Name
Walter James Bird
1879
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/07/1916
37
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Corporal
18294
Bedfordshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
HEILLY STATION CEMETERY, MERICOURT-L'ABBE
II. D. 23.
France
Headstone Inscription
HE SHALL GIVE HIS PEOPLE THE BLESSING OF PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
Baldock Town Memorial,
St Mary the Virgin Church Memorial, Baldock,
Not on the Letchworth memorials
Pre War
Walter James Bird was born in 1879 in Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, the son of Charles and Sarah Bird and one of nine children.
By the 1891 Census the family had moved to Codicote and were living at Marnsells [Maunsells], near Codicote Bury, Codicote, Herts, where his father was working as a shepherd. Walter was a boarder in 1901, living at the home of widow Mary Humphrey and her son Arthur at Hall's Yard, Hatfield where he was working as a railway engine cleaner. He returned to live with his family in 1911 who were then living at 34 Green Lane, Letchworth, Herts, at which time Walter was working as a general labourer.
He married Nora Clara Stanley in the Hitchin district later in 1911 and they were living at 17, Clarkes Lane, Baldock, Herts when he enlisted. His parents later lived 157, Common View, Letchworth, Herts;
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Bedford and served with the 6th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, being promoted to the rank of Corporal.
Walter died on 17 July 1916, aged 37, at No. 38 Casualty Clearing Station in France, from wounds received in action, possibly during an assault on Pozieres two days earlier. He is buried in Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt L-Abbe, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £8 and pay owing of £5 0s 6d. She also received a pension of 13 shillings a week.
Walter's brother William served with the Royal Engineers from December 1914, later transferring to the Signals Corps. In December 1917. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for gallantry in the field and left the army in April 1919.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Adrian Pitts, Paul Johnson. www/cwgc.org/stones/stories/bird-brothers
