WARNER Arthur Edward

Appears on the memorial under Soldiers 1917 with the information: Sergt. July 25

Arthur Warner was born in Blockley in 1888, the son of a plasterer and later self-employed slater and plasterer.  He was home until 1901, but by 1911 he had left home and the village and was lodging at the inn in a village near Tunbridge Wells in Kent and working as a gardener.  In 1914, soon after the outbreak of World War 1, he was living in Penhurst, near Tonbridge, Kent, when he enlisted in Tonbridge as a volunteer into the 7th Battalion of the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment.  This regiment was formed in September 1914 and after training deployed to France on 27 July 1915. Arthur was with them so he was clearly a volunteer.

A few of Arthur’s personal documents have survived, of varying legibility.  He was wounded in the arm in July 1916 and spent three months in a hospital, probably in Manchester.  He spent a little more time in the UK before returning to France in May 1917. He reached the rank of Sergeant.

Arthur married in late 1914, shortly after he enlisted.  The ceremony took place in the Marylebone district of London.  When Arthur was killed in 1917 his wife was living in this area of London, across Bayswater Road from Hyde Park.  A military document relating to a pension awarded to Arthur may suggest a child or children but details are unreadable. After the war Ethel may have moved to Essex.

Medical record:
Examination on [unreadable date] 1914 at Park House, Leigh, Kent
Arthur Edward Warner, born Blockley, Worcestershire, height 5ft 6in, weight 9st 2lb, chest 32½ – 35½ inches, age 27 years 190 days, occupation gardener, enlisted Tonbridge, [unreadable] day of September 1914

Medical form:
Inoculations at Purfleet 1 and 8 December 1914

Hospital Report:
Western General Hospital [?Manchester?], arrived 18/9/16, departed 14/[12]/16, stay of 89 days.  Wounded on 13/7/16 on the forearm ulnar aspect near elbow, down to muscle. Wound 2½ inches long, ulnar nerve injured.  9/[12]/16. wound quite healed. Has had massage and electricity for 2 months, hand still weak.

“Temporary” form:
3/4/17 posted Royal West Kent 3rd [Battalion], Sergeant, 23/5/17, posted British Expeditionary Force, Sergeant

Memo, date unreadable, possibly in July 1918, from Ministry of Pensions:
Widow to receive a pension of sixteen shillings and threepence a week for self and children from 11 July [year unreadable]

From the Medals Card and Regiment medals rolls:
Arthur E Warner, Royal West Kent Regiment, Private, B/1855; Sergeant GS/1855, Victory Medal and British War Medal, 1915 Star, France 26/7/15, killed in action 24/7/17

From Soldiers’ Effects:
Arthur Edward Warner, 7/Royal West Kent, Sergeant, 1855
£10 7s 5d plus £16 10s 0d War Gratuity to widow Ethel, sole legatee