Name
Arthur John Pilsworth
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
25/08/1918
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
4178
Welsh Guards
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BUCQUOY ROAD CEMETERY, FICHEUX
VII.B.23
France
Headstone Inscription
Though distance divides, fond memories cling
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Holy Saviour Church War Memorial, Radcliffe Rd., Hitchin, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin, British Schools Museum Memorial, Hitchin, St Faith’s Church Memorial, Walsworth
Pre War
Arthur was born in 1888 in Cambridge and christened on 27 Nov 1899 in Holy Savior Church, Hitchin . His parents were John and Mary Ann Pilsworth.
They have not been found in the 1891 census, but in 1901 the family were living at 51 Florence Street, Hitchin. Present were both parents: John (34) and Mary Ann (35), with John working as a railway engine driver. Their children were: Harry (14), Arthur John (12), George (11), Ernest (5), Sidney (3) and an unnamed son of one month (probably later named John).
By 1911 the family were living in Orchard Rd, Walsworth, Hitchin. Present were both parents, John now recorded as a locomotive engine driver. The census recorded they had been married for 26 years with 6 children, all living. All the children listed above except Arthur were present and they had been joined by Alice (7).
Arthur was elsewhere and married Alice Mary Bonnett in Grantham, Lincs in third quarter of 1911. Sadly the marriage did not last long. Alice became pregnant with twins and gave birth on 30 December 1912, but she died on the same day. The Grantham Journal reported the death and that she was 29 and the daughter of A and M Bonnett and that she was buried at Great Gonerby. The children were named Arthur John and Alice Mary.
There is now a gap in our history for Arthur and his family, given the pension record information given after his death in 1918, the children may have been with left with his mother Mary Ann as she was later listed as their guardian. He may be the Arthur John Pilsworth who was recorded in the electoral roll s for Cambridge dated 1914/15, if so he was living at 20 James Street.
It is likely that he enlisted (more likely conscripted) in late in 1917 – possibly very early 1918, but we do know that he married again, marrying Elizabeth Warner (b 29 March 1884) in Leicester in 1917.
Before the war he had been an apprentice at the International Stores in Hitchin and later transferred to a branch in Nottingham. After that he moved to the Home and Colonial Stores in Leicester. In January 1918 enlisted in Hinchley in Leicestershire.
Officially recorded as born in Cambridge and enlisting in Hinckley, Leics.
Wartime Service
Arthur was posted to the 1st Battalion of the Welsh Guards with the Number 4178.
He had only been serving in France for eleven weeks when he was killed in action. The date of his death coincides with the end of the Battle of Albert when the Welsh Guards were in the 3rd Guards Brigade as part of the Guards Division of VI Corps in the 3rd Army. At 4.55am on the 23rd August 1918 the Guards Division supported by a Battalion of tanks attacked a ridge at the southern end east of the start line Becquerelle-Boyelles-Hamelincourt following a creeping barrage of 84% shrapnel and 16% smoke, fired by 17 Brigades of Field Artillery. The obstacle attained by 9.25am they crossed the Sensee River and seized the St. Leger Ridge by the afternoon. They later advanced on Ecoust. On the 25th the Welsh Guards were in St. Leger Wood but were held up by large numbers of machine-guns which caused many casualties.
He was buried in Plot 7, Row B, Grave 23 in the Bucquoy Road Cemetery, Ficheux, south west of Arras in France. A private inscription on the stone reads “Though distance divides, fond memories cling".
Additional Information
After his death £1 18s 8d pay owing was authorised to go to his widow Elizabeth and £3 19s 4d to Mary A (mother and guardian to the children) on 1 February 1919. Later, a war gratuity of £1 was authorised to be paid to his widow and £2 to ‘guardian’ Mary A on 16 December 1919.
His pension cards record Eizabeth Pilsworth of 27 Hart Road, Leicester as his widow and his next of kin. She was awarded a pension of 32s 11d a week from 3 March 1919 – 13s 9d for her and 19s 2d for children, who were listed as Arthur John (b 30/12/1912) and Alice Mary (b 30/12/1912. There was a grant £7 paid to guardian Mrs Mary Ann Pilsworth, of Cocannon View, Walsworth, Hitchin. The pension was amended twice in 1920 with the note recording the cessation of children’s allowance. Perhaps this was paid to Mary Ann.
He had two brothers who served in the army, Ernest and Sidney,
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
