Private Herbert Pithers Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Herbert Pithers (Private No. 24307) - 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry - 5th Brigade - 2nd Division

Herbert was born in Burnham, Bucks in 1885, and probably did not move to Eton Wick until he was a married family man. No record has been found in the Porny School registers of him having attended school there. Home was at "Farm Cottages", The Common, Eton Wick and there were five children, Steve, Billy, Emily, Martha and Ada.

The cottage they moved into was certainly very old and inadequate for the family of seven. It was the middle house of three, situated on the west side of Little Common. There was one main living room and a back room which also served as the larder, with just two bedrooms. The uneven earth floor was covered with rickety tiles, and when in the 1920’s the roof needed repairs, it was discovered that beneath the tiles were tell-tale elm poles of one time thatched roofing. The houses were later demolished and were replaced with a modern bungalow for Mr and Mrs Cooley. It is not known what work Herbert Pithers found when he came to Eton Wick or when he enlisted at Slough. His youngest son, Billy, later worked for Mr George Tarrant at Manor Farm.

War diary for late February 1917

The 2nd Battalion. Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry were at Aldershot Barracks on 4th August 1914 when war was declared. On the 14th August they were landed Boulogne as part of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Division, and they remained on the continent throughout the war. It would be some time after this that Herbert joined the Battalion. The Bank the Somme opened on July 1sh 1916. On July 25th the 2nd Oxford & Bucks L.I. were marched to Corbie and went into reserve trenches at Montauban. On the 28th they relieved the 2nd Highland L.I. at Waterlot Farm. “B” and “C” companies suffered over 200 casualties while making repeated attacks at Guillemont Station. During the next two months they were in support at Trônes Wood, then entrenched again at Méricourt-l'Abbé, then in reserve at Bus-lès-Artois; trenches again at Beaumont; into the front line at Mailly Maillet and then trenches at Redan. In November 1916 they were in support of the 24^th Royal Fusiliers during operations along the Redan Ridge. On November 18^th they moved back to Bertancourt. The battalion casualties during this period were a further 248. All these moves had been in an area a few miles north and north-east of Albert; subsequent moves during the following weeks were believed to have been in the same area.

Herbert was killed on February 28^th 1917, and having no known grave he is commemorated on the great Thiepval Memorial, five miles north-east of Albert. The memorial records the names of 73,412 "Missing" soldiers with no known graves, who fell in the Somme Battles of Albert, Bazentin Ridge, Delville Wood, Pozieres Ridge, Guillemont, Ginchy, Flers Courcelette, Marval, Thiepval Ridge, Transloy Ridge and the Ancre Heights in 1916 and of the battles at Miraumont, Thilloys and at Bapaume in 1917. These latter places are 10 to 15

Herbert Pither soldiers effects record

miles north-east of Albert and five to ten miles north-east of Thiepval Memorial. Herbert Pithers' name appears on pier 10. His family remained in the Little Common cottage until around the early 1930s when those still at home moved to Old Windsor. It is believed Mrs Pithers married again while in Eton Wick. Herbert was 31 years old. In addition to the commemoration on Thiepval Memorial, Herbert's name is on the Eton Wick Memorial and on the Eton Church Gates.

The Thiepval Memorial

Details of the Thiepval Memorial can be found on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone 

and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond. It has been amended to include information that was not available to Mr Bond when he was undertaking his research in the 1990’s.

Herbert Pithers is remembered on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website

Herbert Pithers is remembered on the For King & Country website

Herbert Pithers is recorded on the Buckinghamshire Remembers website

Herbert Pithers is remembered on the Lifes of the First World War website.

Extra information

Herbert's wife's name was Harriet Mary Maidment who was born in Windsor in 1882, they were married in October 1903. They had 5 children of which three are recorded as living on the 1911 census, Emily, 5, Martha, 2 and Herbert, 1. The children are shown as being born in Dorney. The census records 2 New Cottages, Dorney Common as the family home. Herbert's occupation is stated as a cowman.

Harriet remarried in the 3rd quarter of 1920 to George Smith.

Eton Wick Census 1851

The United Kingdom Census of 1851 was taken on the of 31st March 1851 and was the second of the UK censuses to include details of household members. The total population of England, Wales and Scotland was recorded as 21,104,072 persons including those serving in the Army, Navy and Merchant Seamen.

Details collected include: 

Place: street name, house number or house name.

Houses: inhabited, uninhabited or a building.

Names of each person who were resident in the house on the night preceding the census.

Age and sex of each person: Unlike the 1841 census the actual age in years or months for babies under one year are recorded in the 1851 census.

Occupation: Profession, trade or employment.

Birth place, county and country are recorded for the first time.

The Superintend Registrar's District was Eton, Bucks and the Registrar's district was Eton. Enumeration District No. 6.

The area classed as Eton Wick for the 1851 census was the remainder of the Parish of Eton west of the Great Western Railway. The Enumerators report was initialed and dated Nov 7th 1851.

The 1851 Census reveals that there were 72 households and 333 people resident in the village on the 31st March. The oldest person, Thomas King age of 88, he was born in 1763. There were two other residents in their 80’s. The youngest at three days old was a daughter of John and Lucy Dobner who had not been named at the time of the census. There were 3 babies born in the first three months of 1851.

Click on this link to see our transcription of the 1851 census records for Eton Wick. We will be looking deeper into what the census reveals about Eton Wick and publish our findings in future articles.