2KEH 'W-Y'

WALKER, Andrew J. 2034. Private. Transferred to KEH as Private 2080. Discharged 9/03/1919. Entitled to British War and Victory Medals.

WALKER, John Scott. Private 2KEH. Entered France Jul 1915 at Havre. Commissioned as Lieutenant 1st/4th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment then transferred as a Captain, Machine Gun Corps. Applied for 1914/15 Star trio from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

WALKER, Laurence Hall. Private 2KEH. Laurence Hall Walker was born in Altrincham, Cheshire, on 22/08/1893 and was educated at Malvern College, before emigrating to Canada. Following the outbreak of the Great War he joined the 2KEH, before obtaining a commission in the Special Reserve Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, on 10/02/1915. He served with the 2nd Battalion on the Western Front from October 1915, and was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 4/01/1917). Walker was killed in action on the Somme on 12/10/1916. His Captain subsequently wrote to Walker’s parents: ‘We had just entered a German trench and your son had, as usual, done magnificently. During the attack we were held up by their machine guns, and your son at once got hold of a rifle and began firing at the Germans, who were about 100 yards from us. He was marked down and shot through the head and I am so thankful to tell you that death was instantaneous. He has several times been recommended for bravery and good work.’ 1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. L. H. Walker. Bedf. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. J. L. Walker.); Memorial Plaque (Laurence Hall Walker) with Buckingham Palace enclosure; Memorial Scroll ‘2nd Lieut. Lawrence Hall Walker, Bedfordshire Regt.’, the Scroll in somewhat relic condition; the medals and plaque nearly extremely fine (Noonans Auctioneers, UK). Portrait photograph in uniform of Bedfordshire Regt. and 1914/15 Star trio and Death Plaque.

WALROND, Francis Hillier. 1063. Private. 'C' Troop, 2KEH. Named in a photograph by Private Frank Vans Agnew (Photograph courtesy of Jamie Vans, grandson of Private Frank Vans Agnew). Entered France 4/05/1915. Commissioned 5th Battalion Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry 5/03/1916. DoW 15/08/1916 aged 34 years old. Buried at BRIGHTON (WOODVALE) BOROUGH CEMETERY, United Kingdom. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WALTERS, George. 1294. Private 2KEH. Entered France 3/07/1915. Transferred as Private, 2nd Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers 61216. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WALTHEW, Frederick. 1594. Corporal 2KEH. Entered France 5/07/1915. Commissioned 3rd Notts & Derby Regiment 25/09/1917 later Lieutenant. Applied for 1914/15 Star Trio and Territorial Efficiency Medal (TEM) but was ineligible for the TEM but awarded Trio. Applied from an address in Lake Saskatoon, Alberta, Canada.

WARD, Joseph Bert. 1268. Private 2KEH. Entered France 4/05/1915. Commissioned Royal Army Service Corps 2/03/1916. Acting Captain. Applied for 1914/15 Star Trio from Weybridge, Surrey.

WARD, Robert. 378. Warrant Officer Class 2. 2KEH. Enlisted 25/08/1914 and entered France 4/05/1915. Transferred as Warrant Officer Class 2 Northumberland Fusiliers 61230 and promoted to Company Serjeant Major with 4th Battalion. Discharged due to sickness 5/02/1918 and awarded Silver War Badge 345,986. Born in 1874. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WARING, James L. 1432. Private 2KEH. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, 4th Battalion, Liverpool Regiment 27/07/1915. Transferred and promoted to Captain, Royal Ordnance Corps later Captain, Wellesley's Rifles in the Indian Army.

WARING, Samuel. 1478. Private 2KEH. Entered France 15/07/1915. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant Northumberland Fusiliers 29/01/1918. 1914/15 Star trio applied for from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

WARNES, William George. 370. Private 2KEH. Entered France 4/05/1915. Private 'C' Company, 11th Battalion, Tank Corps (Machine Gun Corps Heavy Branch) 112043 transferred 7/08/1917. Enlisted in London on 25/08/1914 and discharged 9/03/1919. Prior service in the Cape Mounted Police, time expired. Born in 1876 in Norwich, Norfolk, England. London. Awarded 1914/15 Star Medal trio.

