Name
Walter William Pigg
8 January 1893
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/07/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
25796
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
GORRE BRITISH AND INDIAN CEMETERY
II. B. 6.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
St Francis of Assisi Memorial, Hammerfield, St John the Evangelist Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
Walter William Pigg was born on 8 January 1893 in Palmers Green, Middlesex, the son of Daniel and Sarah Pigg (nee Hunt) and one of nine children.
His parents moved the family to Boxmoor in 1898 and Walter then started at Boxmoor School, later moving to Bourne End School the following year.
On the 1901 Census, the family were living at Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a gardener, (domestic).
When Walter was thirteen he left school and in January 1906 was apprenticed to Mr P J Cook, a Clothier in Apsley and a member of Hemel Hempstead Town Council.
By the 1911 Census Walter had moved out of the family home and was living at the home of William and Emily Chappell (a Clothier, Outfitter and Boot dealer) at 48/50 Bell Green, Lower Sydenham, S E. as a servant and working as a Clothier's Shop Assistant. He remained working there until the outbreak of war, but on enlistment he gave his address as Hammerfield, Herts, where his parents lived at 20 Glenview Gardens, and ran the post office.
Wartime Service
Walter enlisted in London in March 1915 and served with the Army Cyclist Corps as Private 9364 in the 33rd Divisional Company and assigned to No. 3 Platoon which was attached to the 1st Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in January 1915. He was sent to France on 15 November 1915 and In April 1916 as Cyclist troops were re-deployed, he went into the front line.
In late June the 1st Cameronians were in the trenches at Givenchy in preparation for the Somme offensive. Walter was killed in action on 2 July 1916, aged 23, when a mine exploded and buried two men. One of those men was Walter. He and his comrade Private Doherty, aged 20, were laid to rest at the Gorre British and Indian Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £5 10s and pay owing of £4 12s 10d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer, Neil Cooper
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org, www.hemelatwar.org,, www.hemelheroes.com.
