Name
William James Reeve
1899
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
20/09/1917
18
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
956193
Royal Field Artillery
'D' Coy. 186th Bde.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LIJSSENTHOEK MILITARY CEMETERY
XXIII. B. 9A.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
IN THE SURE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Bovingdon memorials(*1) Family grave, Bovingdon Churchyard
Pre War
William James Reeve was born in 1899 in Fulham, London, the son of William George and Alice Jane Reeve and the youngest of two children. He had an older sister Alice. His father had been born in Bovingdon, Herts.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 23 Cornwall Street, Fulham, London. His father's occupation was recorded as Sapper with the Royal Engineers. They had moved to 35 Stamford Road, Fulham by 1911. His father was then a postman and William was a 12 year old schoolboy.
His parents later lived at 47 Cedar Road, Fulham.
Wartime Service
He enlisted as a Gunner with the Royal Field Artillery on 19 April 1915, initially under the reg. no. of 2553, later changed to 956193. He left Southampton for Havre, Belgium on 20 September 1916 and was posted to 184th Brigade, RFA on 19 October 1916.
William died from gas poisoning at the 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, on 20 September 1917, and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £11 0s 1d and pay owing of £12 8s 3d. His mother received a pension of 6s 6d a week.
*1 Commemorated on the family grave in Bovingdon (St. Lawrence) Churchyard, his inscription reads:
"In Memory of our Dear Son GUNNER WILLIAM JAMES REEVE (ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY) WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY AT YPRES, BELGIUM. SEPT 20TH 1917, AGED 18
IN SURE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE."
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild
