Arthur William Budds

A Private with the 2nd Battalion, Arthur died on 23rd of September 1918 aged 20. 

Arthur was born at Lowestoft on 28 January 1898, a son of Walter Alexander and Matilda Ann Budds. He was baptised at Saint John’s Church on 6 March 1898 and his family lived at 5 Norwich Road. In 1901 his family lived at 57 Stanley Street, and this was Arthur’s home for the rest of his life. Arthur was a pupil at Hervey Street School and then joined Saint John’s School on 1 February 1905. In 1911 Arthur was a shoemaker’s errand boy.   

Arthur volunteered and enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft. He joined the Suffolk Regiment. He was posted to France on 19 January to join the 2nd Battalion, later he served with the 9th Battalion, then the 12th Battalion. He was wounded on two occasions and his name appears in the official casualty list, the War Office Daily List, on 28 October 1915 and 8 March 1918. By September 1918 Arthur had returned to the 2nd Battalion.

On 23 September 1918 the 2nd Battalion were involved in company training at Morchies-Beaumetz. The battalion war diary records that platoon commanders reconnoitred assembly positions and each platoon spent 15 minutes inspecting a model of the area of attack. During the day there were 14 casualties, but the diary offers no explanation of what happened to any of them. 

Arthur was killed on 23 September. He was buried at Beaumetz-le-Cambrai with two other men of his unit, 12635 Private Walter Hall, who also came from Lowestoft, and 17128 Private Hawes, who were both also killed on that day.  

Arthur's sister, Edith Walker, died in 1942 during an air raid.