Walter Edward Devonshire

Gunner Walter Devonshire enlisted in Hucknall and served with 'C' battery 83rd brigade Royal Field Artillery. He landed in France on 26th July 1915 and he was killed in action by German shellfire on 5th May 1916 and is buried in Suzanne Communal Cemetery on the Somme.

Gunner Walter Devonshire, ‘C’ Battery, 83rd Brigade Royal Field Artillery, wrote home with details of his life in France in a letter published on 9th December 1915 in the Hucknall Dispatch :- “Well, I think the majority of us are enjoying good health, and taking things as Tommy should, and are very happy in our new surroundings . We are in a fine “dug-out,” and have good songs at night when we are not in action. Our instrumentalist gives selections on the dug-out “piano,” otherwise known as the “mouth organ,” but the most popular song is undoubtedly the latest version of that well-known song:- “Sing me to sleep where the bullets fall, “Let me forget the war and all; “Damp is our dug-out, cold are our feet, “No matter what happens we are soon fast asleep. [2] “There is also the beautiful scenery and the grand sunset, which makes life worth living, and also makes one proud to be a Tommy. Our life here is quite different to that at home, and our food is not so bad, but there is one thing that always starts favourite, and that is jam, commonly known amongst the boys as “Possy,” and is followed home by that rank outsider, “Bully Beef.” “Well, putting all jokes on one side, we think that if some of the slackers saw the ruins out here, they would not hesitate a minute, but would come out and toe the line, and help our brave lads at the front.” An article published in the Hucknall Dispatch on 18th May 1916 :- “The third [photograph] is Gunner W. E. Devonshire, a son of Mrs. W. Elkington, who lived at Brickyard road, Hucknall. He was 23 years of age, and met his death, along with two others, [1] the result of a German shell. He was unmarried, and worked at the Colliery before he joined the Army in January of last year in company with Driver Richard Bodsworth, [2] whose sad duty it has been to home the mournful intelligence. He has been in France about ten months. He always wrote cheerfully of his new sphere of late, and only hoped others would “toe the line” to quell the Hun. “It may be mentioned that Gunner Devonshire is the first Hucknall man in the Royal Field Artillery to meet his death in France. Others in that regiment to serve their country were Richard Porter, [3] who died in Egypt, and Horace Wardall, [4] who died in Norwich.” 1] Gnrs. John Robert Bishop from Killingsholme, Lincolnshire, and Frederick William Barnett from Bakewell, Derbyshire. [2] Gnr. Richard Bodsworth, “C” Battery, 83rd Brigade Royal Field Artillery, was killed in action on 25th October 1917. He is buried in Minty Farm Cemetery, St. Jean-les-Ypres, Belgium. [3] The only Richard Porter from Hucknall who died in the war was Pte. Richard Porter who was killed in action on 7th January 1916 at Gallipoli. He is commemorated on the Helles Memorial. [4] Bdr. Horace Wardall, “B” Battery, 96th Brigade Royal Field Artillery, died of injuries sustained in an accident on 9th December 1915. Buried in Norwich Cemetery, he was the 21 year-old son of Alfred and Hannah Wardle, of Hucknall. Above is courtesy of Jim Grundy and his facebook pages Small Town Great War Hucknall 1914-1918