Grantley Reginald King

Memorial: Thornbury - St Mary's Church

Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment

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

Rank and number: Lance Corporal 22627

Parents: James and Emily Ann King

Home address: Grovesend, Thornbury, Bristol

Date of birth: 1897

Place of birth: Berkeley, Glos

Date of death: 19/05/1916

Buried/Commemorated at: Faubourg D’Amiens Cemetery (Ref. I. B. 43.), Arras

Age: 18

Further information:

Bronze Tablet and Wooden Memorial Board.

Grantley Reginald King was born in 1897 in Woodford, Berkeley, and had three older siblings, a brother and two sisters. In 1901 his widowed mother, Emily Ann, was working at home in Woodford as a dressmaker. In 1909 Emily married Oliver Kingscott of Tytherington, who worked as a stone quarryman. By the time of the 1911 census the family were living at Grovesend, Thornbury. Grantley’s surname was given as Kingscott.

Grantley enlisted in Bristol into Bristol’s Own, 12th Battalion, Glosters under the surname King. The Battalion arrived in France in late November 1915, as part of the 32nd Division. In December it was moved into 5th Division. The idea was to strengthen the newly arrived and inexperienced volunteer formations by mixing in some regular army troops. However, by this time many of the regular battalions, having lost numerous men, were themselves largely made up of new recruits.

In March 1916 the 5th Division took over a section of front line between St Laurent Blangy and the southern edge of Vimy Ridge, in front of Arras. Situated a short distance from the German lines, the town of Arras was a regular target for the enemy’s artillery. St Laurent Blangy lies on the north-east side of Arras and, until April 1917, was very close to the Allied front line. Vimy is a little further north. While there were no major actions at that time, there would have been constant shelling and the risk of sniper fire whilst on duty in the trenches. There were many trench raids and mining activities in the front lines..

Grantley was serving as a Lance Corporal when he was Killed in Action, aged only 18.

The Commonwealth section of Faubourg D’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, was begun in March 1916, behind the already established French military cemetery. It was enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields and from two nearby cemeteries. The cemetery contains over 2,650 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, including Grantley King.

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

Thornbury Roots Website. Thornbury and District Museum Research Group. Forces War Records and the CWGC