No.22985, Private, Walter Ernest HALLS
Aged 23
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Walter Ernest Halls was born in Drinkstone (1st qtr 1893 Stow 4a:817), son of Charles Louis and Emily HALLS (née HOLLAND)
1901 census...Aged 8, he was at The Green, Drinkstone with his father Charles L. HALLS [35] grocer/shopkeeper born Thurston; his mother Emily [37] born Ipswich; his brother Bertie C. [10]; his sisters Ada E. [6], Edith M. [5], Florence A. [2] and Elsie E. [1]. All the children were born in Drinkstone. 1911 census...Aged 18, assisting in the business, he was at The Green, Drinkstone with his parents; brothers Bertie (assisting in the business), John [6] and George [4]; sisters Ada, Edith, Florence, Elsie and Mary [9]. His mother had lost one of her ten children. On the pension card his parents were at The Green, Drinkstone. |
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He enlisted in Bury St.Edmunds. He died at No.18 General Hospital, Etaples, France from wounds sustained sometime in the early days of the
first battle of the Somme.
The 1st day of the Battle of the Somme (July 1st, 1916) was the worst day in the history the British Army, 60,000 casualties of which around 20,000 were killed. The 8th Battalion were in Reserve to 55th Brigade, awaiting the capture of Montauban that first day. That being accomplished they escaped the worst of the carnage, being employed mainly carrying supplies to the front line.
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