WARREN, James. 12. Private. Entered France 4/05/1915. Discharged 16/08/1917. Entitled to 1914/15 Star Trio.

WARREN, John B. 1610. Private 2KEH. Entered France 15/07/1915. 2KEH, 1/2063 Machine Gun Corps, 3/85696 3rd King's Liverpool Regiment and returned to 2KEH. Discharged 8/02/1919. Entitled to 1914/15 Star Trio.

WARREN, Thomas. 1801. Private 2KEH. Private 10th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers 39839, Private 2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers 40605 then Private, 11th Battalion, Tank Corps 302816. Entitled to British War and Victory medals.

WARWICK, Frederick. 341. Private 2KEH. Entered France 4/05/1915. Transferred as Private, Labour Corps 407924. Discharged 24/03/1919. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio named to Labour Corps.

WATSON, Desmond. 1549. Private 2KEH. Entered France 4/05/1915. Transferred as Acting Corporal, Machine Gun Corps (MGC) 22990 and temporarily attached to the 93rd Company, Machine Gun Corps from 28/07/1916 and saw action at Neuve Chapelle. Commissioned to MGC 23/09/1916. Later Lieutenant then Captain Tank Corps. Mentioned in Despatches. Likely to be in the Frank Vans Agnew photograph of 2KEH draft to the MGC taken 21/06/1916. Applied for 1914/15 Star trio from Wellington, New Zealand. 1914/15 Star named to MGC and issued by Australia and British War and Victory medals to Tank Corps.

WATSON, Ernest. 1217. Private 2KEH. Enlisted 25/11/1914, entered France 4/05/1915 and discharged 15/06/1916 due to wounds. Awarded Silver War Badge 84142. Entitled to 1914/15 Star Trio.

WATSON, John, 1670. Private 2KEH. Discharged 23/01/1918. Entitled to British War and Victory Medals.

WATTON, Walter Hyla Jennens. 1314. Private 2KEH. 'A' Squadron. Entered France 5/05/1915. DoW received at Plougstraat Wood on 12/08/1915 aged 19 in the 2nd Canadian General Hospital. Son of the late Capt. and Mrs. W. H. Watton, of Hong Kong. Buried at LE TREPORT MILITARY CEMETERY, Seine-Maritime, France and photograph of headstone shown. Entitled to 1914/15 Star Medal trio. 

WATTS, Samuel F. 1988. Private 2KEH. Transferred to KEH as Private 2081. Discharged 25/04/20. Entitled to British War and Victory Medals

WEAVER, Robert Osborne. 1299. Private 2KEH. Entered France 4/05/1915. DoW 30/07/1915 aged 20. Born in Middlesex, London in October 1894 the son of Annie M. Weaver, of 7 High Street, Cobham, Surrey, and the late Thomas Weaver. Was living in Lewes , Surrey when he enlisted. Buried at BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, NORD, France. Entitled to 1914/15 Star Medal trio.  

WEBB, Edwin Gilbert Lumley. 966. Serjeant 2KEH. Entered France 4/05/1915. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant Royal Field Artillery 7/07/1916 later a Lieutenant. Awarded Military Cross as Lt. Edwin Gilbert Lumley Webb, R.F.A., Spec. Res. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He went forward with teams in broad daylight under machine-gun fire, and succeeded, by his great perseverance and utter disregard of personal danger, in withdrawing two guns from " No Man's Land." It was only by the excellent example set by him that the task was successfully accomplished (London Gazette 16/09/1918). Entitled to 1914/15 Star Medal Trio and medals applied for from an address in Bengal, India where he was a manager of tea plantations. Born 27/02/1891 in India and died Dec 1980 in Uckfield, West Sussex, England. Father was Major Alexander Banness Lumley Webb with the family living in India.

WEBB, John Montague. Captain 2KEH. Entered France 5/05/1915. Second Lieutenant on probation. Awarded Order of the British Empire. Born 4/08/1888 in Hampstead, West Ham, Middlesex, England and died 3/03/1973 in Barnet, Greater London, England. Applied for 1914/15 Star from Hampstead, London.

