{"id":853,"date":"2014-11-05T23:47:09","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T23:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plattwarmemorial.org\/?page_id=853"},"modified":"2024-10-08T15:01:05","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T15:01:05","slug":"edward-west-1896-1916","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/world-war-one\/edward-west-1896-1916\/","title":{"rendered":"Edward West (1896 &#8211; 1916)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-three\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:31px;margin-left:0px;\"><h3 class=\"title-heading-left fusion-responsive-typography-calculated\" style=\"margin:0;--fontSize:24;line-height:1.5;\">Pte Edward West (1896 &#8211; 1916)<\/h3><\/div><span class=\" fusion-imageframe imageframe-dropshadow imageframe-1 hover-type-zoomin\" style=\"-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);margin-right:25px;float:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/edward_west_large.jpg\" class=\"fusion-lightbox\" data-rel=\"iLightbox[e810f884fe811c2b8c9]\" data-title=\"edward_west_large\" title=\"edward_west_large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"207\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/edward_west-207x300.jpg\" alt class=\"img-responsive wp-image-8917\"\/><\/a><\/span><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Edward West was born in Platt on 28 April 1896<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">the first of three children of\u00a0Arthur Charles West, a flour miller\u2019s clerk from Pangbourne, and his wife, Clara (n\u00e9e Dann.)<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> In 1901, the West family lived on Godstone Road (now Maidstone Road), probably at Mill House or Mill Cottages, and Arthur worked for his uncle Frank West, who ran Platt Mill. Although he lived in Kent, Arthur retained strong ties to his hometown in Berkshire, where the Wests were among the oldest inhabitants, as Edward and his younger brother William were both christened there and not locally in Platt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When old enough, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">both boys were sent<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> to boarding school in Herne Bay at\u00a0a college\u00a0run by Eustace Turner (an Oxford graduate), who had inherited it from his parents. It also appears that Edward\u2019s sister Mary may have <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">been privately educated<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, too, as she does not appear on the registers for Platt School.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">By the summer of 1914, Edward\u2019s family had returned to Pangbourne and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">were living<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0near the River Pang at Mill House, an old Georgian property built in the early eighteenth century. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Based on his service number,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Edward enlisted in Reading on 26 August 1914.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> He joined the 5th (Service) Battalion, Princess Charlotte of Wales\u2019s (Royal Berkshire Regiment), one of many new battalions formed after Lord Kitchener\u2019s national <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">appeal for volunteers<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Initially based at Shorncliffe, the recruits moved to Folkestone in January 1915 and to Malplaquet Barracks in Aldershot in February, forming part of the 35th Brigade, 12th Division.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">During the evening of 30 May, the battalion entrained in Aldershot for Folkestone and sailed for Boulogne, where they arrived <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">in the early hours of<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> the following day.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> After training in Armenti\u00e8res, Edward\u2019s unit moved to the Ploegsteert (<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">known as<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Plugstreet by the troops) sector in mid-June, where they experienced their first taste of trench warfare. For the remainder of the summer, the Berkshires <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">found themselves alternating<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> between the front and reserve lines. At the Battle of Loos, they were employed in diversionary tactics some distance north of the battlefield.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On 13 October, Edward went into action when\u00a0the\u00a0Berkshires took part in an assault on the Hohenzollern Redoubt and captured Gun Trench and the southwestern face of the Hulluch Quarries. Battalion casualties that day numbered 149, with almost 60 killed or missing and others dying of wounds in the following days. Edward survived the assault and, by Christmas, was based in the B\u00e9thune area.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On 19 January 1916, the battalion\u00a0began a further <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">period of training<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in \u2018Open Warfare\u2019 at Busnes before returning to the Loos sector on 12 February <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">and eventually based<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in trenches just south of Auchy by the end of March. On 1 April, while he was cleaning his rifle at the end of a sap (a short trench running into No Man\u2019s Land from the front line used as a listening post), Edward was shot through the head by a sniper and died instantly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Lieutenant Edwards, who commanded Edward\u2019s platoon, wrote to Mr &amp; Mrs West that their son had\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u2018always done his duty cheerfully and without a grumble \u2013 often under very trying circumstances.\u2019<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Corporal R. F. Sparkes also wrote to Edward\u2019s parents informing them that\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u2018he was respectfully buried by his comrades.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> We all feel deeply sorry, for he was a good <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">soldier,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> and one we could ill afford to lose.\u2019<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Edward was just 19 when he died, and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">his body was taken away<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> for burial in the British Cemetery at Vermelles. Shortly after his parents received the news, the bells in Pangbourne parish church rang out a muffled peal out of respect for their esteemed fellow bellringer<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, and in<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> 1918, a brass tablet in memory of their son <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was posthumously erected<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in the church by Arthur and Clara.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Despite not living in Platt for <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">some<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> years, Edward still had relatives in the village, most notably his father\u2019s aunt Mary, who was married to Percy Minter. After the war, Percy became a member of the War Memorial Executive Committee, and so it is probable that this connection resulted in Edward\u2019s inclusion on the Platt War Memorial.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-853","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10439,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/853\/revisions\/10439"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}