Name
Reginald James Hill
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
26/10/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
41736
South Staffordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 90 to 92 and 162 to 162A.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Bushey Town Memorial, St Peter’s Church Memorial, Bushey Heath
Pre War
Born in Upper Holloway in about 1899, Reginald James Hill was baptised on 14 February 1899 at St Peter Church on Dartmouth Park Hill, Islington. He was the eldest son of Alfred Arthur and Emma (née Williams) Hill.
His parents were married on 17 May 1891 at the Parish Church in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire.
At the 1901 Census, Reginald was 2-years-old and living at 21 Windmill Street, Bushey Heath with his parents and three sisters; Eleanor, Florence and Georgiana. His father was working as a domestic groom and gardener, a very typical occupation in the affluent parish of Bushey Heath, where wealthy residents hired services. The ages of Alfred and Mary were 33 and 34, and those of Reginald’s siblings are 8, 6 and 2mths respectively. The birthplaces are given as Lingfield, Surrey for Arthur, Monmouth for Mary, Abergavenny for Eleanor, St Pancras, London for Florence and Bushey Heath for Georgiana.
At the 1911 Census, the family had remained at 21 Windmill Street in Bushey Heath and Arthur was still working as a groom and gardener. The children now included Reginald, Georgina, Harold, Violet and Arthur (Jnr.), their ages being 12, 10,6, 4 and 9mths. The entries show there had been nine children one of whom had died. The birthplace for Reginald is recorded as Upper Holloway and those for Harold, Violet and Arthur as Bushey. Reginald is at school, as are the three elder of the remaining children.
Wartime Service
Reginald enlisted in Watford as Private 41736 with the South Staffordshire Regiment and served in France & Flanders with the 1st Battalion. He was killed in action, aged 19, on 26 October 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres (also known as Passchendaele) in Belgium.
He is remembered with honour at Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing and is commemorated on the Bushey Memorial and at St Peter’s Church, Bushey Heath.
The pension record card for Reginald gives his dependant as Emma Hill of Little Bushey Cottage, Bushey Heath, which is subsequently crossed through and annotated as ‘deceased’ and substituted with Alfred Arthur of 17, Clay Hill, Bushey. Emma died in 1925, recorded in the Watford registration district.
Reginald’s father also saw service in the war. There is a service record listed in Ancestry under Emma Williams. Alfred Arthur Hill enlisted London on 19 August 1915. He gave his age as 45, living at Little Bushy Cottage, Bushey Heath and working as a general labourer. He served as Sapper 116205 with the Pioneer Corps of the Royal Engineers and was certified as carpenter with effect from 8 December 1916.
Additional Information
Information provided with the kind permission of Bushey First World War Commemoration Project – Please visit www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk.
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
