Name
Wilfred Henry Tew
1898
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
14/11/1916
18
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
36486
Royal Berkshire Regiment
6th Bn
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CONTAY BRITISH CEMETERY, CONTAY
II. F. 8.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, 4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hitchin, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Wilfred was born in 1898 in Hitchin, his parents were Thomas and Levinia Florence Tew (née Margerrison) and they had married in 1887.
In 1901 the family were living at 60 Old Park Road, Hitchin. Present were both parents: Thomas (38) and Levinia Florence (36), with Thomas and working as a butcher and shopkeeper on own account. Their children were: Florence (12), Thomas Edward (11), Frederick William (9) and Wilfred Henry (2).
By 1911 the family were living at 26 Bunyan Road, Hitchin. Present were both parents and now Thomas was recorded as a butcher (English “Home Killed”) and an employer and Florence Lavinia (names now reversed) was assisting in her husband’s business. The census recorded they had been married for 23 years with 4 children, all living. Of their children only William was present and was still at school. Ernest Faulkner (17) was also present as an apprentice butcher.
He had been a Boy Scout and before enlistment had been an assistant in his father's butcher’s shop and later an apprentice at the Phoenix Motor Works in Letchworth.
The Hertford Mercury reported that he had enlisted before the age of 16 while a scout and giving his age as 18.
Officially Wilfred was recorded living in Hitchin when he enlisted in Hertford.
Wartime Service
He had enlisted in Hertford into the Hertfordshire Regiment by December 1914, where he held Regimental Number 3696. Later he was posted to the 6th Battalion of the Berkshires with the Number 36486 and was in a Lewis gun Section.
He died of wounds in France on his 18th Birthday. He had been admitted to No. 9 Casualty Clearing Station with an injury to his throat and died at 9.30pm. The Battalion had been heavily engaged on the Somme from the 1st July 1916 onwards.
Wilfred was buried in Plot II, Row F, Grave 8 in the Contay British Cemetery in France.
Additional Information
A private inscription on the headstone reads "Died on his eighteenth birthday". He had two brothers in the Army.
After his death £5 16s 6d pay owing was authorised to go to his father on 16 February 1917. Later, a war gratuity of £8 10d was authorised to be paid to him on 9 October 1919.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
