WOOLFORD Wilfred Reginald

Wilfred Woolford was born at Reading in 1893.  Prior to the war he was employed as a boot shop assistant.  He enlisted at Birmingham and went to the Balkans on 13th July 1915.

Bromsgrove, Droitwich and Redditch Messenger, 11th September 1915:
Mr W Woolford of 77, High Street, Bromsgrove, has been informed that his son Lance-Corporal Reginald Woolford, 9th Royal Warwicks, has been wounded in the left hand in the fighting at the Dardanelles.  On the boat on which he proceeded to the Mediterranean, Lance-Corporal Woolford met a Bromsgrovian, who is serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps and it was this man who dressed his injuries and sent home the news of the casualty.  Before he enlisted, Woolford was the captain of the Birmingham City Wednesday Football Club.

Bromsgrove, Droitwich and Redditch Messenger, 19th May 1917:
Mr and Mrs Woolford of 77, High Street, Bromsgrove have this week received a notification from the War Office that their son Lance-Corporal Wilfred Reginald Woolford, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, who has been reported missing in the Dardanelles since August 10th 1915, has now been concluded by the Army Council to have been killed and that his death took place on that date.  The first intimation his parents received from anyone connected with the regiment was from the chaplain who wrote on January 30th 1916 stating he was afraid he could give no hope that their son was alive, as it was considered in view of the fierce nature of the fighting, that all men missing had been killed. Very few prisoners were taken on either side during the period 9th to 12th August 1915. Other letters were received in July last from friends of the deceased, but none would speak with certainty as to the fate of Lance-Corporal Woolford.  Deceased was 22years of age and single.  A brother of the deceased Private Albert Woolford is serving the colours in the A.S.C. Motor Transport Section.