Name
David Payne
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
13/10/1915
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
19042
Gloucestershire Regiment
10th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LOOS MEMORIAL
Panel 60/64
France
UK & Other Memorials
Stevenage Old Town Memorial
St Nicholas' Church Memorial, Stevenage Old Town
Holy Trinity Church Memorial Roll of Honour, Stevenage Old Town
St Mary the Virgin Church Memorial, Little Wymondley.
Pre War
David was born in 1881, in Little Wymondley. The son of John Payne and Mary Payne. He was baptised on the 8th May 1881, in Little Wymondley. The 1891 census recorded David as aged 10, at school and living with his parents, 5 brothers and 2 sisters, in Little Wymondley. By 1901 he was living with his widowed mother and sister in Little Wymondley. His occupation is a Gardener Domestic. David married Lizzie Bygrave from of 44 Alleyns Stevenage on the 23rd January 1904, in Stevenage. In 1911, David, now married and 30 had one son and three daughters, living at 44 Alleyns Road, Stevenage. His occupation is a Groom, Gardener, Domestic.
Wartime Service
On his enlistment David was posted to the Gloucester Regiment with the service number 19042. He was posted to France on the 4th October 1915, and reported missing just nine day later. The Battalion were ordered to attack the German firing line just West of the Lens to La Bassee road, near Noeux-Les-Mines. The attack began at 2pm and was quickly met with heavy machine gun and rifle fire. The fighting lasted all afternoon and by nightfall the British troops had been driven back to their original positions. This dreadfully unsuccessful attack had cost the lives of 150 men, with absolutely no ground gained. It was not until July 1916 that David was confirmed as killed. A Private Papps had reported seeing David’s body close to the British wire along with that of Private Alfred Dorrington. Their bodies were not recovered from the battlefield and have no known grave. David’s name is recorded on the Loos Memorial, France.
Additional Information
www.stevenageatwar.com CWGC recorded him as the “Husband of Mrs L Payne. Of 44 Alleyns Rd., Stevenage, Herts”.
Acknowledgments
Paul Johnson, Stuart Osborne
