
time in 1921. Her husband, Ernest D West, may have been a younger
brother of Alfred.
Memorial - none *29
March 2016 After we queried this, the CWGC have kindly informed us that
the wording was missed from the headstone when it was replaced in
1992/3, owing to erosion beyond repair. They are currently investigating
the re-instatement of the wording. |
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WEST, R.
Reginald West was born in 1887 in Emberton. He was the son of
Thomas West, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Fanny, née Smith,
who had married in 1886.
The family remained in Emberton for over a decade,
living in 1891 at 20 High Street, Emberton, and in 1901 at Church Lane.
They had eight children, two of whom died young. Reginald's younger
siblings were Dorothy Gertrude or Gertrude Dorothy, born about 1889 and
named after her paternal grandmother, Olive May, 1892, Percy, 1896,
Edith Lily, 1897, and Arthur William, 1899.
By 1911 the family had moved to Wood Farm Cottage,
near Hardmead, Clifton Reynes, and Mr West had become a cowman. Reginald
by this time was a farm labourer, as was his brother Percy, while Dorothy
had become a domestic servant. Reginald's widowed mother later lived at
20a Mill Street, Newport Pagnell.
Reginald volunteered for service in November 1915 and
was sent overseas in March 1916. He took part in a number of
engagements, including the Somme, Ypres, and Arras, but was killed in
action at Monchy on 12 May 1917. Then he was serving as a private, 23355, in the King's
Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) 8th battalion. He is commemorated on the
Arras Memorial, bay 2.
"He died the noblest death a man may die."
Reginald is remembered on the grave of his parents, in Emberton
churchyard. The inscriptions around the kerbstones of the grave are;
"In loving memory of Thomas Henry West the beloved husband of Fanny
West who died March 3 1925 Aged 59 years" and "Also his beloved wife
Fanny West who died January 5 1938 aged 69 years".
Memorial - SPo
Reginald is also commemorated on the screen Memorial inside the church
of St Mary the Virgin, Clifton Reynes
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WHITING, A.
Arthur Whiting was one of the eleven children, one of whom
died young, of Henry
William Whiting and his wife Mary Elizabeth. Mr Whiting was a farmer,
and in 1881, aged 29 and living at the farm house at Willen, he had 255
acres and employed ten men and three boys. In 1891 the family were at
Sunny Side, Willen, and in 1911 at Caldecote Farm, Newport Pagnell.
Harry was the firstborn of their children, in 1876.
He was followed by Joseph Bennett in 1877, then William George in about
1879. Another son, Charles Frederick, was born in 1880; they were all
born at Hanslope. By 1881 the
family were employing a governess and a domestic dairy maid. The
remainder of the family were born at Willen; Mr and Mrs
Whiting gained their first daughter, Constance Mary, in 1882, followed
by Helen Beatrice in 1884, and then Arthur, 1886. Another daughter, Alice
Irene, was born in 1888, then Florence Maud in 1890. The family by 1891
had a new domestic servant; Harry was by then was a boarder at the
Grammar School, Mill Road, Wellingborough. Finally, Philip Harold was born in 1893.
In 1901 Arthur was a pupil at All Saints School,
Bloxham, near Banbury. Harry had meanwhile moved to "Willen" at 8
Rectory Road, Sutton Coldfield, where he was a manager of a laundry.
Living with him was his brother Charles, an electrical engineer. By 1911
Harry was married with three children and two servants. He was at 1
Wedderburn Road, Hampstead and working as a motor engineer. Arthur too
had become an automobile engineer, and was lodging in a large boarding
house at 4, 6, and 8 Osnaburgh Street, Regents Park.
On 15 September 1914, Arthur appeared in the London Gazette as
having been granted a temporary commission as Sub-Lieutenant in the
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Mentioned in Dispatches, he died on
22 August 1918, aged 32, serving as a
 Lieutenant aboard HMML 403.
The vessel had been attempting the salvage of an enemy torpedo at
Runswick Bay near Whitby, and was destroyed by explosion. The entire
crew of ten men were killed.
Arthur is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial, panel 31.
His brother, Harry, who also served, later lived at Wavendon.
