Reginald Curtis

A Private with the 2nd Battalion, Reginald died on 17th March 1917.

Reginald was born at Norwich on 24 May 1896, a son of Frederick and Clara Curtis. He was baptised at Saint Andrews Church, Eaton, Norwich, on 26 July 1896, and his family lived at Eaton Park, where his father was a market gardener. In 1901 their address was 2 Eaton Park, Norwich. By 1911 they were living at 11 Surrey Street, Norwich, and Reginald was a telegraph messenger for the General Post Office. Later his parents lived at 26 Rowington Road, Norwich.

In July 1914 Reginald was appointed postman at Lowestoft. 

Reginald enlisted in the Army. He joined the Suffolk Regiment and served, initially, with the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion, service number 1078. He was posted to the 4th Battalion in France, service number 43712, and then to the 2nd Battalion and served with C Company.  

Colonel Murphy’s ‘The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927’ has the following account of the 2nd Battalion’s attack at Serre on 13 November 1916:

At 5 a.m. the first wave floundered forward into No Man’s Land – in reality, a sea of mud in which movement was barely possible. Three quarters of an hour later the attack began. The mist which hung about the low ground thickened as the smoke of the barrage increased, making direction extremely difficult to maintain. Within a very short time all the officers in the leading companies had fallen, and owing to lack of leaders no real progress was made. In spite of the atrocious weather conditions prevailing, portions of the leading Suffolk companies actually reached the German second line. But all was in vain, and the battalion having been reorganised in its original front line, remained there for the rest of the day, marching back to Courcelles the next morning. Their casualties numbered 272, including eleven officers.  

Reginald was taken prisoner at Serre on 13 November 1916. Reginald died at the reserve hospital at the school in Julich, Germany, and it seems that he was buried at Julich Military Cemetery.

In 1922 all of the burials at smaller British cemeteries in the Cologne area were concentrated at Cologne. 

Reginald's name is recorded in the General Post Office Memorial Book. See GPO War Heroes