JOHN ASKHAM BILLINGHAM was serving as an Air Mechanic First Class with 9th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps when he died on 11th November 1917. He was aged 25 and is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.

He was the son of Manning and Mary Billingham of 21, Cambridge Street, Wolverton and before the war was a schoolmaster. He also served in the Territorial Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. On 27th August 1915 he enlisted into the Royal Flying Corps, initially as a trainee wireless operator, called up for service on 20th October. After training he was posted to 9th Squadron RFC, under the command of Major Hugh Dowding, later supremo of Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain. Based in St Omer in France, they were an Army Co-operation Squadron flying the Royal Aircraft Factory RE8 on reconnaissance, bombing and artillery spotting sorties. On 11th November 1917 AM1 Billingham accidentally drowned.

Royal Aircraft Factory RE8

EDGAR ARCHER BROWN was serving as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 2nd/1st Buckinghamshire (Territorial) Battalion, The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry when he was killed in action on 23rd August 1918. He was aged 21 and is buried in Bienvillers Military Cemetery.

He was the son of John and Ellen Elizabeth Brown of 22, Wolverton Road, Stony Stratford, Wolverton, having been born in Seacombe, Cheshire. He enlisted into the 15th Battalion, The London Regiment as a Private before being commissioned into the 2nd Buckinghamshire Battalion on 29th January 1918. He was then sent to France. 2nd Lieutenant Brown was killed in action during the 100 days Offensive that would lead to the end of the war.

ANTLIFF EDWARD BURTON was serving as a Private in the 2nd/1st Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars when he died of natural causes on 28th March 1917. He was aged 18 and is buried in Bow Brickhill Churchyard.

He was the son of William Edward Burton, of School House, Bow Brickhill, and the late Annie Eliza Burton. The 2/1 QOOH had converted from a cavalry to a cyclist unit and at the time of Private Burton’s death were based in Ipswich with the 4th Cyclist Brigade.

RICHARD PERCY BUXTON was serving as an Acting Captain with D Company, the 1st/4th Battalion, The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry when he was killed in action on 15th June 1918. He was aged 29 and is buried in Buscon British Cemetery in Italy.

He was the son of Henry and Emily Buxton of Wavendon, Buckinghamshire, having been born in Leicestershire. He attended Culham College before moving to Wandsworth in London, working as a teacher for the London County Council. He was also a part-time soldier in the 4th Territorial battalion of the Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, serving as a Sergeant.

On the outbreak of war he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and joined the 1st/4th Battalion, The Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in France in June 1916. They saw action in the Battle of Albert, the first phase of the Somme Offensive from 1st July 1916. They carried on to take part in further phases of the offensive, The Battle of Bazentin Ridge, The Battle of Pozieres Ridge, The Battle of the Ancre Height and The Battle of the Ancre until 18th November 1916.

In the spring of 1917 they pursued the Germans as they left the Somme area for pre-prepared defences on the Hindenburg line and then took part in The Battle of Langemarck, The Battle of Polygon Wood, The Battle of Broodseinde and The Battle of Poelcapelle all phases of the Third Battle of Ypres between 16th August and 9th October 1917. From November 1917 they moved to Italy to counter the threat from Austrian and Hungarian Forces that had threatened to overrun the Italian forces. The regiment and the rest of the British forces did not take part in a major battle until June 1918 when they participated in the Battle of Asiago on 15th and 16th June, that saw the Austro-Hungarians successfully defeated in their offensive against the Allies. Richard Buxton, now an acting Captain, was killed in action during the battle.

DONALD PAXTON CAVES was serving as a Rifleman, with B Company, the 18th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps. When he died of his wounds on 3rd September 1918. Aged He was aged 19 and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium.

He was the son of Joseph and Katherine Caves of 150, Windsor Street, Wolverton.

The 18th (Service) Battalion (Arts & Crafts) was one of Kitchener’s new armies which had seen action In France and Italy before returning to France in March 1916 where Rifleman Caves joined the unit. It fought against the German Spring Offensive from 21st March 1918 as the Germans launched a last-ditch offensive to win the war before the Americans arrived in numbers in the First Battles of the Somme. They then went on the offensive in the Final Advance into Flanders and Rifleman Caves was wounded by shrapnel to his right leg and foot and left foot which were amputated. However, he died from his wounds on 3rd September 1918.

