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

Joseph Springford (Private No. 940171) - 17th Battalion Sherwood Foresters

Joseph Springford (Private No. 94017) - 17th Battalion Sherwood Foresters - 117th Brigade - 39th Division. (Formerly No. 8671 The Cambridgeshire Regiment)

Joseph was one of a large local family. He first registered for school at Eton Porny on the 21st October, 1895 and left school in December 1902. In all probability he attended the infants' school in Eton Wick for two years before going to Eton. The family home in 1895 was recorded as 6, Bell Cottages, Alma Road, Boveney Newtown. Later the family moved to No. 4, Hope Cottages, Common Road, and some years later to 3, Victoria Place, a terraced house about eight doors along the same road from Hope Cottages. By the beginning of 1918 there were six Springford brothers serving in the armed forces. Two were destined to die before the November armistice, although Albert and Harry who enlisted early in the war, returned safely.

It is not known when Joseph enlisted in the army at Oxford, or what work he pursued before joining the 17th Battalion Sherwood Foresters, also known as the Welbeck Rangers. It was June 1st, 1915 when the Battalion was raised by the Mayor and recruiting committee of Nottingham. It was not unusual, at this early stage of the Great War, for Battalions to be raised by local dignitaries, towns, cities and even sporting associations. In October 1915 the 17th went to Aldershot as part of 117th Brigade, 39th Division. The following month they moved to Witley, and on December 10th were taken over by the War Office.

On March 6th, 1916 the Battalion arrived in France. The Battle of the Somme started at 7.30 a.m. on July 1st, 1916, but not until the end of August would the 17th Sherwood Foresters become involved. From the 24th August until the 28th they were being moved towards the front, and on September 2nd went into trenches near Beaumont Hamel. At 5.10 a.m. on the 3rd, 650 men and 20 officers of the Battalion advanced through No Man's Land and by 6 a.m. had taken the German front line. In attempting to advance further they met strong machine gun fire. At 1.50 p.m. they withdrew, having suffered many casualties.

That evening they fell back to Mailly Maillet Wood having sustained 454 killed and wounded of the original 670. The Battalion's first day of action was a bitter experience. Further Somme action followed at the Serre sector front line on September 20th, at Bertrancourt on September 30th and at the Thiepval sector of the front line on October 5th. It was here that the enemy attacked using flamethrowers before being driven back. The 17th Battalion were again in on the front line at Thiepval River sector on the 16th October. Subsequent action involved more hard combat near Senlis and Martinsart Wood.

On November 14th, with Somme battles drawing to an inconclusive end, the Battalion was relieved and sent to Warloy, Three days later they entrained at Candas for St Omer. In July 1917 the Battalion, still part of the 117th Brigade, 39th Division, were in the XVIII Corps of the Fifth Army and involved in the battles of Pilkem Ridge (July 31st) and at Langemarck; the Merlin Road Ridge; Polygon Wood and Passchendaele (in the Third Ypres) between August and November of that year. At this time they were with X Corps, Second Army.

St. Sever Cemetery Extention

The atrocious conditions of the Passchendaele offensive effectively ended in November when the German defence of the ridge was overcome. Three months later The Windsor & Eton Express reported:

Springford, Joseph, Private 17th Sherwood Foresters died 15.2.18 at No. 3 Stationary Hospital, Rouen aged 30.

And again on March 9^th, 1918 the same paper reported:

Springford, Joseph, Private Sherwood Foresters son of Mr. T Springford of 3, Victoria Place, Eton Wick, died of kidney disease on February 15^th, 1918 while in No. 3 Stationary Hospital, Rouen, France.

Joseph was the first of two Springford fatalities. His younger brother Isaac died 4 ½ months later as the result of severe gassing and was buried in Eton Wick. Joseph is buried in the St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen and his grave is No 73, Row K, Plot 6, Block P. The cemetery extension is two miles south of Rouen Cathedral and records 8,356 burials with a further 3,083 in the main St. Sever Cemetery to which the Extension is part. All these burials are of the 1914-18 war. The Extension contains 6,600 U.K. soldiers, 783 Australian, 311 Canadian, 271 Indian, 134 New Zealand, 88 British West Indian, 84 South African, 11 Newfoundlanders, three from Guernsey, one Bermudan, six unknown, one Egyptian, 44 Chinese labour force, 18 Italian and one Portuguese. The large number of different nationalities is due to the fact that the cemetery was for men dying of wounds or sickness in the No. 3 Stationery Hospital.

