Arthur Turner. Died 26 August 1914
Arthur was born in 1882 to father, Abraham and mother Sarah in Binfield, Berkshire. He was the fourth born and had ten siblings, six brothers and four sisters. His younger brother Charles was also to be lost in the war. By the age of 27, Arthur had become a builder’s labourer and was single. His parents lived at Queens Terrace, off Rose Street in 1911.
Arthur joined the Royal Berkshire Regiment, possibly prior to the war as he was enlisted into the 1st Battalion, (which was made up of regulars). He was soon on his way to the French / Belgium borders.
Sadly, Arthur was one of the first in the war to be killed having lost his life on the 28th August 1914. The first British soldier killed in the war was only seven days earlier (Private John Parr, August 21). The Royal Berks had suffered their own casualty on the 21st too. It was Private James Hollingsworth, a bandsman who had been shot in the gut by one of his own men.
The action was the ‘Retreat from Mons’. It was the start of the war and the end of lancers and horse charges, the kharki clad BEF; the shock of the reality of war, of constant marching interrupted only by enemy fire. Regiments mixed up with other regiments, soldiers mixed up on roads swelled by civilians escaping from the bullets and bombs. Up rose the idea from the British that the French had abandoned them, not knowing that for the loss of the 1,600 British soldiers, the French had already lost 250,000 of their own casualties.
Note: Corporal Bernard John Denore, 1st Royal Berks Regt., 6th Brigade, 2nd Division, I Army Corps provides a stunning description of the action surrounding Arthur’s death
Note: John Chapman, local historian for the Royal Berks also takes us on a step by step journey through the the 1st Battalion experience and the final week of Arthur’s life.
Name: TURNER, ARTHUR
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment/Service: Royal Berkshire Regiment
Unit Text: 1st Bn.
Age: 32
Date of Death: 26/08/1914
Service No:7768
Additional information: Son of Mr. Abraham and Mrs. Sarah Turner, of 65, Langborough Rd., Wokingham, Berkshire.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Cemetery: MAROILLES COMMUNAL CEMETERY
65, Langborough Rd., Wokingham, Berkshire. (1914)
Honey Hill, Wokingham (1901)
Queens Terrace, Rose Street (1911). Now a car park.