WEEDON, Sydney. 1625. Private 2KEH. Enlisted 20/05/1915 in Hampton Court, London. Serjeant 1st/7th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers 61197 then Temporary Serjeant 11th Battalion, Tank Corps 302782. Wounded by shrapnel to scalp 11/08/1915 and hospitalised in Rouen, France. Discharged 28/04/1920. Born in 1897 and resided in Teddington. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WEBB, Walter Victor, 1235. Private 2KEH. Enlisted 4/12/1914 and discharged 3/06/1915 on medical grounds. Awarded Silver War Badge 241423. Prior service with 12th Lancers and Reserve Regiment of Lancers, time expired. Born in 1873 in Kent, England.

WELD, Charles M. 1489. Private 2KEH. Enlisted at age 19 into the 2KEH. Entered France 15/07/1915. Commissioned Second Lieutenant 7th Battalion, Leinster Regiment 19/03/1916 later Captain. Fought on the Somme. Diaries are subject of a BBC article www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1xpTqlTTgdXBt0JKBBzVggD/charles-weld. Born 31/08/1895 in Somerton , Naas, Kildare, Ireland and died in 1963. Applied for 1914/15 Star Trio from Someston, Kildare. Photograph shown with his family, his mother Eleanor with her son Charles (in Leinster Regiment uniform), daughter Helen (Dolly) & son-in-law Sidney (courtesy Ancestry).

WELLS, Reginald John Francis. 1644. Private 2KEH. Entered France 30/07/1915. Commissioned Royal Flying Corps 29/11/1917 later Lieutenant. Applied for 1914/15 Star trio from Ashburton, Devon.

WEST, William George. 1629. Private 2KEH. Enlisted 21/05/1915 and entered France 14/10/1915. Transferred as Private Northumberland Fusiliers 61198. Discharged 11/09/1918 due to amputation of right arm (presumably as a result of a war wound) and awarded Silver War Badge B1424. Born in 1895. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WEST, William (Billy) Jack. 811. Private 2KEH. Enlisted in September 1914 and served in Serjeant Cowley's Troop and became a Lieutenant in the Surrey Yeomanry. Photograph shown of Private West, 2KEH from the village of East Farndon, Market Harborough on horseback  from local sources by W. R. (Bob) H. Hakewill, a published local historian in Market Harborough, UK.

WESTALL, John H. 1844. Private 2KEH. Transferred as 6th Battalion, King's Rifle Regiment, Reserve Regiment Horse Guards.. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, Guards Machine Gun Corps 28/02/1917. Served in Egypt 1/11/1917 to 12/03/1918. Entitled to British War and Victory Medals.

WESTON, Frederick Ivor. 303. Corporal. Entered France 4/055/1915. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant 2KEH 1/10/1915. Captain 23rd Battalion Tank Corps. Entitled to 1914/15 Star Medal Trio. Applied for medals from Bayswater, London and then moved to Chippenham, Wiltshire.

WETTON, Thomas C. 354. Corporal 2KEH. Entered France 5/05/1915. Commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 52nd Garrison Battalion, Devonshire Regiment 25/02/1918 later Lieutenant. Was a Freemason and member of the King's Colonial Lodge. 1914/15 Star Medal Trio applied for c/o Imperial Veterans in Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where he lived.

WHAITES, Henry. 1582. Private 2KEH. Enlisted 4/05/1915, entered France 29/11/1916 and transferred as a Lance Corporal to the Military Foot Police P/10403 on 9/11/1917. Discharged 2/08/1919. Prior service in the Norfolk Volunteers 1895-97. Born on 14/04/1870 in Gressenhall, Dereham, Norfolk and died on 29/09/1948 in North Finchley, Middlesex.

WHEATLEY, Charles. 1633. Private 2KEH. Entered France 2/10/1915. Transferred as Private, 9th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers 45517. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WHEELER, Walter G. 321. Private 2KEH. Transferred to KEH as Private 2128. Entered France 4/05/1915. Discharged 14/05/1919. Awarded 1914/15 Star trio with British War Medal named to 321 as his 2KEH number sold on electronic auction site Feb 2013.

