Name
Bertram J Walker
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton School Memorial
Biography
Bertram appears on the School War Memorial, confirming that he attended the school.
Parish and census records suggest two possible men:
The first was born on January 30th 1884 to James and Martha Walker, but it was thought that he was unlikely to have served because he was in Canada. No attestation papers have been found and the family in Canada is not aware that he went to war (although information recently came to light which suggested he may be the man who served). The North Herts Mail dated March 15th 1917 suggests that the sons of Mr and Mrs James Walker - Edward, Charles and Bert - were all serving, but the paper also records ‘A Wilshere’ as a brother. The first names do not all seem to be relevant to one family, Walker or Wilshere. Therefore, this information should be treated with great caution, as it may be wrongly attributed.
It would appear from a memorial in St. Mary’s churchyard that Bertram had a wife named Grace. He died on April 12th 1946, aged sixty-two and Grace on December 8th 1954 aged seventy-nine.
The second possibility is Bertram John and, with the confirmation of the middle name and the fact that school records also confirm that this man attended, he is almost certainly the correct man. He was born on March 9th 1891 to Thomas and Clara (née Lawman), and so he would have been twenty-three at the outbreak of war. Baptism records list two children: Bertram John (b 1891) and Beatrice May (b 1893).
Bertram is recorded in the Parish Magazine of September 1917 as enlisting during 1914, but after July, and serving in the 1st Bedfordshire Regiment. It would have been late in 1914, as the Hertfordshire Express of October 17th 1914 records him as being involved in an ‘infamous fracas’ in Pirton on October 3rd. The paper headlines this event as ‘War Against Special Constables’. Bertram was one of the special constables assaulted.
The North Herts Mail of February 3rd 1916 reported that he had written that ‘as he was leaving the trenches he had met several Pirton boys as they were going in to the trenches. They were cheery and fit as usual. He also met Sgt Major Arthur Langford ‘who wished to be remembered to Mr Franklin and other Pirton friends.’’
Additional Information
The photograph was taken in the early 1930s. Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