Memorial - SPi, SPo
Arthur is also
commemorated the memorial at Willen (left). Its inscription reads:
1914-1918
In honoured
memory of
the men of this parish
who laid down their lives in
The
Great War Whiting
Arthur Lieut RNVR
Richardson Percy R Lce Corpl
Bedford Regt
Holman Frederick C Private Tank Corps
 The
grave beside the church of St Mary Magdalene at Willen (right) is
that of Arthur's parents. The inscription on it reads:
In loving memory of
Henry William Whiting
Born Feby 27th 1852 Died Decr 29th 1918
(for 29 years churchwarden of Willen)
Also of Mary Elizabeth, wife of the above
Born July 1st 1862 Died Sepr 2nd 1911
 The
reverse of the gravestone (left) commemorates Arthur Whiting:
In memory of Lieut Arthur Whiting
Killed at sea
Aug 1917
There is another grave beside this one dedicated to Doris Kate
Whiting, who died in August 1894 aged two months.
Mr Whiting died at 14 Bulstroed Street, Marylebone,
and left the very large sum of £19,563 6s 3d in his will. |
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WHITLOCK, A. C.
Alfred Cyril Whitlock was born in 1899 in Woburn Sands. He
was the youngest of the 13 children, one of whom died young, of Frederick
Whitlock, a bricklayer, and his wife Esther, née Garratt or Garrott, who
had married in 1872. Mr Whitlock was a bricklayer, originally from Kent,
and in 1881 the family were living at The Leys, Wavendon. Subsequently
they lived at Aspley Hill, Aspley Guise.
Their children were George Ephraim, born 1872,
William, 1877, Walter Frederick, 1879, Albert, 1881, Arthur James, 1883,
Florence Ada, 1885, Constance May, 1887, James, 1889, Beatrice 1891,
Charles Benedict, 1893, Mary Agnes E, 1895, then finally Alfred, on 1
March 1899.
Alfred enlisted in Bletchley, giving his residence as
Newport Pagnell. He became a Private, 29760, in the Somerset Light
Infantry, 8th battalion. He had also served as 38533, a private in the
Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. He died on 23 August 1918, and was reburied at Gommeourt British Cemetery No 2, Hebuterne, France, V K 12.
Mr Whitlock died on 28 December 1916. Mrs Whitlock died in 1924.
Alfred was a brother-in-law of Ernest
Arthur Craker.
Memorial - SPi, SPo |
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WRIGHT, C. H. and W. F.
Charles Harry and Walter Frederick Wright were the sons of Eli
Wright and his wife Sarah, née Whitbread, who had married in 1871.
The couple had thirteen children, two of whom died young. Probably all
the children were born in Newport Pagnell, like their father; Mrs Wright
had been born in Aspley Guise.
In 1881 Mr Wright was a labourer in the ironworks,
and the family were living at 58 Priory Street. They had with them their
daughters Annie Maria, born about 1872, Lillian Elizabeth, born 1875,
and Kate, born about 1880, and their first son, Walter, born 1877. Also
there was Mrs Wright's 19-year-old sister, Charity, a domestic general
servant.
By 1891 the family had moved to 58 Priory Street,
with Mr Wright working as a blacksmith. The family had been joined by
three more sons, Arthur Ernest, 1881, Charles, 1882, and Albert Edward,
1890, and by three more daughters, Ellen Charity, 1884, Edith May, 1886,
and Minnie Florence, 1891. Ten years later, still at the same address,
there were two more daughters, Ethel Maud W, born 1893, and Gertrude
Mary, 1896. Sadly, Minnie had probably died, aged 5, the same year,
1896.
In 1891 Walter was in Northampton, in the home of
George Haynes, a painter, and his wife Emily, at The Chequers,
Wellington Street, St Giles. He married in 1900, to Ellen Sarah Groom,
and in 1901, working at the slotting machine at the railway carriage
works, was living at Priory Court, 6 Priory Street. Meanwhile his
parents and some of his siblings, including Charles, had moved to 5
Riverside, Newport Pagnell. Charles had taken employment as a labourer
at the railway carriage works.
In 1909 Charles married Bertha Maud Nash and two
years later they were living at 58 Duncombe Street, Fenny Stratford.
They then had one son, Albert C. Possibly they had another son, Kenneth,
in 1917. Meanwhile Walter and Ellen had moved to 139 Burdur Street,
Loughborough, where Walter was working as a coach painter. They had one
son, Reginald Walter, born in 1904 in the Newport Pagnell area. In 1915,
with her husband at war, Mrs Ellen Wright was again living in Newport
Pagnell, at 6 Tickford Street; the couple had a second son and a
daughter.
