WHITING, ARTHUR GEORGE
Rank: Private
Regiment: Worcestershire Regiment 1st/8th Battalion. 144th Brigade, 48th Division.
Age 19
Date of death 17 August 1917
Service No. 260181
He was the son of George and Anna Whiting, of Games Barn, Peldon, Colchester. Arthur had been born in Wigborough, resided in Peldon & enlisted in Colchester. He originally joined up in the Essex regiment with service number 202038.
The 1/8th Battalion in August 1914 was in Worcester. The Battalion formed part of Gloucester and Worcester Brigade, South Midland Division. On the 31 March 1915 they landed at Boulogne and proceeded to the Western Front. As of the 15 May 1915 the formation became the 144th Brigade, 48th Division. The Division was a formation created by the establishment of the Territorial Force in 1908. It moved to France 22nd March - 1st April 1915, and served with distinction on the Western Front until 21st November 1917. It was involved in the Battle of Albert (first phase of the Battle of the Somme 1916). The Division held the line between the 56th (London) and the 31st Divisions, both of which were heavily engaged at Gommecourt and Serre respectively. Two of the battalions of the Division attacked on 1 July 1916, and suffered heavy casualties.
At the time of his death the Battalion were not involved in any major battles. He was however, killed in action.
Arthur earned the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal
Commonwealth War Dead Memorial Reference: Panel 75 to 77. TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Arthur George Whiting is commemorated on the Memorial in Peldon Parish Church and on Tyne Cot Memorial.
Tony Baldwin, nephew to Arthur Whiting, at Tyne Cot in the 1990s
Photographs from Stisted Church. Arthur's brother Vic Whiting moved to Stisted to farm and it Vic's descendants remembered Arthur on Armistice Day by making this display.
From If You Shed a Tear by Ted Sparrow, Part 3. Edit for web by Tony Millatt with some additions.
Read more:
The Whiting Family of Peldon
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