WHITBY, L. A. 319. Private 2KEH. No Medal Index Card or Medal Roll entry identified for KEH or 2KEH. Noted in 'Under Friendly Flags' by Lieutenant Colonel Neil C. Smith AM as having served with KEH and as service number 319 appears on the KEH Medal Index Card and Medal Rolls with another name it is likely that L. A. Whitby served with 2KEH but there is no other note/record to support it. A Captain L. A. Whitby served in the Rifle Brigade but no link to Australia identified.

WHITE, Edward Victor. 1183. Private 2KEH. Arrived in France 4/05/15. Commissioned Second Lieutenant Tank Corps 3/02/1918. 1914/15 Star Trio applied for from Cricklewood, London.

WHITE, George W. 1132. Serjeant. 2nd Troop, 2KEH. Listed on Absentee Voters List 1918 as living in Lewisham, London. Named on burnt piece of 2nd Troop, 2KEH Nominal Roll.

WHITE, Horace Chesterfield Ford. 1248. Private 2KEH. Entered France 4/05/1915. Enlisted in London. Born on 16/12/1893 in Putney, London, England and returned from Canada to enlist. KIA 25/05/1915 aged 22 and buried Guards Cemetery, Windy Corner, Cuinchy. "An old Honitonian" noted on gravestone hence educated at Allhallows School or Allhallows College at Honiton, Devon, England. Entitled to 1914/15 Star Medal trio. His brother Frank Kelly White died of enteric fever whilst serving as a Sapper with the Royal Engineers in 1901 during the Boer War. Photograph in 2KEH tunic with 2KEH headdress badge, clear 2KEH shoulder titles on his shoulder chains and white lanyard looped under his left shoulder courtesy of Ancestry record. 

WHITE, Thomas C. Private 2KEH. Name recorded on membership list of the Kilkenny Free Masons Lodge, Ireland in 1918 and commemorated on the Kilkenny War Memorial, MacDonagh Station, Dublin Road, Kilkenny, Ireland. Medal Index Card or Medal Roll entry not located.

WHITEFORD, B. E. Hamilton. Lieutenant 2KEH. Entered France Nov 1914 as a Second Lieutenant with the Royal Field Artillery then commissioned in the2 KEH then transferred as a Lieutenant, Royal Air Force. Awarded Military Cross. Applied for 1914/15 Star trio from The Strand, London.

WHITWORTH, Frank. Second Lieutenant 2KEH. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant from an Officer Cadet unit on 21/12/1916 (London Gazette 5/01/1917) later Lieutenant. Applied for British War and Victory Medals from Pulborough, Sussex, England.

