GEORGE F. PERCY - ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE REGT.

George Frederick Percy (Private No. 34891) - 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment - 10th Brigade - 4th Division

The Percy Family - George 2nd from left standing.

George was a village lad and the second son in a family of six sons and six daughters. He was born on October 21st 1898, and attended the Eton Wick Infant School until he was 6½ years old; he then went to Eton Porny School, starting there on May 1st 1905. The family home was at No. 1, Castle View Villas in Sheepcote Road, not to be confused with Castle View Terrace in Boveney's, Victoria Road. Castle View Villas was a terraced row of eight houses on the west side of Sheepcote Road and having an uninterrupted view, over allotments and fields, of Windsor Castle, approximately 2½ miles away. All of this area was redeveloped after the Second World War.

George was very young to leave the village infants school, and showed something of the same haste to leave the Porny School. It was in fact midterm, and three days before his 14th birthday, when he left school and gave as his reason for leaving "To Be A Houseboy". Presumably this was work in an Eton College boys' house. We do not know if it was a "live in" occupation, but with at least seven younger brothers and sisters at home it would have had advantages if he had been accommodated at his place of work.

His older brother Alfred was in the pre-war Royal Navy. Certainly he was listed as serving on the Royal New Zealand Navy ship Philomel by September 1914, and by the time the war ended four years later he was a Petty Officer, Gunnery Instructor. In 1914 George was barely 16 years old, and at this time the Percy family were living at "Bangor Place" in Boveney Newtown. No date has been found when George enlisted in Slough, but in view of his age it was probably not before 1916. By this time the 1st Warwickshires had seen plenty of fighting, suffered many casualties and frequently had drafts of young replacements.

In 1915 they had been used to seal a breach in the defence caused by an enemy gas attack. Well over half the Battalion became casualties. By 1916, when George may have joined the Battalion, they were fiercely involved in the opening assaults of the Battle of the Somme on July 1st. The 4th Division suffered a total of 4,692 casualties. The Battalion was in and out of the front line until July 24th when they moved to the Ypres sector. In September 1916 they were again back on the Somme, taking up positions east of Lesboeufs, before moving on to Guillemont and Bernafay Wood. The Somme offensive died down in November.

In 1917 the Battalion, as a unit of the 4th Division, were actively involved in the Battle of Third Ypres, culminating at Passchendaele and all the appalling conditions associated with it. The following year brought ever increasing numbers of American troops onto the continent. Conscious of the effect these fresh troops would have, the Germans launched a massive assault along the allied line on March 21st 1918. Their attack was preceded by a shattering bombardment by over 6,000 guns. Both sides suffered heavy casualties and the allied line was forced to fall back alarmingly. As enemy pressure was renewed, still more ground had to be vacated.

Ploegsteert Memorial

n April a determined thrust was made in the Lys River region, and it was here that the 1st Warwickshires were defending the line. General Plumer decided to shorten the line by straightening it during the night of 15/16th April. This meant giving up all the ground so bitterly won during the Passchendaele fighting of only a few months earlier. It was here, at La Bassee, on April 15th that George Percy was killed. His body was not identified, and having no known grave he is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the missing, on Panels 2 and 3. The memorial is on the same site as the Berkshire Cemetery Extension, 9 miles south of Ypres and 4½ miles north of Armentieres, in Belgium. The memorial records the names of 11,447 missing men who fell in the battles of Armentieres and Aubers Ridge 1914; Loos 1915; Fromelles 1916 Estaires, Hazebrouck and Outtersteene Ridge 1918.

One year after George's death the local paper reported:

Percy - George F. 1st Warwickshire Regiment, the second son of Mr & Mrs A Percy of Bangor Place, Boveney, Eton Wick. Reported as wounded and missing on April 15th 1918 now officially confirmed as killed on April 15th 1918 "Sadly missed by family and friends".

George was one of Eton Wick's youngest fatality at 19½years old. John Carfrae Clark was also 19 years, but his exact age has not been established. George is commemorated on the Eton Wick Memorial and on the Eton Church Memorial Gates. The village family grave also bears his name.

Eighty two years later there was still a Mrs Percy living in Bangor Place. She was the widow of a younger brother to George, and her own son, David, together with his family, lives in Victoria Road, Eton Wick.

This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone  
and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.

George Percy: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

George Percy: The For King & Country page.

Angus Bruce:  The Lives of the First World War page.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

Grave Registration courtesy CWGC

Panel List courtesy CWGC

A Bruce Highland Light Infantry

Angus Bruce D.C.M. Company Sergeant Major No. 19160 14th Battalion Highland Light Infantry (Formerly 12th Battalion) 120th Brigade - 40th Division

Angus was a Scot from Uig on the Isle of Skye. He had been a regular serving peacetime soldier and a former Pipe Major with the 1st Battalion Scots Guards.

