Wilfred Joseph Sterry

A Private with the 1/4th Battalion, Wilfred died on 7th of February 1916 at the age of 21. 

Wilfred was born at Lowestoft on 15 August 1894, a son of Thomas John and Jessie Sterry. Wilfred’s mother died in 1897. In 1899 his family lived at 95 George Street, Great Yarmouth. From 29 May 1899 Wilfred attended Northgate Infants School, Great Yarmouth. From 11 November 1900 Wilfred was living in Lowestoft and he attended the Wesleyan School. In 1901 he lived with his grandparents at Enfield House, Trafalgar Street. On 8 February 1904 he became a pupil at Saint John’s School, Lowestoft. By 1911 Wilfred’s father, and step-mother Mary, were living at 4 Suffolk Road, Ipswich. Wilfred was a nephew of Alice Beamish who, in 1911, lived at 63 Trafalgar Street, Lowestoft. 

In 1911 Wilfred lived with his grandparents, John and Martha Catt, at 31 Borough Road, Ipswich, and Wilfred was a lift attendant. 

Wilfred volunteered and enlisted in the Army at Ipswich in 1912. He joined the Suffolk Regiment, number 1356, and served with the 1/4th Battalion. Wilfred was mobilized when the war began and he arrived in France with the Battalion on 8 November 1914. 

It seems that Wilfred was wounded at Loos: the Battalion moved to Loos on 30 January 1916 and was shelled heavily on January 31, February 2nd and 3rd. The nature of his wounds are not known and the various sources offer different reasons for his death, for example shock, as the result of wounds. However, the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects states that he died from meningitis at the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester. 

An account of Wilfred’s funeral appeared in the East Anglian Daily Times, 14 February 1916, page 8:

MILITARY FUNERAL AT LOWESTOFT

On Saturday afternoon, in the presence of a considerable number of people and with full military honours, the funeral of Private Wilfred J. Sterry, 4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, aged 21, eldest son of Mr. Thomas J. Sterry, of 67, Finchley Road, Ipswich, took place at Lowestoft Cemetery. The deceased died at the Royal Infirmary, Manchester, of shock, the results of wounds received at Loos. The military attended in considerable numbers, and provided the bearers, firing party, and buglers to sound the “Last Post”.

The young soldier, who had been at the front fourteen months, and in the Territorials four years, was a native of Lowestoft, his home when there being with Mr. and Mrs. Beamish, of Trafalgar Street, but he had spent some years at the Orwell Works, Ipswich, where his father had been employed for many years. While at the front the deceased was attached as telegraphist to the Jullunder Brigade of the R.E., and had a narrow escape at Neuve Chapelle, where he was recommended for the D.C.M. for repairing a wire under fire. He received his wound, which has now proved fatal, the day before he was supposed to have leave. 

Among the mourners were his father and brother (the latter a Corporal in the 4th Suffolks). Mr. Catt and Mrs. Catt (uncle and grandmother), Mr. and Mrs. Connelley (nephew and aunt), Mr. and Mrs. Beamish (uncle and aunt), Miss Sterry, and Mrs. Catt (aunt). Among the floral tributes (in addition to those from the family) was one from Mr. Newman (Dovercourt), and another, under glass, from the workmen in the lawnmower department of the Orwell Works. 

NOTE: 
The Jullunder Brigade was actually the infantry formation of which the 1/4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment was part between November 1914 and November 1915.