WIGHTWICK, Rex Ranyer. 1170. Private 2KEH. Entered France 4/05/1915. Commissioned 5th Battalion Middlesex Regiment 25/09/1917 as a Second Lieutenant, Middlesex Regiment. Lieutenant 16th Machine Gun Corps (MGC). The sixth son, R. E. Wightwick came home from Buenos Aires, enlisted in KEH in November, 1914, and served in France with KEH from May 1915, till March 1917, being slightly wounded at Festubert on 24th/05/1915. Having been gazetted Temporary Second Lieutenant attached Middlesex Regiment, 26/09/1917, he served in France from January to March, 1918, with the 11th and 4th Battalions. He was then transferred to the M.G.C., and after training at home served in France with the 16th Battalion M.G.C., from July, 1918, till he was invalided home in January, 1919, to undergo an operation for deafness contracted on active service. 1914/15 Star trio applied for from Staplehurst, Kent, England. Born APRIL 1888 in Tonbridge, Kent, England and died 14/10/1956 in Kent, England. His brother Second Lieutenant SYDNEY WIGHTWICK, 9TH BATTN. LONDON REGT. (QUEEN VICTORIA'S RIFLES) (T.F.). DIED SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1917, OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION AT ST. JULIEN THE PREVIOUS DAY. AGED 28. Lieut. Sydney Wightwick was the seventh son of the late William Jeffrey Wightwick, O.T. (D.B. 1862—65), and of the late Mrs. W. J. Wightwick, of Highbury, Staplehurst, Kent, and formerly of Hilden, London Road, Tonbridge. The eldest son, H. G. Wightwick, M.I.E.E. (D.B. 1891—96), is an electrical engineer in Singapore and holds a commission as Lieutenant in the Chinese Company of the Singapore Volunteers. He was home on leave in 1917 and was married, and then returned to Singapore. The Mongolia, by which he sailed on June 1st, was mined, but he was rescued after spending twenty-four hours in an open boat. The second son, W. J. Wightwick (D.B. 1891—97), was in business in Mexico, but came home and enlisted in the H.A.C. in 1916. He was in France for a year with the H.A.C. from March, 1916, and his Battalion served as an O.T.C. at G.H.Q. till July, 1916, but took part in the Battles of the Somme. In March, 1917, he met with an accident to the knee and was invalided from the Front with synovitis, and this resulted in his discharge in April, 1918. The third son, C. Wightwick (D.B. 1891—1900; Pembroke College, Cambridge ; B.A. 1903), is in the N. Nigeria Political Service, and after holding a commission as Temporary Lieutenant, T. & S. officer to the Maidaguri Infantry,, for two years from August 1914, returned to his civil duties, September 6th, 1916. The fourth, Stewart Wightwick (D.B.. 1894—1902), is in business in New York. The fifth, Leslie Wightwick (D.B. 1895—1902) had been wounded and discharged, as is told below. Sydney Wightwick, after leaving School, was with a London firm for five years, and during this time served for four years in the 9th Battalion of the London Regt., Queen Victoria's Rifles. In 1910 he left London to take up farming in Kent, and in April, 1913, went out to Canada to join his brother Leslie, who was farming near Nelson, in British Columbia. They both volunteered in October, 1914, were sent to Victoria for training in the 30th Battn. Canadian Infantry, and coming to England in March, 1915, were stationed for a few weeks at Shorncliffe, and then went out on May 2nd, with a draft to the 7th Battn., which had suffered heavily in the second battle of Ypres. On May 22nd they fought at the battle of Festubert, and Leslie Wightwick was wounded in the leg near Richebourg, being eventually sent back to Canada and discharged. Sydney remained with the Battalion till, being recommended for a commission, he was gazetted to the London Regt., November 23rd, 1915. After fourteen months' training in England he returned to the Front in January, 1917, and was in the trenches off and on from this till the date of his death. He was Temporary Lieutenant from January 23rd to March 31st. He took part in the operations that resulted in the German retirement to the Hindenburg Line, then in the Battle of Bullicourt and the capture of the remaining part of the village on May 17th, and finally in the Battles of Ypres, 1917. On September 8th, 1917, his Company made an attack at St. Julien, and he and his platoon came under exceptionally heavy fire. He was hit, and though he received prompt attention, died before he could reach the aid post.

WILLCOX, Alfred. 356. Serjeant 2KEH. Enlisted 25/08/1914, entered France 4/05/1915 and discharged 29/05/1917 due to sickness. Awarded Silver War Badge 197611 and entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WILD, Edward Ashford. 1280. Private 2KEH. Entered France 4/05/1915. Commissioned Northamptonshire Regiment 23/03/1917 later Lieutenant. 1914/15 Star trio applied for from Wandsworth Common, London.

WILD, George. 1067. Private 2KEH. Entered France 5/05/1915. Discharged 14/03/1919. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WILD , Walter. 2064. Private 2KEH. Enlisted 11/12/1915. Transferred as Private, 3rd Battalion, Liverpool Regiment 85711. Discharged 16/05/1919. Entitled to British War and Victory Medals.

WILLIAMS, Horace Newton Spencer. 1342. Private 2KEH. Enlisted 2/01/1915. Promoted to Corporal 25/01/1917. Transferred to 4th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers then 11th Battalion, Tank Corps 302823 on 7/08/1917 and promoted to Serjeant 1/09/1918. Discharged 24/03/1919. Born in 1894 in Smethwick, Staffordshire, England. Prior service for 3 years with Territorial Field Artillery. Anglo-Argentinian Railway staff prior to enlistment. Post-war lived in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Awarded 1914/15 star trio.

WILLIAMS, Thomas. 1563. Private 2KEH. Entered France 5/07/1915. Commissioned Northumberland Fusiliers 29/01/1918 later Captain. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WILLIAMS, Walrond. 1682. Private 2KEH. Enlisted 13/06/1915 and discharged due to sickness 10/12/1916. Awarded Silver War Badge 65201.

