GUNNER ARTHUR TRAVERS: 13449
180th Brigade Royal Field Artillery
Arthur was one of nine children born in 1886, to Richard and Alice Travers.
He was born in Bridport, but his parents moved to Bristol for a few years, with Arthur and his older brother William.
They returned to Bridport however and Arthur spent the rest of his early life in the family home at 4 Albert Place, South Street, sharing the space with William and his five younger siblings. (Two more of his siblings had not survived infancy.)
When he was 22, Arthur worked as a ‘buckyard labourer’ – working in the tannery that was part of Bridport’s industrial past. It was not easy work and there is a suggestion that Arthur may have moved away from the town, seeking employment elsewhere because when he enlisted with the Royal Field Artillery, he did so in Ferndale, Glamorgan – a South Wales mining town.
He served as a Gunner in France and Flanders, with ‘D’ Battery, 180th Brigade and was deployed at the battle of Messines Ridge, providing the heavy bombardment which took place following the series of huge mine explosions detonated beneath the ridge.
He survived the opening days of the conflict but was killed in action on July 21st 1917.
Arthur was buried at the Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery, West Vlaanderen, Belgium
