Bertie William Lewis

Memorial: Wapley - St Peter's Church

Regiment: Canadian Infantry

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

Rank and number: Private (Service No. 58292)

Parents: Aaron and Harriet (Nee Packer) Lewis

Marital status: Single

Home address: Home Address: Weston, Ontario, Canada Lived: On the 1901 and 1911 Census, the family lived in Codrington Village.

Pre-war occupation: Labourer

Date of birth: 02/12/1885

Place of birth: Codrington

Date of death: 11/10/1918

Buried/Commemorated at: Niagara Cemetery, Iwuy, Nord, France

Age: 34

Further information:

Bertie William Lewis was born on 2/12/1885 and Baptised at St Peter Church, Wapley on 3/01/1886. His parents were Aaron and Harriet Lewis of Codrington and he was brother to Clara, Maurice, Arthur, William, Ellen, Alfred, Kate, Charles and Maud. Aaron Lewis was a farm labourer and had been born in Hinton. Both his birth registration and baptism were in the name of William Bertie, but confusingly his younger brother born a year later was named William Bateman Lewis, which probably meant Bertie was used as his first name from then on.

Bertie went to Canada probably prior to 1911 as he is not recorded on the 1911 Census. He was joined in Canada sometime before the war by his younger brother Charles. Bertie joined the 20th Battalion, Canadian Infantry in April 1915 and left for the UK in May 1915 before going to France with his unit in September 1915. He was wounded in 1916 and was Killed in Action on 11/10/1918.

Bertie W Lewis is remembered with his brother Arthur on the Wapley War Memorial Cross and Chipping Sodbury and District War Memorial Cottage Hospital board, now at Yate and District Heritage Centre, under Wapley.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

Yate and District Heritage Centre.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Findmypast (Soldiers Died during the Great War, 1901 & 1911 Census etc), Researcher John Davis.