Chester Harry Wright

A Lance Corporal with 2/1st Buckinghamshire Battalion, Chester died on 19th of July 1916 at the age of 20.

Chester was born at Lowestoft in 1896, a son of George and Mary Ann Wright. He was baptised at Saint Margaret's Church, Lowestoft, on 17 July 1896. His family had lived at 34 Tennyson Road but in 1901 they were living at 7 Lovewell Road, Kirkley, Lowestoft. By 1911 they had moved back to 34 Tennyson Road and Chester worked as a baker's assistant. 

Chester volunteered to join the Army and he enlisted at Marshchapel, Lincolnshire, presumably he had been working there at the time. He served initially with the Suffolk Regiment, number 2262; possibly with the 2/6th Battalion. Later he was transferred to the 2/1st Buckinghamshire Battalion of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, number 5316.

The 2/1st battalion landed in France on 24 May 1916 as part of the 184th Brigade in the 61st Division. The battalion had their first experience in the trenches at Faquissart on 11 June 1916 and the battalion suffered its first casualties almost immediately. 

By mid-July 1916 the Germans had withdrawn personnel from the Faquissart sector in order to reinforce their divisions on the Somme and it was decided that this gave a good prospect for a successful attack. The attack had been scheduled for 16 July but had to be pushed back. On 18 July shells from the British bombardment fell short and 78 men of the 2/1st Battalion were gassed. 

On 19 July 1916 the 2/1st Battalion were tasked with attacking the trenches from the Faquissart-Trivelet Road to Cordonerie Farm. The bombardment was very intense and within the first few minutes the battalion lost 100 men due to shell-fire: thus only 20 officers and 622 men were available for the attack. The attack met with heavy resistance and few men reached the German lines. The battalion suffered 75% casualties amongst the officers and 49% among the men, including 65 men missing.

Chester was among the missing and his name appears in the list of missing soldiers in the official casualty list dated 22 August 1916. Later he was presumed to have been killed in action on 19 July 1916. 

See http://www.lightbobs.com/1916-21st-bucks-fromelles.html for further information about the 2/1st Buckinghamshire Battalion on 19 July 1916 (link courtesy of Tanya Marshall). 

Note that Chester's service number is given as 267082 on official casualty records. He was allocated this number in March 1917 as part of the renumbering of the Territorial Force. The reason he was posthumously given a new number is that, at that time, the Army had not concluded that he had been killed some months before. 

After the war Chester's family lived at 10 Kendal Road, Lowestoft.