WILLIAMS, William. 917. Corporal 2KEH. Entered France 7/07/1915. Transferred as Private, 40602 to 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (RF). Discharged 5/09/1915. Entitled to 1914/15 Star Medal Trio with Star named to 2KEH and British War and Victory Medals named to RF.

WILLIS, Vivian V. 711. Private 2KEH. Entered France 5/05/1915. Commissioned Second Lieutenant, 8th Battalion, Tank Corps 3/12/1918. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WILLS, George. 319. Farrier Serjeant 2KEH. Enlisted 25/08/1914 and entered France 3/07/1915. Transferred as Acting Quarter Master Serjeant, Northumberland Fusiliers 61294. Awarded Silver War Badge 311,846 when discharged with a leg fracture from 4th Reserve Battalion 17/01/1918. Born in 1879. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WILSON, Alleyne Wallis. 1153. Private 2KEH. Entered France 5/05/1915. Commissioned Second Lieutenant Warwickshire Yeomanry 18/10/1915. Lieutenant later Temporary Captain, Guards Machine Gun Regiment. Born Jan 1882 in Westbourne, Sussex, England and died 27/06/1955 in North Cotswold, Gloucestershire, England. Entitled to 1914/15 Star Trio and medals claimed from the Wellington Club, Grosvenor Place, London. A brother Second Lieutenant Belford Alexander Wallis Wilson, Military Cross and Bar, 2nd Battalion attached 14th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment was KIA 26/09/1917 and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.

WILSON, Douglas Bancroft. 1002. Serjeant. Entered France 4/05/1915. Commissioned Essex Regiment 29/01/1918. Awarded Silver War Badge. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio. Changed name by Deed Poll from Douglas Bancroft to Douglas Bancroft Wilson. Moved from an address in Riverview Gardens, Barnes, London to Mersey Road, Aigburth, Liverpool.

WILSON, Frederick William. 1883. Private. Enlisted 7/04/1916. Entered France 11/09/1916. Transferred to KEH as Corporal, 2129 on 13/04/1918 then as Corporal, 653644 to Labour Corps 17/10/1918. Discharged 19/01/1919. Born in 1879 probably in Felixstowe, England and resided in Morpeth, England post-war. Prior service for 5 1/2 years with the Royal Horse Artillery. Entitled to British War and Victory Medals.

WILSON-JONES, Harold. 857. Corporal. Entered France 5/05/1915. Commissioned Royal Field Artillery 25/06/1915. Temporary Captain Royal Artillery Slavo British Legion. Applied for 1914/15 Star trio from Pulborough, Sussex.

WILSSON, William Thomas. Private. Entered France 4/05/1915. Died of a Self Inflicted Wound 1/03/1919 in Kilkenny, Ireland. Born in 1880 in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire. Entitled to 1914/15 Star Medal Trio. Gravestone is located in the Kilkenny (St. John) Church of Ireland Cemetery, Ireland and his name is commemorated on the Kilkenny War Memorial, MacDonagh Station, Dublin Road, Kilkenny, Ireland.

WINCHESTER, Percival John. 1588 Private 2KEH. Entered France 3/07/1915. Transferred as a Private, Labour Corps 407929. Discharged 6/04/1919. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio named to Labour Corps.

WINCHESTER, Philip George Dalton. 1989. Private. 2KEH and served in France. Transferred as a Private 4th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers 45514 then Flight Cadet, 63rd Training Squadron, Royal Flying Corps 27/04/1918 until he died in an aeroplane accident in a Sopwith Camel serial C8291 on 29/08/1918. Born on   10/06/1894 the son of Philip Alfred George Douglas Winchester and Mary Winchester; husband of Rosina Maude Apted (formerly Winchester), of Winchelsea Road, Eastbourne and buried in Ocklynge Cemetery, Eastbourne. Entitled to British War and Victory Medals. Photograph shown in uniform of 2KEH. 

WINGROVE, Charles Leslie. 1191. Private. Enlisted 18/11/1914 and discharged 6/01/1915 due to sickness. Awarded Silver War Badge 179254. Prior service with 1st London Hussars and Guiana Garrison Artillery. Born in Paddington, London in 1876.

