Name
David Chalkley
1878
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
04/09/1916
34
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
8433
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
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 2 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
All Saints Church Memorial, Little Munden, Not on the Aston memorials
Pre War
David Chalkley was born in Aston, Herts, the son of James and Emma Chalkley and one of 12 children. He was baptised there on 13 October 1878,
In 1881 the family were living at Aston End, Herts, where his father was working as a wood sawyer. By 1891 they had moved into Aston village (next to the Beehive Inn - now Beehive Cottage) and 12 year old David was an agricultural labourer. On the 1901 Census the family were living in Hobbing End, Benington, Herts. His father was working as an agricultural labourer and David was employed as a stockman (cattle) on a farm.
David enlisted into the Bedfordshire Regiment and In 1911 was listed as a soldier in Maida Barracks, Aldershot.
He married Minnie Daisy Wells in Edmonton, Essex on 22 June 1912 and lived in Upper Hale, Farnham, Surrey, They had a son Leslie David John, born in 1913, but who sadly died in late 1914, meanwhile their daughter Alice Emily had been born in early 1914.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hertford giving his address as Upper Hale, Farnham, Surrey, and joined the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, serving in France from 16 August 1914.
He was promoted to Lance Corporal, but was killed in action on 4 September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, when the Battalion were in the Silesia Trenches He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £12 and pay owing of £8 2s 5d. She also received a pension of 15 shillings a week for herself and her daughter. She gave her address as Haultwick Cottage (with parents in law) at Little Munden.
She later remarried, to Thomas Clifford in 1929 and lived at 6 Graham Road, Gosport. In 1950, after Thomas Clifford died, she married for a third time to Henry Perry in Reading, Berkshire.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Malcolm Lennox,
