Name
Arthur Henry Scoot
1882
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
10/11/1914
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
7085
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star (with Clasp & Roses), British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BOULOGNE EASTERN CEMETERY
III. C. 14.
France
Headstone Inscription
FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH
UK & Other Memorials
Baldock Town Memorial, St Mary the Virgin Church Memorial, Baldock
Pre War
Arthur Henry Scoot was born in Baldock in 1882, the son of Joseph and Sarah Scoot, and was baptised on 26 March 1882 in Baldock. He was one of seven children, although one died in infancy.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at High Street, Baldock where his father was working as a maltmaker's labourer.
His mother died in 1891, aged 31, and his father in 1893, aged 38, and following this, Arthur joined the army in Hitchin. His army number of 7085 suggests he enlisted in late 1901 and by 1911 was recorded as a Lance Corporal with the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment in the Maida Barracks, Aldershot, Surrey.
He gave his home address as Redhill, Surrey, the residence of his next of kin, his sister Edith Scoot, who was living and working there.
Wartime Service
He was a serving soldier at the outbreak of war and was stationed in Mullingar, Ireland. The Battalion embarked at Belfast on SS Oronsa on 15 August 1914 and sailed to Havre where they disembarked on 16 August 1914.
They took part in the Battle of Mons on 23 August 1914, followed by the Retreat to Paris and the Battle of Le Cateau later in the month. The Battalion war diary describes weather as 'abominable' with 'torrents of rain' in September as well as taking many casualties.
Arthur was wounded in action, probably in the First Battle of Ypres, which started on 6 November, and died of his wounds on 10 November 1914 at the 13th Stationary Hospital in Boulogne. He is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France. He was the first Baldock soldier to be killed in the war.
Additional Information
Arthur left a will in favour of sister Edith, and as sole legatee she received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £17 4s 11d. She was unmarried and on the 1911 Census was working as a servant at the home of Robert Wyllie, his wife and daughter, a retired Lt Col with the Indian Army.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Adrian Pitts, Paul Johnson
