From Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
Rifleman Walter Ernest Wicks { S/3364 } 9th Battalion Rifle Brigade who died on 3rd May 1917 Age 29.
{ Conflicting dates – 1915 on Essex Memorial Inscriptions Transcription, but military records state 1917 }
Remembered on the Arras Memorial.
Connection with Great Easton – wife lived in Great Easton ? There is a ‘Mrs. Wicks’ on the list of subscribers for the memorial; plus, although his sign-up papers say ‘No’ to the ‘Married’ question, it is circled, and ‘Yes’ has been pencilled in. Marriage records (First Quarter, 1915) show that Walter E WICKS married Lily BASS in Wycombe, Bucks.
Lily BASS – 1901 Census – aged 12 (b.1889); daughter of George and Katie [ Kattie ] Bass, at Radley’s End, Great Easton, Essex, and sister of Sidney Bass (also on War Memorial, who died on 16 October 1917).
From 1911 Census:
Walter Ernest Wicks – a gardener – son of Robert Henry Wicks, living at Rookshaw Cottage, Merstham, Surrey. Age last birthday 23 (born 1888, place of birth: St Lukes, London).
Lily Bass – a House Parlourmaid – living at Hillside, Whitehill, Bletchingley, Surrey (about four miles from Merstham).
From 1901 Census:
Walter Ernest Wicks – no trace on census returns for 1901.
Lily Bass, aged 12, living in Great Easton (sister of Sidney Bass, also commemorated on Great Easton War Memorial).
OTHER:
Soldiers died in the Great War 1914-19
Service number: S/3364
Birth place: St Luke’s, Middx.
Enlistment place: Westminster, Middlesex
Residence: City Road, London
Cause of death: Killed in action
Death day, month, year: 3rd May 1917
Death place & theatre of war:
Regiment: Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own)
From ‘List of Subscribers’ (to Great Easton War Memorial):
Bass, Mrs. and family
Wicks, Mrs.
Click here for CWG certificate for Walter Wicks