Joseph is commemorated on the Eton Wick Memorial and 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.

Joseph Springford: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

Joseph Springford: The For King & Country page.

Joseph Springford:  The Lives of the First World War page.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/ 

Grave registration documents courtesy of the CWGC 

Remembrance Sunday 2017

The Eton Wick History Group laid its first wreath on the village War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday 1999. They have continued to do this each year since then and will be doing so again today.

During 1917 11 men who called Eton Wick their home died in the service of the country.

Private Herbert Pithers - Killed in action at Ancre and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

James John Newell (Trooper No. 1232) - 10th Brigade 4th Division (Formerly Trooper No. 3831 - The Life Guards) - Killed in action at Arras and he is buried in the Athies Communal Cemetery Extension in France.

John Carfrae Clark (Gunner No. 630936) - Killed in action at Roeux and he is buried in the nearby cemetery of Anzin-St-Aubin. 

Joseph Newell (Private No. 9534) - 1st Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry - 17th Brigade - 6th (Poona) Division - He died in a Turkish Prisoner of War camp and is commemorated on the Basra Memorial in Iraq.

Charles Miles (Stoker 1st Class K25314) - H.M.S. Vanguard Royal Navy - Killed when HMS Vanguard blew up and sank with its entire crew. He is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent.

Arthur Bunce (Private No. 39794) - 3rd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment - 7th Brigade - 25th Division - Killed in action at Messines Ridge and he is buried in the Messines Ridge British Cemetery, Messines, Belgium.

Alfred Brown (Private No. 11811) - 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards - 4th (Later 1st) Guards Brigade - Guards Division - Killed in action at the start of the Third Battle of Ypres and he is buried in Artillery Wood Cemetery at Boesinghe. 

Henry Charles Hill (Stoker 1st Class No. 1/18991) - H.M.S. Pembroke - Chatham - Royal Navy. He was killed during an air raid at Chatham Naval Barracks and he is buried in the Gillingham Naval Plot.

Robert Thomas Hobrough M.M. (Sergeant No. 40782) - Royal Engineers - No. 7 Signal Section Royal Engineers - Killed in action during the Third Battle of Ypres and is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing, Panel 8, at Tyne Cot in Belgium.

Ernest Brown (Private No. T/202287) 3rd/4th Battalion The Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment – 62nd Brigade – 21st Division - Killed in action during the Third Battle of Ypres and is commemorated on a wall plaque in the Tyne Cot Cemetery.

Cyril Arthur Ashman - (Private No. 746) 2nd Battalion Honourable - Artillery Company 22nd Brigade - 7th Division - Killed in action at Gheluvelt and is buried in the military cemetery known as Tyne Cot.

"Lest we forget"

Cyril Ashman Hon Artillery Company

Cyril Arthur Ashman - (Private No. 746) 2nd Battalion Honourable
Artillery Company 22nd Brigade - 7th Division

Cyril was born on April 17th, 1897 at about the time the family is believed to have moved to Eton Wick from Tidworth in Hampshire. In September 1910 he left the Eton Porny School to complete his education at the Windsor County Boys' School. During his school years he frequently helped on his father's farm until April 1914 when he left school to become a banker's clerk for Barclays at Southall. He joined the Army in April 1916 when he was just 19 years old and served with The Honourable Artillery Company.

He was a very likeable lad and probably more outgoing than his older brother, Douglas. Eight months before Cyril enlisted, his 23-year-old brother was killed in the Gallipoli offensive. It is not known whether this loss influenced his own decision to join the army, but it is not difficult to understand the apprehension of his parents as their one remaining son went off to war.

