Reginald John (Jack) Bishop

Memorial: Hill - St Michael's Church

Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private 3227 T.F.

Parents: Martha Webb and stepfather Frederick Henry Bishop

Home address: Parkmill Cottages, Oldbury Lane, Thornbury, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Farm Labourer

Date of birth: 1893

Place of birth: Tresham, Northamptonshire

Date of death: 09/04/1917

Buried/Commemorated at: Hebuterne Military Cemetery, France

Age: 24

Further information:

Bronze Tablet and Wooden Memorial Board

Reginald John Bishop, known as Jack, was born Reginald John Webb. His birth was registered in the Chipping Sodbury district in 1893. He is listed under that name in the 1901 census when he was living in Yate with his mother Martha, his sister Olive Webb, his stepfather, Frederick Bishop, and a new baby brother. The 1911 census shows 17 year old Jack living with the Bishops and a number of younger siblings in Morton Lane, Thornbury. Both Reginald and his stepfather were farm labourers. In 1912 the family moved to Parkmill Cottages, Oldbury Lane, Thornbury

Jack enlisted in 1st/4th (City of Bristol) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment at Queen’s Road, Clifton, Bristol, using the surname Bishop. He arrived in Boulogne on 31st March 1915. He kept a diary which included references to the weather and to the problems he had in keeping clean. On one occasion he ‘marched 14 miles for a bath, had to wipe on our shirts, no soap’. One entry read ‘Sunday afternoon went to trenches again, releaved Warwicks [sic], got shelled going in, had a hot time'

Jack was serving in No 5 Platoon, "B" Company, when he was Killed in Action. It was reported that he was on duty with a Lewis Gun Section when he was shot through the eye by a sniper’s bullet. His commanding officer wrote to tell his mother that he was ‘one of the hardest working and most cheerful men in the Platoon and a very good shot with the Lewis Gun which he proved one day when a German working party was seen after a lift in the fog’

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

Thornbury Roots Website: Thornbury and District Museum Research Group and Forces War Records