First World War Stories

Below are some of the stories of our ‘fallen’ soldiers that we have discovered, with generous support from the men’s families, a local genealogist and a military historian. We are adding new stories all the time. The soldiers have been added in order of when they died.

PRIVATE WILFRED THOMAS SAVEGAR 

1st Battalion Berkshire Regiment. Soldier Number: 8113

He was our villages first casualty of war.

He was born on the 29th May 1887 in Dilwin, Herefordshire to Thomas and Elizabeth Savegar. His family were living at Peartree Cottage in Aston Tirrold by 1901. Known to his friends and family as Fred, he enlisted at Reading around 1906 for the Regular Army and joined the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment.The 1st Battalion was at Mandora Barracks, Aldershot when war was declared on the 4th August 1914. Fred departed for France on the 12th August 1914 and participated in the fighting withdrawal from Mons as part of 6th Brigade, 2nd Division.Fred was killed in action at Molenaarelsthoek in Flanders during The First Battle of Ypres. 

Officially his death is documented as the 27th October but the battalions war diary says he was killed on the 29th October 1914. He was 27 years old and left behind his wife Elisie Maud and his son Leonard David who was 8 months old.

He is remembered on our village war memorial and on the Muster Roll and plaque in St Michael’s Church. He is also Remembered with Honour at the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres.

He has ‘No Known Grave’. 

  His name on the Menin Gate at Ypres

PRIVATE GORDON EDGAR LEWINGTON

1st Battalion Coldstream Guards. Soldier Number: 10995

He was born in July 1897 to George and Mary (nee Strange) Lewington in Aston Tirrold. At the time of his birth his father was 43 and his mother was 38. He was the youngest child and had three older brothers called Hubert, George and Albert. At the age of fifteen, Gordon was living at Keepers Cottage in Baker Street with his parents and was working as a gamekeeper after leaving school.

The Battle of Cuinchy 1915

In November 1914, a few months after the outbreak of war, Gordon went to Reading and enlisted into the 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards. A close family friend, William Aldridge, was already serving in the Coldstream Guards. Following basic training, Gordon went to France and landed at Le Havre on the 9th January 1915. He spent the next few days at the Guards Reinforcement Camp at Harfleur. He was part of a draft of one hundred and sixty-six men received by the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards on the 19th January 1915 under 2nd Lieutenants R.M.Wright and J.S.Coats.The German 6th Army launched their first main offensive of the year on January 25th against the British with an attack against the railway bridge near Cuinchy. The 1/Coldstream Guards were in the trenches when, at 7.30am, a number of mines exploded and the Germans attacked. The battalion suffered heavy casualties amounting to two hundred and two men killed, wounded and missing.

Gordon was among these casualties alongside his friend and fellow villager William Aldridge (read below).

Gordon died on the 25th January 1915 and is Remembered with Honour at Le Touret Memorial in France. His name is inscribed into Panel 2 of the monument. Next to him is the name of William Aldridge. 

Gordon was 19 when he died. He is remembered on our village war memorial, the plaque and Muster Roll in St Michael’s Church and the plaque in the United Reformed Church.

He has ‘No Known Grave’. 


   His name on the Le Touret Memorial

PRIVATE WILLIAM ABASALOM ALDRIDGE

1st Battalion Coldstream Guards. Soldier Number: 1540

Aldridge is a very well-known local family name with deep roots and connections in the villages of Blewbury, Aston Tirrold and Upthorpe. William was born around 1879 to Absalom and Martha Grace in Blewbury. He was the second of six children born to his parents and by the age of three his family were all living in Aston Tirrold. His father was a blacksmith by trade and his mother was a nurse. William grew up in one of the Chalk Hill cottages but it appears that his mother Martha may have died in her 30’s, possibly during child birth. His father Absolam later remarried.

William had a very distinguished military career. On the 18th March 1899, William enlisted into the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards and served at Gibraltar. From the 27th October 1899 he served in South Africa in the Boer war and received the Queens medal with six clasps for his service. He also received the Kings Medal with two clasps. He was discharged from the army on March 17th 1910 and became a gardener in Aston Tirrold. Following Britain’s declaration of war against Germany on the 4th August 1914, William decided to re-enlisted with the Coldstream Guards on the 1st September 1914. He served in both Belgium and France and following such a long service in the army it was a tragedy when he lost his life at The Battle of Cuinchy on the 25th January 1915(St Georges Day).

Serving next to William was his friend and fellow villager Gordon Lewington (see above) who was killed in the same battle. Other Aldridge’s’ who served from the Astons were Arthur Aldridge, Edward Aldridge and Henry Aldridge.

William died on the 25th January 1915 and is Remembered with Honour at Le Touret Memorial in France. His name is inscribed into Panel 2 of the monument. Next to him is the name of Gordon Lewington. 

William was 36 when he died. He is remembered on our village war memorial, the plaque and Muster Roll inSt Michael’s Church and the plaque in the United Reformed Church.

He has ‘No Known Grave’.

    Le Touret Memorial

PRIVATE MARK DIDCOCK

1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. Soldier Number: 7418

Mark Didcock was born in Aston Tirrold in 1884 to Edwin Didcock and Deborah (Nee) Pope. Edwin was a farm labourer who was employed by The Manor in Aston Tirrold. The family lived in Chalk Hill Cottage, a tied home owned by The Manor. Deborah died in 1900, aged fifty-four, so Edwin, her husband, moved to The Croft with his three youngest children. He was still employed as an agricultural labourer, working for Mr Cross. 

Mark lodged with his mother’s family (the Popes) in one of the cottages that used to stand where Downs View now stands.By sixteen, Mark was working as a carter on the Cross farm. In 1904, Edwin Didcock died, aged sixty-one so  Mark moved in with his older brother Peter, his wife Alice (nee Ayres) and their family. Peter had taken over their father’s cottage in The Croft. Peter was a talented violinist and according to his family, was regularly invited by Mr and Mrs Cross to come and play for them at the Manor House to entertain their guests.

At the outbreak of war Mark enlisted at Wallingford into the 1st Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment. He saw active service in a variety of battles on the Western Front in France and Belgium. 

Mark died on the 16th May 1915. Remembered with Honour at Le Touret Memorial in France. His name is inscribed into Panel 30 of the monument.

Mark was 30 when he died. He is remembered on the village war memorial, the Muster Roll and plaque in St Michael’s Church, Aston Tirrold and is on the plaque in the United Reformed Church.

He has‘No Known Grave’.

 Mark Didcock

The Didcock Family (Mark is bottom left)