Name
Arthur Henry Whitby
1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
22/07/1916
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
27501
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 2C
France
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin
Pre War
Arthur was born in 1890 in Hitchin and christened in Hitchin on 28 November 1893 when only his mother Elizabeth Whitby was mentioned, so we have no record of his father. Elizabeth married Thomas Abbiss in 1898 in Hitchin.
We have not found Elizabeth or Arthur in 1891.
In 1901 Elizabeth (41) was living at 37 Dacre Road, Hitchin with her husband Thomas Abbiss (65) and her son Arthur Henry (11). Thomas was working as a railway labourer.
By 1911 the family were living at 38 Dacre Road, Hitchin, Herts. Present were Elizabeth and Thomas, 76 and listed as a retired labourer. The census recorded they had been married for 13 years with no children. Arthur Henry Whitby was now 21 and recorded as a stepson (son to Elizabeth) and working as a house painter.
Before enlisting, or more likely conscripted, he worked for Francis Newton the Hitchin builders for eight years. He was an active member of the St. Mary's Bible Class and Sunday School and was also a sidesman there.
It was reported that, in the opinion of certain of his friends, he could have had reason to claim exemption from call-up as a conscientious objector.
Officially recorded as born, living and enlisting in Hitchin.
Wartime Service
He joined the 4th Battalion of the Bedfords in April 1916, was given the Regimental Number 27501 and left England on the 1st July 1916. He was later transferred to the 1st Battalion, which at the time of his death was part of the 15th Brigade in the 5th Division of XV Corps in the 4th Anny. He was killed in action in France.
One record suggests that he was with the 10th Battalion of the Worcesters when he was killed but there is no such mention of him in the Regimental volume of ‘Soldiers died’ database.
The 1st Battalion of the Bedfords was in the Somme sector in the vicinity of Pommiers Redoubt and High Wood and at the time of his death was part of the Divisional Reserve. A heavy bombardment of the German line began with occasional 15” shells going over. The return fire from the enemy probably caused his death.
Arthur has no known grave, but is remembered on Pier & Face 2C of the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing in France. An ‘In Memoriam’ notice in a local newspaper added "Dearly loved son and brother".
Additional Information
His pension cards record Elizabeth Abbiss as his mother and as his dependant, living at 38 Dacre Road, Hitchin. She was awarded a pension of 10s a week from 6 February 1917.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
