Reginald Lawrence
Private 27357 - 15th/17th Bn. West Yorkshire Regiment
Killed in action on Friday 12th April 1918, age 27.
No known grave but is remembered on Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium
Reginald Lawrence was born at Gnosall Heath in the 2
nd
quarter of 1893 to Aaron and
Elizabeth (nee Addison) Lawrence, both from Gnosall.
In both 1901 and
1911 the family
were living at
Wharf Road,
Gnosall Heath
with Aaron
working as a
wood sawyer; by
the later date
Reginald was
working as a
gardener and his
older brother John as a labourer.
Reginald enlisted at Stafford into the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, no. 19849. He
later transferred to the 15th/17th Bn. West Yorkshire Regiment Labour Corps, Nos.
447869 and 27357.
He was killed in action on Friday 12th April 1918, age 27 and was awarded the Victory and
British medals.
He has no known grave but is remembered on Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium.
The record states “Son of Mr and Mrs Aaron Lawrence of 6, Wharf Road, Gnosall Heath.”
Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium.
Historical Information
The Ploegsteert Memorial commemorates more than 11,000 servicemen of the United
Kingdom and South African forces who died in this sector during the First World War and
have no known grave. The memorial serves the area from the line Caestre-Dranoutre-
Warneton to the north, to Haverskerque-Estaires-Fournes to the south, including the towns
of Hazebrouck, Merville, Bailleul and Armentieres, the Forest of Nieppe, and Ploegsteert
Wood. The original intention had been to erect the memorial in Lille.
Most of those commemorated by the memorial did not die in major offensives, such as
those which took place around Ypres to the north, or Loos to the south. Most were killed in
the course of the day-to-day trench warfare which characterised this part of the line, or in
small scale set engagements, usually carried out in support of the major attacks taking
place elsewhere. It does not include the names of officers and men of Canadian or Indian
regiments (they are found on the Memorials at Vimy and Neuve-Chapelle) and those lost
at the Battle of Aubers Ridge, 9 May 1915, who were involved in the Southern Pincer (the
1st, 2nd, Meerut and 47th Divisions - they are commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial).
BERKS CEMETERY EXTENSION, in which the memorial stands, was begun in June 1916
and used continuously until September 1917. At the Armistice, the extension comprised
Plot I only, but Plots II and III were added in 1930 when graves were brought in from
Rosenberg Chateau Military Cemetery and Extension, about 1 Km to the north-west, when
it was established that these sites could not be acquired in perpetuity. Rosenberg Chateau
Military Cemetery was used by fighting units from November 1914 to August 1916. The
extension was begun in May 1916 and used until March 1918. Together, the Rosenberg
Chateau cemetery and extension were sometimes referred to as 'Red Lodge'.
Berks Cemetery Extension now contains 876 First World War burials.