At the time the Great War started he had most probably served his term of service and was living with his wife Lottie and two children at 5, Primrose Alma Road in Boveney Newtown. He enlisted in London. The name Bruce was first recorded locally in a Parish Magazine of 1904 which stated that a son was christened Angus George on January 11th that year. They also had a daughter named Ailsa, both good Scottish names. The father, Angus, was 23 years old when his son was christened and was almost certainly still in the Scots Guards.

August 4th 1914 found the 1st Scots stationed at Aldershot as part of the 1st Guards Brigade. 1st Division. They landed at Havre 10 days later and on August 20th they were transferred to the 2nd Brigade. The Battalion was very actively engaged during October and November in what was later termed the First Battle of Ypres. From October 26th they were holding the line near Chateau and three days later were fiercely resisting a strong German dawn attack. One estimate suggested there were well over 1000 German dead, with the Scots saving the day, despite their own heavy casualties.

When First Ypres finally ended the Battalion was reduced to one officer and 69 men, and of the B.E.F. it was said "The country's peacetime army had gone to its grave". Fresh drafts brought the Battalions back to numerical strength and September 1915 saw the 1st Scots Guards in action at the Battle of Loos. On the third day of the battle, September 27th, the Guards Division was brought up in support of the 21st and 25th Divisions, and although they made an initial advance they were later repelled. After two days of fighting the Brigade had suffered losses of 42 officers, and 1266 men.

The real loss, however, was not just measured in the numbers but in the irreplaceable experience of the professional soldiers. Of the few survivors, many were needed to train and command the tide of fresh volunteers and later, conscripts. joining the army. At some time Angus Bruce was transferred from the Scots Guards to the 12th Battalion Highland Light Infantry. There he won the highest decoration awarded in the Great War to any soldier recorded on the Eton Wick memorial.

Recorded in "The London Gazette of January 14th, 1916 is: C.S.M. 19160 A. Bruce 12th Highland Light Infantry D.C.M. and two months later we have the citation dated 11.3.1916: C.S.M. 19160 A. Bruce 12th H.L.I. citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and ability. After all his officers had been put out of action in an attack on the enemy’s front trench, Company Sergeant Major Bruce took command and handled his men with the great ability. He gave throughout the action a fine example, to all with him, of devotion to duty.

Angus served another two years before himself being killed. At some time he is thought to have been transferred to the 14th Battalion H.L.I. This was a Bantam Battalion which had been formed in Ayrshire in the summer of 1915 and arrived in France the following June. Perhaps Angus joined them on their arrival there. Bantam Battalions are made up of men below the normal acceptable height for soldiers.

The movements of the Battalion during the next 18 months are not very specific until the spring of 1918 when, perhaps conscious of the stream of American troops reinforcing the British and French, the Germans launched a massive attack along a 50 mile front on March 21st. This followed a shattering artillery bombardment by 6,500 guns. The 14th H.L.I., along with the other Battalions of the 40th Division, were being held in reserve. The front reached from three miles north of Arras to Le Fire, with the British Third Army north of the line and the Fifth Army to the south.

By the end of the first day, the 40th Division was brought forward from reserve in an attempt to stem the enemy advance against the centre of the Third Army positions. By April 5th, when the assault ended, the Germans had advanced up to 40 miles and taken 1000 square miles of territory. The British armies had suffered 160,000 casualties including 22,000 killed, 63,000 wounded and 75,000 prisoners of war.

Angus Bruce is recorded as being killed during the first week of the great battle, between March 21st and 27th 1918. The C.W.G.C. give the 27th as the accepted date. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Arras on Bay 8. One year later, on March 29th 1919, The Windsor and Eton Express printed:

Angus Bruce - In proud and loving memory of Angus Bruce ex-Pipe Major of the 1st Scots Guards and Regimental Sergeant Major of the Highland Light Infantry D.C.M. Killed in action March 21st to 27th 1918. From his wife and two bairns - Angus and Ailsa Bruce of Boveney Newtown, Eton Wick.

Better lo'ed ye canna be 

Will you no come back again.

This appears to be wrong, as no evidence is found of his being the Regimental Sergeant Major and all records list him as being a Company Sergeant Major. Lottie and the children lived on in Primrose Villas for many more years.

The Arras Memorial records the names of 35,928 men who were killed in the area and have no known graves. It stands at the entrance to the Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery which itself contains 2,677 military graves. It is situated 1 ½ miles north-west of the Arras rail station.

Angus was 37 years old; he held the highest rank among the village's Great War Dead and was awarded the highest decoration given to an Eton Wick man in the conflict. He is commemorated on the village memorial and also on the Eton Church gates.

This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone  
and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.

Angus Bruce: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

Angus Bruce: The For King & Country page.

Angus Bruce:  The Lives of the First World War page.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

Grave Register courtesy of CWGC

The entry for C.S.M. Angus Bruce in the War Graves Register refers to his widow, Lottie as living at 5, Primrose Villas, New Boveney instead of Boveney Newtown.

Memorial Panel List courtesy of CWGC.