Edwin and Alice Ashman
with their children
Dorothy, Cyril and Douglas

As a boy he often called on Mrs Roll Bond of I Palmer Place and jokingly asked for titbits from her larder. In return he would take her a pail of skimmed milk and said it would only be given to the animals if she did not use it. Mrs Bond was very fond of young Cyril and she is said to have named a son after him. When Cyril had completed seven months of military training he was posted to the Western Front and in the late summer of 1917 he was serving in the Ypres Salient, Belgium.

He was wounded on October 7th and suffered Trench Fever, but was soon back in the front line. It was late Autumn and the battle had raged for three months with the aim of breaking out from the Salient and capturing the distant high ground known as the Passchendaele Ridge. Intense shelling had destroyed all the network of drainage ditches and the heavy rains made the terrain a glutinous, oozing quagmire.

The name of Passchendaele became synonymous with mud and slush, mud that drowned both men and horses. From the beginning of August 1917, the army had pressed painfully, slowly onward, until on

November 10th the ridge was finally taken at the appalling price of an estimated 250,000 casualties of whom 42,000 were never to be recovered. Cyril was killed here at Gheluvelt on October 26th, 1917, while trying to rescue a wounded comrade. Unlike his brother, he has a grave and is buried in the nearby massive military cemetery known as Tyne Cot. The cemetery is situated five miles northeast of Ypres and it contains 11,000 graves. Memorial walls there name nearly 35,000 other soldiers, who have no known graves. This total of approximately 46,000 British men were all killed in the Ypres Salient between August 1917 and the Armistice of November 1918.


Cyril's grave is number 21; Row C; plot 55. Mr and Mrs Ashman received a letter from their son's commanding officer which read: It is with the greatest regret that I am writing to inform you of the death of your son, Private Cyril Ashman of this Company, who fell on the 26th October while performing his duty under heavy shell fire. His officers regret the loss of a good soldier and his comrades mourn one of their most popular comrades, and it is the wish of all that I should convey to you their deepest sympathy in the great loss which you have sustained.In little more than two years, Edwin and Alice Ashman had lost both their sons in the Great War.

They left Eton Wick and the farm to live in Lansdowne Avenue, Slough. Their one remaining child was Dorothy. She lived until 1956 and was buried in the Eton Wick Churchyard. Her grave headstone bears the names of her two lost brothers along with her own.

Cyril's name is the second on the village memorial. He is also commemorated on the Eton Church Gates and on his old school memorial in Windsor. Cyril was single and 20 years of age.

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

Cyril Ashman: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

* The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records the death

of Private Cyril Ashman as 28th October 1917. 

Cyril Ashman: The For King & Country page.

Ernest Brown: There is no information about him on Lives of the First World War as yet.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

Cyril Ashman is also recorded in the Barclays Bank WW1 Roll of Honour. Private Ashman was one of 645 Barclays employees who died in the service of the country during the First World War.

Documents from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website 

E. Brown - The Queens

Ernest Brown (Private No. T/202287) 3rd/4th Battalion The Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment – 62nd Brigade – 21st Division

Ernest (Ernie) Brown was born on December 17th 1894 and spent most of his early years in

the family home at 2, Curlew Cottages, Northfield Road, Boveney Newtown. He was not related to the other Boveney Newtown casualty of the Great War with the same surname. However he did have a brother William who served in the Dardanelles in 1915 and later on the Western Front. William survived the war. They had five sisters and all except the two eldest of the seven children were born in Northfield Road. The two eldest were born in London and came to Eton Wick on account of their father's work as a horse coachman. Unfortunately the father died of cancer in 1905 leaving a widow to bring up the large family.

Two houses comprised Curlew Cottages, and another of the village's Great War fatalities, George Bolton, had spent part of his early life in the other house. 

Ernie attended the Eton Wick Infant School from 1899 until at the age of six years and nine months he left the village school to attend Eton Porny. In 1908, when he attained his 14th birthday, he left school to start work. By this time the family had moved a few houses along the road and were in No. 2, Oak Villas. 

