Picture of Uncle Willie

Albert Edward Reynolds, uncle of the contributor, was born in Oxford. He had 3 sisters and was killed in action in the 1914-1918 war. He was aged 17-18 years old and had been in the Army for about 2 months. || Photograph (framed) of Albert Reynolds. Dead roll? of Albert Reynolds.

Photograph || Sapper 99797 Percy Massey was my granddad's brother, before the war they lived together with their parents Arthur & Ann and their other brother and a sister in Disley, Cheshire. Percy was born in 1896 and by 1911 aged 14 he was working as a milkboy with his father Arthur who was a cowman on a farm on the estate of Lord Newton at Lyme Park in Disley. About May 1915 Percy volunteered for the Army and, after training, in November 1915 he was sent to France with the 201st Field Company Royal Engineers. Percy was involved in the Royal Engineers preparations for the Battle of the Somme. On the 2nd of July his unit was given orders to advance and repair trenches and barbed wire entanglements damaged or destroyed by the earlier artillery bombardment. The 201st moved up to their position at Montauban de Picardie but were unable to undertake any work repairing the defences because of heavy German shelling. On 2nd July one officer and four other ranks from the 201st Coy RE, including Uncle Percy, were killed in action at Montauban. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. He was 19 years of age. || || A family photograph of Percy Massey in his Royal Engineer's uniform || Photograph