18154 L/Cpl Herbert Skingley, 1st Bn, Royal Berks

18154 Lance-Corporal Herbert Skingley of the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment, died on the 27th March 1917. Herbert, 29 years old at the time of his death, enlisted at Chelmsford, Essex and was living in the nearby village of Highwood at the time. His number dates to May 1915 and he arrived in France on the 16th of December that year.

Herbert's 1915 Star was originally issued in the name of SKINGSLEY but was returned and re-issued in May 1920. He was the son of George and Martha Skingley and is buried in St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen. It appears likely that he died in a hospital in Rouen, probably as a result of sickness.

There are three Skingley men on the war memorial at the parish church of St Paul in Highwood. Essex. I know this to be so because I took a ride out there this morning. I picked Herbert's name completely at random today and it was just pure coincidence that he happens to have lived a couple of miles from where I am currently staying. This being the case, I thought the least I could do would be to visit his local church and try and find him - on this, the 93rd anniversary of his death.

The war memorial at St Paul's is a wooden one, probably modern, and commemorates eleven men of the parish who died during the 1914-1918 war. The Skingley men are given only one initial each: H, E and W.

W Skingley is 250892 Private William Stephen Skingley who died of wounds on the 4th November 1917 whilst serving with the 5th Battalion, The Essex Regiment. His number indicates that he joined the battalion in May 1915. He was the son of Henry and Lucy Skingley, of Montpeilers Cottages, Writtle, and is buried in the Deir El Belah War Cemetery in Israel (Palestine, at the time). He was 22 years old. Soldiers Died in the Great War records that he was living at Highwood and enlisted there.

E Skingley is Ernest Skingley who was the son of Walter Skingley of Highwood, and the husband of husband of Edith Maud Pledger (formerly Skingley) of 3 The Avenue, Woodford Green, Loughton, Essex. Ernest was a sailor, SS/108634 Stoker 1st Class, who died on the 2nd October 1917 whilst serving aboard HMS Brisk, an Acorn Class destroyer. He is also commemorated on the Naval memorial at Chatham.

I presume the three men are cousins.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission