GARDNER Maurice Reginald George

Maurice was the younger son of Mr and Mrs H. Gardner of Coromandel, Milton Road, Weston-Super-Mare and he attended Worcester Royal Grammar School from 1909 to 1914.  He was a keen amateur sportsman and an outstanding scholar, winning a Demyship in mathematics at Magadalen College, Oxford, the Open Goldsmith Exhibition in Mathematics and Divinity and later gaining a First Class Honours in Mathematics.

He enlisted as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry prior to gaining a commission into the Worcestershire Regiment.  He was wounded in action in 1917.  In May 1918 the 1st Battalion of the regiment were sent into the trenches on the River Aisne.  To date this had been a quiet sector but the German Army in a desperate attempt to win the war launched its final offensive against the unsuspecting Battalion.  With very little warning, the Worcester men were all but annihilated during the ensuing hours.  Second Lieutenant Gardner was one of the many casualties as one by one the platoon posts were overwhelmed.

Source for additional information: In Dedication to a Future World by Mark Rogers, 1999.

Maurice Gardner has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on Soissons Memorial.