Name
Stephen John Whittaker
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
15893
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Battalion
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Abbots Langley memorials*1
Biography
Stephen Whittaker was born in autumn 1889 at Abbots Langley. He was one of six children (four sons and two daughters) born to Jesse and Sarah Whittaker. Two of Stephen’s brothers, Charles (known as Jesse) and William both served in the Great War. The family lived at Hart Hall Cottages, Railway Terrace, Abbots Langley from before the time of the 1881 Census through until after the 1911 Census. Jesse (senior) was employed as a Paste Board Cutter at a Paper Mill, presumably John Dickinson Ltd.
In the 1911 Census Stephen and his brother Jesse (junior) were recorded working as Labourers in a Paper Mill.
Stephen was recorded for the first time in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour in October 1914, serving with Kitchener’s Army. In the December 1914 edition of the Magazine he was listed with the 7th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment – nicknamed “The Shiny Seventh”.
His Medal Roll Card noted that Stephen was sent to France on 26th July 1915, when the 7th Bedford’s embarked at Folkestone on the SS “Onward”, arriving at Boulogne later the same day. The Battalion eventually arrive on the Somme Front later in the summer and was engaged in several actions.
In November 1915, still serving with the 7th Bedfordshire’s, Stephen was reported wounded in the Parish Magazine. This was also reported in the Hertfordshire Advertiser on 6th November 1915, and in the article Stephen was referred to as a “Kings Langley man”. This may have been due to the proximity of his Hart Hall Cottages and Railway Terrace to the village centre of Kings Langley. However Stephen was not listed in the Kings Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour.
In August 1917, Stephen was recorded serving with 7th Bedfordshire’s, however the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine reported that he had been Discharged Wounded. It is unlikely that this was the case as Stephen was listed in the Absent Voter Records for Abbots Langley for Autumn 1918 and Spring 1919, still serving with the 7th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment. At the time his address was given at Abbots Road, Abbots Langley. The Absent Voter Records indicated that Stephen held the rank of Private, however his Medal Roll Card noted that he had been promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal, and eventually to that of Corporal.
Stephen Whittaker survived the War*1, as did his brother William, who served with the Royal Navy. His brother Charles/Jesse was killed in action on the Somme on 27th September 1916. Stephen’s cousins Arthur and Charles Whittaker both survived the War.
*1 Steven died in 1924
and according to the family headstone, this was due to his wounds - see inscription below.
Additional Information
Charles and his brother Stephen and his brother are also commemorated on the family headstone in Abbots Langley (Saint Laurence) churchyard, his inscription reads:
“. . . ALSO CHARLES JESSE KILLED IN ACTION SEPTEMBER 26. 1916 AND STEVEN WHO DIED OF WOUNDS SET. 26 1924 SONS OF THE ABOVE" (Jesse Whitaker)
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