HORACE EDWARD CRANE was serving as an Acting Company Quartermaster Sergeant with "C" Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment when he was killed in action on 30th August 1918. He was aged 28 and is buried in Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery in the Pas de Calais, France.

He was the son of Charles and Susannah Crane of Fenny Stratford Buckinghamshire and had worked as a manufacturer’s clerk. He married Beatrice Cooper in the summer of 1917 and had joined the Territorial Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He joined the 1st Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment in France in 1916 and saw action in the Somme Offensive of 1916 and the Battles of Arras and Third Ypres in 1917. In 1918 they fought in the Battle of Lys against the German Spring Offensive before going on the offensive themselves in Flanders. ACQS Crane was killed in action during an assault to clear out Germans from the village of Remy.

JOHN ROBERT FLEET was serving as a Private with the 1st/1st Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars when he died on 4th February 1917. He was aged 22 and is commemorated on the Angora Memorial in Baghdad North Gate Cemetery, having no known grave.

He was the son of William and Lucy Fleet of Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire and had assisted in the family butcher’s business. He enlisted into the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry shortly before the outbreak of war in August 1914.

Private Fleet arrived with the 1/1st Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars in April 1915. They then saw service in Gallipoli, having landed at Suvla Bay in August 1915. They were involved in the attack on Chocolate Hill on the 21st/22nd August when 107 casualties were sustained. They were withdrawn to Egypt in November 1915 and operated against the pro-Turkish Senussi, tribesmen along the Libyan frontier. Later they served in the Sinai Peninsular with the Mounted Brigade against the Turks. Private Fleet was captured by the Turks during this time and sent to a Prisoner of War Camp at Angora where he died of sickness on 4th February 1917.

JOHN GRAHAM GILLAM was serving as a Lance Corporal with "D" Company, 7th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment when he was killed in action 27th September 1915. He was aged 24 and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, having no known grave.

He was the son of John and Clara Gillam, of Winslow, Buckinghamshire and was known as Jack. Before the war he had trained as a teacher at Culham College in Abingdon and taught at Bletchley Road School. He was also a keen Rugby player and made his debut for Northampton in 1911. Just after the outbreak of war he enlisted into the 7th (Service) Battalion, one of Kitchener’s new armies, along with other players from the Rugby Club. He married Dorothy Juffs in January 1915 in Newport Pagnell and was then sent to France with his Battalion on 1st September 1915, landing in Boulogne.

On 25th September the Battalion marched to the village of Vermelles during the Battle of Loos. They took over trenches in front of a German stronghold, the Hohenzollen Redoubt. These trenches had recently been captured by British troops. At 19:00 on 26th the Germans made a counter attack which was repulsed and the positions were shelled overnight. On 27th September at 07:30 the Germans made another mass attack and pushed the British back; Lance Corporal Gillam was lost in this assault and his body never recovered.

Lance Corporal John Gillam

RONALD AUGUSTUS HARRIS was serving as a Private with the 42nd Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps when he was killed in action on 24th March 1918. He was aged 24 and is buried in Noyon New British Cemetery in Oise, France.

He was the son of Thomas George and Margaret Harris, 47, High Street, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire and had worked as an apprentice butcher.

The 42nd Field Ambulance was a mobile medical unit under command of the 14th (Light) Division. When it was at full strength a Field Ambulance was composed of 10 officers and 224 men. It was divided into three Sections. In turn, those Sections had Stretcher Bearer and Tented subsections. RAMC officers and men did not carry weapons or ammunition. In 1918 the 42nd Field Hospital was based in the village of Noyon, south of the Somme. On 21st March 1918 the Germans launched their Spring Offensive in the area in an attempt to win the war before the Americans arrived in numbers. The village of Noyon was destroyed by German shell fire and Private Harris killed. His grave was not discovered until April 1920 when he was identified by his RAMC shoulder flash and re-interred in Noyon New British Cemetery.

WILLIAM HENRY LINEHAM was serving as a Private with 1st/1st Buckinghamshire Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry when he was killed in action on 23rd August 1916. He was aged 24 and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial on the Somme, having no known grave.

He was the son of Joseph James and Lillie Lineham, 28, High Street, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire and had worked as a painter.

