Below is an excerpt from the recently published History of Winterbourne Monkton. There is a copy of the booklet at the Merchants House, Marlborough and at Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham.
Off To War
It is unfortunately impossible now to identify all those men from the village that took up arms to fight for King and Country in the Great War. No independent records exist of those men that enlisted and as few families who lived in the village now remain there is little family history that is available to us today to identify these men other than those that made the ultimate sacrifice shown above.
An exploration of the records of The Wiltshire Regiment (see Photo Gallery below) may provide us with some names but this can never be a complete record. This is also probably not possible as the records aren’t searchable by place of residence according to The Wiltshire Regiment; the National Records are also incomplete as they were partly destroyed during The Blitz (September 1940) and again are not currently searchable in this way.
It is known, however, that other men with strong associations with the village also fell during the Great War. One such example of this is Henry John Pearce (Rifleman, 1st Kings Royal Rifle Corps) who was born in 1878 in Berwick Bassett son of Jacob and Mary Pearce. In 1891and 1901 they were living at 177, Winterbourne Monkton working for the Viveash’s at East Farm. Henry married Lilian Emily Bull of 188, Winterbourne Monkton in 1910. In 1911 Henry was still working for the Viveash’s but now in Wolley Downs, Wantage, living with him and his new wife was Arthur William Bull, Lilian’s brother, who is commemorated above. Henry died on 26th September 1915 and is commemorated on Loos Memorial.
Other men with strong village associations that died during the conflict were:
Joseph William Gay
Private, 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment
Died on 17 Novemebr 1914
Alfred Edward Lanfear
Sergeant, 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment
Died on 17 May 1915
William James Little
Sapper, 156th Field Company Royal Engineers
Died on 20 November 1917
