Bertie Margetts
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Bertie Margetts was the son of William Margetts and Ann Elizabeth Allen who married in the Radford registration district in 1877. Their children included: Lily (b.1881), Thomas William (b.1885), George Edward S. (b.1886), Amy (b.1888), Bertie (b.1893), Kate (b.1895), Claude (b.1899) and Harold (b.1902). The Margetts family lived at: 4 Fairfield Street, Radford [C,1881]; not listed in C1891; 18 King’s Meadow Road, Meadows [C.1901]; 15 Clapham Street, Radford [C.1911]. William Margetts, a hamper maker, died at Nottingham, aged 68, in 1923. His wife, Ann Elizabeth, died at Nottingham, aged 74, in 1935.
71058 Private Bertie Margetts enlisted in 2/7th Battalion Sherwood Foresters with the number 3116. He is listed on the medal index card as going to France on 28 June 1915 but this is incorrect as the 2/7th were still in the UK at this time. He therefore must have gone to Gallipoli with 9th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment) with the number 71058. The battalion held a Brigade front in France during July 1917 under sustained enemy attack. On 21 July the enemy heavily shelled the support line near Hill Top Farm with High Explosives and Gas. Bertie was killed in action and is buried in the Battlefield Cemetery at La Belle Alliance, grave C.5.
La Belle Alliance Cemetery was named after a small farmhouse that stood nearby. It has 60 graves of which 10 are to 'unknowns' It is probable that some of these are 9th battalion men. Thirteen men of the battalion are buried there as well. The headstones have two or three names on them. John Morse