Charles enlisted in Bletchley and became a private,
36205, in the Royal Berkshire Regiment, 2nd/4th battalion. He died on 6
December 1917, and is buried at the St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen,
France, PVK 13B. On his headstone are inscribed the words, "Do we miss
him - ay, but patience, we shall meet with him again".
Walter enlisted
in Manchester, and became a driver in the Royal Engineers, 427 Field
Company, service number 438074. He died in the same year as his brother,
on 5 June 1917. He is buried in the Cerisy-Gailly Military cemetery,
France, IC 13. The inscription on his headstone is "He gave his life for
us", and the person cited on this record is Miss E M Wright, of 56 New
Road, Chilworth, Surrey.
Eli Wright died in 1917 aged 70; his wife Sarah probably
died in 1929. Their grandson, Walter Charles
Smith, son of their daughter, Annie Maria, also died in 1917.
Memorial - SPi, SPo |
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WRIGHT, L. B.
Lawrence Bennett Wright was the firstborn of Isaac Lane
Wright, born in Emberton, and his wife Elizabeth, née Bennett. The couple had
married in 1886, after Mr Wright's first wife, also Elizabeth, née Mapley,
whom he had married in 1874, had died the year before, just after a
daughter, Florence, was born. She had left six children; Arthur Henry,
born 1876, Ernest Edward, born 1877, Gertrude Mary, born 1879, Harry
(William Henry?), born 1882, Ethel Edith, born 1883, and little Florence
May, born 1885. Mr Wright was a general handyman - plumbing, glazing,
painting, paperhanging - and in 1881 the family were living at 7 St
Johns Street.
By 1891, the family, with Mr Wright's second wife, had moved to 9 High
Street. Lawrence had been born the year before, and Arthur was helping
his father in the business as an apprentice. The family kept a
13-year-old servant, Mary Line. By 1901 Lawrence had gained two sisters,
Kathleen Eva, 1891, and Lilian Hope, 1896. There was a new servant,
17-year-old Ellen Mapley, from Bradwell.
Very sadly Mr Wright never saw his youngest daughter, as he died in
1896, aged 47, just before she was born. Mrs Wright took over running
the business, assisted in 1911 by Lawrence. Kathleen by then ,
meanwhile, had become a teacher.
Lawrence had been a reservist in the Hertfordshire Regiment (TF), and on
8 August 1914 he enlisted in the 5th Lancers as 5619. Having enlisted in
Bedford, he volunteered to serve overseas with the Royal Munster
Fusiliers, 1st battalion. He was serving as private 6129 in X company
when he died on 11 December 1915. He is commemorated on the Helles
Memorial, Turkey, panel 185-190.
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YAKES, J.
John Yakes was the third child and son of Worcester Yakes,
born at Filgrave, and his wife Elizabeth, née Jackson, from
Chicheley, who had married in 1876. Mr Yakes was in 1891 a farm
labourer, and the family were living at Tyringham with Filgrave. At home
were their sons Charles Arthur, born in 1878, Herbert Henry, born about
1882, and John, born in 1884.
The family remained at Filgrave in 1901, when Mr
Yakes had become a horsekeeper on a farm. Charles had taken work as an
electrician and labourer in the railway, while John, then 16, had become
a shepherd on a farm. By 1911 the family have moved to 1 Frederica
Cottages, Newport Pagnell, and Mr Yake was a carter on a sewage farm.
Both Herbert and John were labourers for the railway. In 1913 John was
admitted to the National Union of Railwaymen, Wolverton 2 branch.
John enlisted in Bletchley and became a pioneer,
354678, in the Royal Engineers, 33rd Light Railway Operating Company. He
died on 26 April 1918 and is buried in the Haringhe (Bandaghem) Military
Cemetery, Belgium, grave III D 12. His father, then described as a
farmer, was granted probate on 16 August for the sum of £155 12s 10d.
Mrs Yakes died in 1915, at the age of 64. Mr Yakes
died in the Bromyard area in 1926. An address on the record at CWGC
suggests he may have been living at Upper House, Little Cowarne.
Memorial - SPi, SPo
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