WOGAN, Thomas. 1521. Private 2KEH. Private Machine Gun Corps 112158, Private Liverpool Regiment 85704, Sapper Royal Engineers WR/290205. Attested at the Curragh, Dublin for 2 KEH on 12/04/1915 (given No. 1521), aged 19 years and 40 days, of 6 Knockloin Road (on his final discharge this is noted as Knocklyon Road), Templeogue, Co. Dublin. A coachman by occupation. His attestation form was signed by Colonel Craddock C.B., as Approving Officer. His mother was Rosanna Wogan of the same address. He deployed to France with a draft to KEH in October 1915 and stayed with them until the Tank Corps. He transferred to the MGC (Tanks) on 7/081917. He moved to the Royal Engineers, as a Sapper, on 25/09/1917. But when he embarked, in England, for Egypt on 2/12/1917, his Sapper Rank is crossed out and over-written “Pioneer”. Disembarked Alexandria on 30/12/1917. Appears to have been with 96th Light Railway. “On 2 December 1917 the 96th Light Railway Operating Company, numbering around 200 men, embarked on the former Royal Mail steamer Aragon at Southampton, with over 2000 other troops bound for the port of Alexandria on the coast of Egypt. After an uneventful voyage which included a pleasant Christmas stopover anchored off Malta the Aragon approached the Egyptian coast on 30/12/1917. Accounts differ as to the reasons why the steamer failed to secure a safe haven in the harbour – some say she was kept out at sea as no berth was available, others that she was warned off due to the suspected presence of mines. Whatever the reason the Aragon found herself at anchor within a few miles of Alexandria, but without an escort. A terrible price was paid for this decision when she was torpedoed by the German submarine UC-34 and sank within minutes. To add to the tragedy the destroyer HMS Attack, coming to the rescue of survivors, was herself torpedoed and sank with yet more loss of life. A total of 610 soldiers and crew from the Aragon were lost. According to Commonwealth War Graves Commission records some 76 men of the 96th Light Railway Operating Company died that day. It is estimated that about half of these were railway employees, with at least ten different railway companies being represented”. As if that near miss was not enough, on 25/04/1918 he suffered “Shell Gas Wound mild”. He was finally discharged from the RASC, with No. EMT / 46707, from 1166 MT Company RASC, to Limerick, on 20/11/1920. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio with his 1914 Star and Victory Medal were sold on eBay UK from a seller in the US in Dec 2020, images shown on the accompanying page.

WOOD, Ralph. 1820. Corporal 2KEH. Transferred as Private to King's Liverpool Regiment 85712. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant Royal Flying Corps 9/09/1918. Deceased 17/10/1918. British War and Victory Medals applied for by his father Mr J. Wood from Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

WOOTEN, John Galloway. 1694. Private 2KEH. Embarked for France 2/10/1915. Private, Northumberland Fusiliers 61280. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio and address on medal request given as Te Kuiti, New Zealand.

WORSLEY-WORSWICK, Basil Henry. 876. Private. Entered France 4/05/1915. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant 2KEH 1/10/1915. Second Lieutenant Worsley-Worswick was executed in the Easter Rising in Ireland 29/04/1916 aged 35. Lieutenant Lucas was executed on a false charge of being a spy and without trial, at the Guinness Brewery by Company Quartermaster Sergeant (CQMS) Robert Flood of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who mistook him as a participant in the Easter Rising, supposedly because of his American-sounding accent. Executed along with Lucas was the Guinness Brewery's night clerk, the equally innocent William John Rice, who had accompanied him to Flood's position. When neither Lucas nor Rice returned to their position, Lieutenant Basil Worsley-Worswick and Cecil Eustace Dockeray (a friend of Rice and fellow Guinness employee) went to investigate and Flood then ordered their execution as well. The murderous CQMS Flood was finally disarmed by Captain Mariott. Second Lieutenant Worsley-Worswick was born in April 1881 in Sarnesfield Weobley, Herefordshire England, the son of Major William Worsley-Worswick, of Normanton Hall, Leicestershire. Formerly buried in Dublin Castle Grounds, Co. Dublin) in GRANGEGORMAN MILITARY CEMETERY, RC. (Officers Sect.) Grave 5, Republic of Ireland (Portrait photograph shown of Second Lieutenant Worsley-Worswick in 2KEH uniform). Entitled to 1914/15 Star Medal Trio and medals claimed by his mother from an address in Kensington Square, London. 1914/15 Star sold at Dix Noonan Webb, auction in the UK in Feb 2021 by a collector who already owned his British War and Victory Medals, acquired 30 years prior.

