Essex Regiment Recruitment Office - 134 The High Street

 

The Recruitment office for the Essex Regiment in 1914 - 1918

Wivenhoe Memories Collection

 

Wivenhoe recruits for WW1

Wivenhoe Memories Collection

 

The band of a battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment march past St Mary's Church.

Nottage Maritime Institute 04329.29

High Street Trail index – click here

This property was home to the Essex Regiment Recruitment office in 1914. The sign board in  the photograph reads “G   R  His Majesty’s Army”. Many men joined the Regiment from there.

One such young man was probably Harold John Trayler whose father Joseph was landlord of the Park Hotel until 1914. Harold joined the 2/5th Battalion Territorial Force in September 1914 at the age of 26 and was discharged in 1921.

Another young man from Wivenhoe who enlisted, but at a recruitment office in Colchester, was Thomas Smee Beckwith. His father was a dairyman and had a shop in Wivenhoe’s High Street. Thomas worked as an assistant dairyman.

Thomas joined the 8th Battalion Essex Regiment, but later transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Essex Regiment. In early December he was badly wounded and, while in hospital he died from his wounds. He was buried at St Sever Cemetery, Rouen, France. He is named on the Wivenhoe War Memorial in St Mary’s Churchyard along with many other men from Wivenhoe who died during the First World War.

High Street Trail index – click here

See also:

• Wivenhoe War Memorial
• Wivenhoe Roll of Honour which names everyone from Wivenhoe who served in WW1

Resources:  www.Ancestry.co.uk