On the outbreak of war in August 1914 he enlisted into the Territorial Buckinghamshire Battalion. He was with the battalion when it landed in France on 21st March 1915, Private Lineham was a member of the machine gun section. They were in action in the Battle of Albert, the first phase of the Somme Offensive from 1st July 1916. They then fought in the Battle of Bazentin Ridge between 14th and 17th July before being rested. They were back in action in the Battle of Pozieres Ridge from 23rd July. On 23rd August Private Lineham was with his machine gun team engaging German positions from a shell hole in front of British lines. After their machine gun jammed they attempted to hold back the Germans with their rifles, but Private Lineham was mortally wounded, his body never being recovered.

ARTHUR LEWIS LLOYD was serving as a Private with the 141st Field Ambulance, The Royal Army Medical Corps when he was killed in action Sunday 20th August 1916. He was aged 21 and is buried in Flatiron Copse Cemetery at Mametz the Somme.

He was the son of William Henry and Mary Lloyd of Wolverton. He was training as a language teacher at Borough Road College, Isleworth when war broke out, he enlisted into the Royal Army Medical Corps.

He joined the 141st Field Ambulance as a stretcher bearer and was sent to France in August 1915, under the command of the 1st Division. They were in action dealing with casualties from the Somme Offensive from 1st July 1916 and Private Lloyd was killed in action during these battles.

More information on Arthur Lewis Lloyd: Collection of items relating to Arthur Lewis Lloyd. - Living Archive

Private Lewis Lloyd

CHARLES EDWARD MITCHELL was serving as a Lance-Corporal with the 7th (Service) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry when he was killed in action on 28th April 1917. He was aged 28 and is buried in Doiran Military Cemetery in Greece.

He was the son of Alfred and Alice Mary Mitchell, of 30, Bury Street, Newport Pagnell and before the war had worked as a coach finisher.

He enlisted in the 7th Battalion, The Ox and Bucks, one of Kitchener’s new armies, and served in the machine gun selection, 15 Platoon. He arrived in France on 21st September 1915 with his battalion but they were moved to Salonika in November of that year. Between 10th and 18th August 1916 they were involved in the Battle of Horseshoe Hill against Bulgarian troops, in which the Battalion took the hill. In 1917 they took part in the Battles of Doiran, fighting between 24th and 25th April in attempt to dislodge the Bulgarian armies form defensive positions around Lake Dorjan. The attack was repulsed and a similar effort on the night of 8th and 9th May was defeated with heavy allied casualties. Lance Corporal Mitchell was killed in a local skirmish later that month.

EDWARD OSMOND PARSONS was serving as a Petty Officer, motor mechanic with 11 Squadron, the Royal Naval Air Service, Armoured Car Division when he died of disease on 10th October 1915. He was aged 23 and is buried in Peta Military Cemetery on Malta.

He was the son of William and Mary Parsons of Emberton, Buckinghamshire, He was working as a school teacher when he enlisted into the Royal Navy on 18th January 1915. Selected for land services only he was trained as a mechanic on the Rolls Royce Armoured Car, developed to pluck downed air crew to safety and for reconnaissance.

He joined 11 Squadron and was posted to the Dardanelles., taking part in the Gallipoli Campaign, landing at Suvla Bay in August 1915. On 1st September 1915 he was treated for shell shock, returning for duty 5 days later. He then went down with dysentery on 29th September and was evacuated from Suvla Bay on the Hospital Ship Dunluce Castle on 3rd October 1915. They were in the Mediterranean bound for base hospital in Malta when he died of dysentery and septic fingers on 10th October 1915.

RNAS Armoured cars in Gallipoli

JOHN MONTAGUE SHAKESHAFT was serving as a Private with The 1st Regiment, 1st South African Infantry Division when he was killed in action on 21st March 1918. He was aged 30 and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, having no known grave.

He was the son of William Brice Shakeshaft and Emma Shakeshaft, of Manor Farm, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire and worked on the family farm. On 18th January 1913 he boarded the Armadale Castle mail ship at Southampton bound for Cape Town, South Africa.