On at least two occasions Ernie was mentioned in the Parish Magazine for good school attendance and good work. It is believed he found employment with Tom Lovell the local baker, Postmaster and general stores who traded at Ada Cottage, next to the Three Horse Shoes public house. Tom was a much-esteemed village man, for apart from being the principal trader he was also a school governor and frequently sang in Eton Wick concert groups. His son, Frederick Lovell was the village draper and boot dealer. 

No reference has been found to the date Ernest enlisted into the army, although it was probably 1915, when he was 20 years old. Certainly the 3rd/4th Battalion The Queens was formed at Windsor in June 1915. The following month they went to Tunbridge Wells as a unit of the 200th Brigade, 67th Division. In October the Battalion moved to Reigate in July 1916 to Westbere and in November to Ramsgate. On June 1st 1917 they embarked for the continent and landed at Havre. In all probability Ernie last saw Eton Wick and home during May 1917, prior to sailing to France. 

When the time came for Ernie to return to his unit, he started to walk the village road to catch his Windsor train. A local trader gave him a lift on his horse and cart, and with a parting gesture said "Cheerio! Ern' all the best and I will see you next time you get home". Back came the reply "Thank you Bert, but you will not see me again". This chilling expression or premonition was quite common among men who knew so much about the battlefield carnage. As privates they could not expect to survive 18 months before their next home leave was posted. 

Ernie arrived in the war zone in time for the bitter fighting of the Third Battle of Ypres that commenced on July 31st and raged on through the treacherous and drowning mud of Passchendaele. Almost tantalisingly the tiny place of that name, standing on marginally higher ground, became the objective of thousands upon thousands of weary, struggling soldiers. By October the battle had raged for nearly three months and British and Empire units became involved in an attack on the Broodseinde sector. 

The 3rd/4th Battalion of The Queen's Royal West Surreys were expected to attack and capture "Fudge Trench" allowing the 1st Lincolnshires to pass through their positions to further the planned advance. Other regiments, together with Australian and New Zealand units, were to simultaneously attack on the flanks. 

Advancing was very slow as the troops were obliged to file forward over duck boards which spanned the mud filled shell holes, all the time being subjected to intense enemy fire. It was during this action, on October 24^th*, that Ernest Brown was killed. There are no details, his body was never identified and consequently there is no known grave. He is commemorated on a wall plaque in the Tyne Cot Cemetery along with approximately 35,000 other men who have no known graves and who fell in the battle in this sector. 

Additionally there are 11,000 graves in the same cemetery. Tyne Cot is situated five miles north east of the Belgian city of Ypres. 

In the local newspaper dated November 24th 1917 we read: 

Ernest Brown of 2, Oak Villas, Eton Wick, second son of Mr Brown and Mrs Brown, aged 22 years, Faithful Unto Death, Grant Him Eternal Rest. 

Ernest was a single man. His name is sixth on the Eton Wick War Memorial and is also on the bronze tablets attached to the Eton Church Memorial Gates.

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

Ernest Brown: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

* The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records the death

of Private Ernest Brown as 4th October 1917. 

Ernest Brown: The For King & Country page.

Ernest Brown: There is no information about him on Lives of the First World War as yet.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

R.T. HOBROUGH - ROYAL ENGINEERS

Robert Thomas Hobrough M.M. (Sergeant No. 40782) - Royal Engineers No. 7 Signal Section Royal Engineers

The family home of Robert Thomas Hobrough was in 25, Clifton Cottages, Eton Wick, although an address given for his widow at the time of his death was The Crescent, Slough. There was at least one younger brother, H.F., living with R.T.'s parents at 25, Clifton Cottages, who also served in the army as a Staff Sergeant with the Royal Garrison Artillery on a siege battery.

Robert was born in 1881 and was a regular soldier who saw considerable active service before the 1914—1918 war. He joined the Royal Engineers when he was 18 years old (1899) and served for a term of seven years, with a further three years on the reserve. He served in the South African war and also with the Somaliland Expedition, for which he received the Somaliland medal. He then went to Egypt and saw service in the Sudan for three years. After this he was engaged in the inspection of telegraphs on the West Coast of Africa.

