Arthur Sidney Wiltshire
Memorial: South Gloucestershire war dead not on a local memorial
Regiment: Machine Gun Corps
Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Private 63337
Parents: Joel and Rosina Wiltshire
Marital status: Single
Home address: 2 Lodge Hill, Kingswood, Bristol
Date of birth: 1897
Place of birth: Fishponds, Bristol
Date of death: 05/04/1918
Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site. Commemorated at the Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. Not commemorated on a local memorial.
Age: 20
Further information:
Arthur was born in Fishponds, Bristol, the son of a bootmaker and a middle child of thirteen children with four sisters and eight brothers. Arthur's eldest brother Gilbert lost his life on war service, five months after Arthur.
The 37th Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps formed on 4th February 1916 and moved to 12th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps on 1st March 1918. Arthur died during the German Spring Offensive (21 March – 18 July 1918). The Offensive was a German failure, but it still resulted in over 850,000 allied casualties. Arthur's body was never found and his family were finally notified that he was presumed killed in action, ten months after he went missing. The Arras Memorial where he is remembered, commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7th August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/