Archibald Joseph William Olds

Memorial: Kingswood - Holy Trinity Church

Regiment: Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry

Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private 37320

Parents: Mary Ann and Arthur Gerald Olds

Home address: The Flowerpot, High Street, Kingswood, Bristol

Date of birth: 1899

Place of birth: Kingswood, Bristol

Date of death: 17/04/1918

Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site but commemorated at Loos Memorial, Pas de Calais, France and Kingswood Holy Trinity Memorial

Age: 19

Further information:

Archibald was born and raised in Kingswood the youngest child of five with three sisters and a brother. His father was a licensee and most of the family including Archibald’s mother, helped out in the family business until his father died when Archibald was 13 years old. Archibald attended The Merchant Venturers School in Bristol and in 1915-1916 was a Corporal in the cadet corps.

Archibald served with "D" Company, 1st/5th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.

Archibald would have been called up on his 18th birthday and sent to join his regiment in France to fight in various actions on the Western Front including Ypres. Archibald lost his life in the First Battle of Kemmel (17–19 April 1918) less than a year later. Kemmel was one of the battles of the Battle of the Lys (7 – 29 April 1918) and during the three weeks that it lasted, there were 119,000 allied casualties. Archibald was originally listed as missing and although his body was never found, he was presumed killed in action. Loos Memorial, where he is remembered, is located at Loos-en-Gohelle a village 5 kilometres north-west of Lens and commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave, who fell in an area around the River Lys, from the first day of the Battle of Loos to the end of the war.

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/