WRENCH, James Charles. 317. Serjeant. Attested 31/08/1914 aged 38 in Whitehall, London as a bridge constructor. Entered France 5/05/1915. Promoted from Private to Lance Corporal 17/05/1915 and then to Serjeant 29/05/1915. Returned from France 19/11/1916. Reduced to rank of Corporal 6/08/1917 for being absent without leave. Discharged 14/12/1918 and awarded Army pension due to chronic stomach condition brought on by military service. Lived in Hackney, London and married in 1912 with two daughters. Prior service with Bethune Mounted Infantry and Bushveldt Carbineers (later Pietersburg Light Horse) and awarded Queen's South Africa Medal with Transvaal Clasp and King's South Africa Medal with South Africa 1902 clasp and was injured twice. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio and medals returned as per King's Regulations.

WRIGHT, John. 637. Corporal. Entered France 4/05/1915. Transferred as Serjeant Northumberland Fusiliers 61231. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.

WRIGHT, Robert Armstrong. 342 Corporal 2KEH. Enlisted 27/08/1914 and entered France 4/05/1915. Transferred as Corporal, Labour Corps 230755. Discharged 21/11/1918 as physically unfit and awarded Silver War Badge 54,634. Born in 1875 in Highgate, Middlesex, England. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio named to Labour Corps.

WRIGHT, Robert Kenneth. 1092. Serjeant. Entered France 4/05/1915. Commissioned 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment 12/03/1916 later Captain. 6th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. Awarded Military Cross. KIA 29/09/ 1918 and buried at PIGEON RAVINE CEMETERY, EPEHY, France. (Late Corporal, Cape Mounted Rifles), attached 2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. Born in 1883 in the Transvaal, South Africa. Entitled to 1914/15 Star Trio. Medals applied for by Lady Peyton of 1 Chesterfield Gardens, Mayfair, London applied for his medals on 17/3/1920. Lady Peyton's hospital charity in Isleham, Cambridge has helped needy families since 1575.

WRIGHT, Oswald Lawrence. 324. Squadron Serjeant Major. Warrant Officer Cass 2. Entered France 4/05/1915. Commissioned 2KEH 11/06/1915. Acting Major Tank Corps. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio and claimed from an address in Chatham, Canterbury, Kent, England.

WRIGLEY, Christopher James Oswald. Private. 315. 2KEH. Born 1894 in Hendon, educated Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. Elder son of Mr. & Mrs. Oswald Osmond Wrigley of Shackleford House, Shackleford. Joined 2KEH soon after the outbreak of WW1, arrived in France on 2/05/1915 aged 21. He was shot in the head and died instantaneously whilst standing by his machine gun three weeks later on 26/05/1915 at the Battle of Festubert. No known grave, commemorated on Le Touret Memorial (Panel 1). In memory of their son Mr. and Mrs. Wrigley presented to the Shackleford Parish Church a window and lights in 1916. The work of Messrs. Powell & Son, it is of beautiful design and workmanship. The principal figures are of St. Michael and St. Gabriel and in the lower lights are groups respectively representing the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and John the Baptist and the Virgin and St. John at the foot of the Cross (Portrait photograph as a civilian).

WYLIE, Alfred. 1323. Private 2KEH. Enlisted in Hampton Court, London and entered France 5/05/1915. Private, 25th Battalion (Tyneside Irish), Northumberland Fusiliers, 39848. KIA 12/10/1917 and buried in Cement House Cemetery, Belgium.. Born in Valparaiso, Chile. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio named to Northumberland Fusiliers.

YOUNGMAN, Jack. J. Second Lieutenant 2KEH. Entered Balkans 8/10/1915. Commissioned 1/05/1917 from Norfolk Yeomanry as Serjeant, 1009. Entitled to 1914/15 Star trio.