L/10382 Private Timothy Peskett of the 1st Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment, died of wounds on the 24th March 1915. His entry in De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour reads:
PESKETT, TIMOTHY, Private No. 10382 1st Battn, Royal West Kent Regiment, s[on] of George Peskett of 12 Queen Street, East Greenwich, S.E. Served with the Expeditionary Force in France; died of wounds 24th March 1915.
Pages from Timothy Peskett's service record also survive and the following information is taken from this.
Timothy enlisted with the Royal West Kent Regiment's Special Reserve at Woolwich on the 14th January 1914. He declared his age as 17 years and 126 days and gave his trade as "labourer in cable works" and his place of birth as Cork. He was given the number 8946.
Timothy's time with the 3rd Royal West Kent Regiment was short-lived however and on the 15th June 1914 he decided that life in the army suited him and signed on at Maidstone as a career soldier with the regular battalions. He was now 17 years and 272 days old.
Timothy's next of kin was recorded as his father - George Cornelius - and mother - Hannah Peskett. An older brother - George Patrick - and two younger brothers - Michael Frederick and Patrick William - are also recorded. In fact, Timothy had other siblings as well. Frederick and William Peskett would have been about ten years and seven years old in 1914. Two sisters, Eileen and Theresa - would have been about three years and one year old respectively. After his death, Timothy's mother would give birth to two more children: a girl, Mary, in 1916 and a son who she would name Timothy, in about 1918.
At the time of his enlistment in the special reserve, Timothy was described as five feet, three and a half inches tall, weighing 98 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. His religion is recorded as "Church of England".
Having attested with the regular army, Timothy remained at the Royal West Kent Regimental depot until the 8th July 1914 when he was posted to the 1st Battalion. He was posted to the 3rd Battalion on the 19th August 1914 - presumably because he was still under eighteen years old - and remained with the battalion until the 6th December that year. He was posted to the 1st Battalion the same day and sailed for France on the 7th.
Timothy Peskett died of wounds at the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station in Belgium and on the 2nd May 1919, Hannah Peskett wrote to the military authorities asking where her son was buried. She received a reply on the 9th May informing her that he was buried in Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery.
Hannah Peskett lost two other sons in the years to follow. Nineteen year old Michael Peskett, a rifleman with the King's Royal Rifle Corps, was killed in action on the 28th August 1918. He is buried in Sucrerie Cemetery at Ablain-St Nazaire. Twenty-seven year old George Patrick Peskett, who had won the Military Medal, and who had served with the Royal West Kent Regiment since 1911, died in England on the 13th March 1919. He is buried in Greenwich Cemetery. Michael and Timothy Peskett are both commemorated in Ireland's World War 1 Casualty Roll (above).
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
Sources:
Ancestry (MIC, De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, Ireland Roll of Honour)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
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