He enlisted into the South African Infantry in April 1916 joining the 2nd Rhodesian Regiment and serving in British East African until 14th April 1917 when the Regiment was disbanded. He was then sent to France to join the 1st South African Infantry Division. He was involved in one of the most impressive feat of arms by the South African forces in the war which took place in March 1918, when the Germans launched their spring offensive across the old Somme battlefields. The brigade fought a staunch defence on the first morning of the attack on 21st March 1918 at Gauche Wood, near Villers Guislain. By 24th March they had carried out a fighting withdrawal to Marrieres Wood near Bouchavesnes and there held on, completely unsupported. They fought on until only some 100 men were left, yet it was only when ammunition ran out that the remnant, many of them wounded, surrendered. Private Shakeshaft was reported missing after and presumed dead his body never being found.

ARTHUR CHARLES VICKERY was serving as a Private with the 3rd Battalion, The Coldstream Guards when he was killed in action on 1st December 1917. He was aged 25 and is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial in France having no known grave.

He was born in St Johns Wood in London but lived with his grandparents Charles and Elizabeth Pratt in Mill Street, Newport Pagnell. He married Kate.

He enlisted into the Coldstream Guards and joined the 3rd Battalion in France in 1916. As part of the 4th Guards Brigade they were in action that year in the Battle of Deville Wood between 14th July and 15th September, phases of the 1916 Somme Offensive. They went on to fight in the last two actions on the Somme, the Battles of the Ancre Heights and Ancre between 1st October and 11th November 1916 when bad weather halted operations In the spring of 1917 they cautiously pursued the Germans as they withdrew from the Somme to pre-prepared defensive positions on the Hindenberg Line. They went on to attack German positions in the Battle of Arras between 9th and 24th April 1917.

From 20th November 1917 they were in action in the Battle of Cambrai, Cambrai was an important supply point for the German Hindenberg Line. After good advances using massed tans effectively, the Allies faced the greatest German counter-attack since 1914. Private Vickery was killed shortly before the end of the battle.

FRANCIS WILLIAM WEBBER was serving as a Sergeant with the 2nd Central Ontario Regiment of the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion when he died of his wounds whilst a prisoner of war on 10th January 1918. He was aged 28 and is buried in Hamburg Cemetery in Germany.

He was the son of Francis and Fanny Webber of Wolverton and known as Frank. He had worked as an engineer pattern maker but before the war had emigrated to Canada. He had joined the 2nd Dragoons Volunteer Militia and reached the rank of Sergeant. In November 1914 the 2nd Dragoons were one of the militia cavalry units incorporated into the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles. In December Sergeant Webber attested for overseas service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. On July 18th 1915 they left Quebec bound for Britain.

On 24th October the 4th CMR arrived in Boulogne on 31st December 1915 they converted into an infantry battalion under the orders 0f the 3rd Canadian Division. From 2nd to the 13th June 1916 they fought in the Battle of Mount Sorrel, a German attack to divert Allied troops away from the build-up on the Somme. The 4th CMR suffered heavy casualties during the battle and were moved out of the front line to reform. They were back in action in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette between 15th and 22nd September 1916, a phase of the 1916 Somme Offensive. They continued to fight on the Somme until bad weather brought a halt to operations on 11th November1916.

Between 9th and 14th April they fought in the Battle of Vimy Ridge in which 4 Canadian Divisions and 1 British Division scored a decisive victory over the German 6th Army. Later in 1917 they fought in the Third Battle of the Scarpe on 3rd and 4th May, part of the Arras Offensive in the Battle for Hill 70 between 15th and 20th August and the Second Battle of Passchendaele between 26h October and 10th November.

Sergeant Webber was wounded in action in early 1918 and taken prisoner by the Germans and died in Hamelin Camp near Hanover.

LAWRENCE BENNETT WRIGHT was serving as a Private with "X" Company, The 1st Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers when he died of his wounds on 11th December 1915. He was aged 26 and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Turkey having been buried at sea.

He was the son of Elizabeth Wright and the late Isaac Wright of High Street, Newport Pagnell and worked in the family painting business. He also served as a part time soldier in the Hertfordshire Regiment.

On 8th August 1914 he enlisted in the 5th Lancers and then volunteered for overseas service with the 1st Battalion, The Royal Munster Fusiliers. He sailed with his Battalion from Avonmouth for Gallipoli, going via Alexandria and Mudros, where it halted on 10th April. They then landed at Cape Helles on 25 April 1915 to serve in the Gallipoli Campaign. He was wounded in action during the fierce fighting and was being evacuated to Egypt on the Hospital Ship Panama when he died.

Hospital Ship Panama