Arthur Herbert Saunders grave in High Wycombe Cemetery
Arthur Herbert Saunders 1895 - 1915
I am Arthur Herbert Saunders but I was registered as Herbert Arthur in 1895 in High Wycombe and I appear as this on several official records, but I preferred to be called Arthur. My parents are John & Louise. In 1901 we were living at Totteridge, High Wycombe and my father was a groom. I was only 6yrs old back then and I was the second oldest. My siblings were: Wilfrid aged 8yrs, Eva (Evelyn) aged 4yrs and Constance aged 3yrs. By 1911 we were living at 7, Bowdreys Lane, I had another sibling, and my father was now working as a cowman. I was, by then, 16 years old and I'd become a furniture machinist finding employment with Howland & Sons, Chair Manufacturers.
When war broke out in 1914 I enlisted at Reading. I was 19 years old by then and I had already served for three years with the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry
(Militia) - that's what you'd call the territorial army today - before joining the King’s Royal Rifles in 1914. My name appeared on the High Wycombe Roll of Volunteers in the Bucks Free Press edition of 18th September 1914. I had only been in France for 6 months when on May 9th 1915 I suffered a bullet wound in action and was taken to the nearest dressing station. I was then conveyed to the Queen’s Hospital, Birmingham, where I died on May 30th aged 20 years old.
My funeral was a semi-military affair. The Wycombe Volunteer Defence Corps led the cortege, three volleys were fired over my coffin and the “Last Post” was played. There were many beautiful floral tributes from my family and friends.
Soldier’s Effects records show that my card case, correspondence and photographs were passed to my father after my death.
My name appears on the High Wycombe Roll of Honour and I am remembered on the High Wycombe Memorial Plaque.
My cousin, Harold Leslie Priest, also died in WW1 and is remembered on a family grave in this same cemetery.
Researched by Ruth Bowler, Flackwell Local Area History Group
