On this day in 1918, Reginald Kingdom (1898-1918) was killed in action in France. He was 20.
Reginald, a private in the 5th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment, is believed to have lost his life on the Somme after the Battle of Albert when his battalion (part of the 12th Eastern Division) helped in the capture of Meaulte, Mametz, Carnoy, Hardecourt and Faviere Wood.
His death was announced in The North Devon Journal on September 19, 1918.
The newspaper said he had been in France for 14 months and ‘was expected home on leave shortly’.
Reginald served in the 2/1st Battalion of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry before joining the Royal Berkshire Regiment.
The 5th Royal Berkshires served on the Western Front between 1915 and 1918.
They fought in the Battle of Loos in 1915, the Battles of Albert and Pozieres in 1916, the Battles of Scarpe in 1917 and the Battles of Arras, Albert and Epehy in 1918.
Reginald was buried in Peronne Road Cemetery on the Somme.
His grave includes the following words: ‘Until the day breaks and shadows flee away, we will remember thee.’
He is also remembered on Bideford War Memorial.
Paul Roberts
NOTES
Reginald was a great-nephew of George Kingdom (1862-1952) who married Lucy Roberts (1868-1945) on April 11, 1889 in Cruwys Morchard. Lucy was the eldest daughter of John Roberts (1829-1919), my great-great grandfather who had 30 grandsons serving in the Great War.
Reginald was the son of Charles Kingdom (1875-1951) and Alice Ellen Baker (1870-1967) who for many years lived at 18, Richmond Terrace, Meddon Street, Bideford. Charles was the son of George’s eldest brother William Kingdom (1849-1928) and Jane Phillips (1856-1916). Reginald was born in Bideford in 1898.
Picture below
Peronne Road Cemetery where Reginald was buried. Public domain image by User:B25es. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0720maricourt.JPG
