Name
Wallace Frederick King
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
23/04/1917
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
27811
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 5.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
All Saints Church Roll of Honour, Sandon,
All Saints Church Clock, Sandon,
Odsey Village Memorial
Pre War
Son of John Edward and Sophia King of Slip End, Ashwell and was the uncle of Maureen Miller (nee King) of Sandon.
Resident Ashwell. He was employed on Col. Phillips' Farm at Slip End before enlisting in Hitchin in March 1916.
The King family have been traced back to 1851 when James 51 living on Roe Green was married to Mary 52 and had their children Lydia 26 (straw platter) James 24 (ag lab) John 21 (ag lab) Ann 18 (straw platter) Edward 17 (ag lab) Mary 15 (straw platter) Sarah 14 (straw platter) Joseph 11 (ploughboy) and Elizabeth 5
By 1871 young James King was an agricultural labourer,(44) living with his wife Elizabeth (49) and their 5 children on Roe Green. George was 17, James 14, Mary Ann 11, Elizabeth 8 and John Edward 4 (The future father of our soldiers).
By 1881 The family were still on Roe Green with 3 children still living at home and with one grandchild in residence too.
By 1901 the census tells us that young John Edward had married Sophia from Rushden and was living at Bury Barnes with children John 14, Ethel, 11, Wallace 8 Albert, 6, (our soldiers) and Agnes 6 months.
Young James was now 44 and was married to Mary 45 and had Arthur 19, Walter 17, Elsie 14, Francis 12and Herbert 8. Therefore Walter was the cousin of Albert and Wallace.
Officially Albert is recorded as enlisting, but a family story is that at the outset of war, according to a family story, the 2 boys walked from Slip End where the family was living to Bedford to enlist, although the CWGC records Wallace joining in Bedford and Albert in Hitchin. A newspaper article in the Hertfordshire Express on the 17th of June 1917 mentions that Wallace joined the Beds. Regiment in April 1916 and, after receiving his training in Kent and being drafted to France in the August, was attached to the Lewis Gun Section.
Wartime Service
The battalion war diary suggests:
In the week before his death Albert would have been involved in physical training and musketry bayonet fighting (9th.) . On the 10th. they had training in the morning then watched a hockey match with the Border and Inniskillen Officers V. the M.G. and R.A.M.C. in the afternoon. Training was undertaken on the 11th. and Brigade Sports was held on the 12th. under ideal weather conditions. The guard mounting parade was easily won by the Border Regiment. On May 13th. the regiment moved to Arras..from Duisans They left at 4.30 and arrived at 6pm. going straight into billets. Preliminary arrangements for an attack were made.The 14th. was said to be a restful day but they moved up to the Feuchy crossroads on the front line at 10pm. relieving the Suffolks and getting into position at 2.30 am. May 15th. was spent improving the trenches and making latrines which were non¬existent. A patrol went out to observe Devils Trench, an objective for the following days.
On May 16th. the day of Albert's death their trenches were heavily shelled at 4pm. resulting in 7 casualties (wounded) Two platoons moved then to strong points N.and S. of Monchy Le Preux.
Albert was said to have died of wounds and is buried at Duisans west of Arras where the regiment had moved up from on 13th. So the question remains as to whether he had already been injured before 13th and had been left behind at the casualty clearing station there where he died or was he one of those wounded on the 16th and taken back to Duisans (9 miles).
(From 'The 16th. Foot: the history of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiments) by Major General Sir F. Maurice. 1931):
The Second Battle of the Scarpe began on April 23rd. 1917. It took the form of an attack on a front of nine miles, from Croiselles ( S.E. of Arras, France.)on the R.Sensee to Gavrelle, east of the southern end of Vimy Ridge (N.E. of Arras.) Simultaneously with the main attack part of the 5th. Division made a subsidiary attack from the N.E. slopes of Vimy Ridge against a stronghold which the Germans had established at La Coulotte. The attack was hurried on because of the French cry for help. The artillery preparation, which owing to the ground was difficult, proved to be entirely inadequate; and the enemy's counter-barrage was formidable So though the 1st. Btn and the Norfolks forced their way into the German trenches with rare gallantry, the last of them were forced to retire after 10 hours of desperate fighting. The 1st. Btn, Bedfords lost eleven officers and 320 other ranks, Wallace King being one of the soldiers killed that day.
An article in the local paper announcing his death states that Wallace was sent out to France in August 1916 where he was killed in action on the 23rd of April 1917. He was shot through the stomach and death was immediate. An officer writing to his parents said: "His death was instantaneous and he suffered nothing. He was always cheerful under all conditions, and will be missed by all."
Wallace is commemorated on the impressive Arras Memorial to the missing in Bay 5.
Additional Information
He was the uncle of Maureen Miller (nee King) of Sandon and brother of Albert who died as a serving soldier on May 16th 1917.
Wallace and his brother Albert are also commemorated on the family headstone in Standon (St. Mary) Churchyard. Their inscription reads:
ALSO OF HER (Sophia King) BELOVED SONS
WALLACE FREDERICK KING KILLED IN ACTION APRIL 23RD 1917 AGED 24 YEARS.
AND OF
ALBERT GEORGE KING DIED OF WOUNDS IN FRANCE MAY 16TH 1917 AGED 20 YEARS.
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
Acknowledgments
Derry Warners
Jonty Wild, Jean Handley
