Name
Walter Picking
1882
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
20/04/1915
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
6974
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 31 and 33.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Ashwell Village Memorial, St Mary’s Church Roll of Honour, Ashwell
Pre War
Walter Picking was born in 1882 in Guilden Morden, Cambridgeshire (although some records show Ashwell) the son of Walter and Annie Picking and baptised in Ashwell the same year. He was the eldest of four children and was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School in Ashwell.
On the 1901 Census Walter was living with his cousins William, Walter and Louis at 1 Dock Road, Chadwell St Mary, Essex, and working as a butcher's assistant. He enlisted in London on 8 May 1901 and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment as a reservist, with the reg. no. 6974.
He married Florence Emily Allen in 1904 and they had two children, Walter Samuel born in 1905 and Frances Myrtle born in 1908 but the couple separated and by 1911 Walter had returned to Ashwell and was living with his parents and brother William in Swan Street, Ashwell, and working as a house painter (for F J Bailey & Co, Ashwell builders) before enlistment. His wife was then working as a domestic servant in Sawston, Cambs.
[ N.B. In 1921 Walter's two children were living with his parents at Burns Row, Ashwell.}
Wartime Service
As a reservist, having enlisted in London in 1901, he was mobilised at the outbreak of war and attached to the 1st Bedfordshire Regiment.
Walter was said to have been killed by a sniper's bullet on 20 April 1915 during the Battle for Hill 60. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.
Additional Information
A war gratuity of £5 was divided between his widow (£1 13s 4d) and his mother (£3 6s 8d) as the guardian of his children. Pay owing of £6 7s 8d was also divided with his mother receiving £4 5s 1d and his widow receiving £2 2s 7d.
A pension card exists with his mother Annie as dependant and guardian, but her application was refused as she was deemed to already be in receipt of a pension.
Walter's brother William and served in the war, and survived.
(N.B. Guilden Morden, Cambs and Ashwell, Herts were both in the Royston Registration District at the time of Walter's birth and are only 3 miles apart).
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Adrian Pitts, Paul Johnson, www.ashwellmuseum.org.uk