With the outbreak of the Great War he rejoined his old regiment as a corporal. For service in 1916 he was awarded the Military Medal. The remainder of his service can best be given by quoting from the letter from his officer, received by his wife after his death, on September 30th 1917.

I am writing to offer you my sincerest sympathy in your great loss. Although I feel that little I can say will help to make up for the great sacrifice you have made, I should like you to know that in Sergeant Hobrough's death I have lost one of my best Brigade Signal Sergeants. I have had well over two years' experience in the Signal Service out here, and amongst all the many N.C. O. 's I have had under me, none have carried absolute fearlessness, combined with complete efficiency, to such a high, or anyway, to a higher standard. But perhaps his chief asset was his reliability. Never once in the ten months we worked together and under the most trying circumstances, did he let me down, and I had the most implicit faith in him, which was justified time after time.

However, apart from the technical loss which his death entails, I feel a very great personal loss, and so I can understand in some slight degree how much more you must be suffering from your bereavement. But it must be no inconsiderable consolation to you to know that he had died the most noble death a man can die, and you can have nothing but the happiest memories and greatest pride in him. He had an excellent command of men, all too rare an accomplishment nowadays, and about a month ago I recommended him for a Company Quartermaster Sergeants' position, which had been endorsed by the higher authorities.

He died instantaneously and entirely painlessly as the result of a nearly direct hit from a shell, and five other priceless men of my small section with him. We buried them all near the spot, and have erected a cross, simple, but suitable, to commemorate the resting place of six heroes who could ill be spared.

Allow me, therefore, once more, to offer you at the same time my sincerest sympathy in your bereavement, and heartiest congratulations in having had such a fine man for a husband in which sentiments all the section join me.

In The Windsor and Eton Express, seven months later dated April 27th 1918 we read:

Bravery In The Field Mrs Hobrough has now received from the King the Distinguished Conduct Medal awarded to her husband, the late Sergeant R. T. Hobrough (of Eton Wick) of the 7th Signal Company, Royal Engineers for bravery in the field. In 1916 when the same paper reported the award of the Military Medal, he was in No. 4 Signal Section; R.E.

Two days before the Armistice, on November 9th 1918, Robert's parents had more bad news when they were notified that their second son, Staff Sergeant H.F. Hobrough, was in a serious condition having been wounded in the arm and left leg, and that he also had a fractured hip. Fortunately these did not prove fatal. The injuries had been sustained on October 21st.

Robert's last active service was in the series of battles that came to be known as Third Ypres or Passchendaele, and the phase of the battle being fought on Tyne Cot Memorial and Cemetery September 30th 1917 was the Battle of Polygon Wood.

The fact that he and his five comrades were killed by a near direct shell hit means it would have been very
unlikely that their remains could be identified. Perhaps the common grave they shared could not be found, due to subsequent obliteration. Whatever the reason, he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing, Panel 8, at Tyne Cot in Belgium. He is also commemorated locally on the Eton Wick Memorial and on the Eton Church Gates.

Thorough searching in The London Gazette Indexes have failed to find any mention of Robert Hobrough being awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the newspaper report to that effect was probably inaccurate. The Gazette however did record the M.M. award and was dated 1.9.1916. A medal collector remembers purchasing the African General Service Medal awarded to Robert and subsequently researching his service career. The collector cannot recall mention that a D.C.M. had been awarded.

The Eton Wick address of 25 Clifton Cottages refers to the first house on the left hand side of The Walk, from the Eton Wick Road. Houses in The Walk were at that time known as Clifton Cottages, as were the terraced row of 15 houses on the Common Road between The Walk and Sheepcote Road. Robert was 37 years old and left a widow, Isobel (Dot), who continued to live in Slough. The Tyne Cot Memorial and Cemetery is in the Passchendaele area, five miles northeast of Ypres. The Wall Memorial commemorates nearly 35,000 soldiers without known graves and the cemetery contains nearly 12,000 graves.

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

Robert Hobrough: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

Robert Hobrough: The For King & Country page.

Robert Hobrough: Lives of the First World War as yet.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website