PRIVATE REGINALD ROBERT WHITE: 31827
1st Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry
Reginald was born in Burton Bradstock, one of five children born to Robert and Rose White. He had three sisters, Minnie, Blanche and Frances and an older brother, Henry.
Robert, Henry and Reginald all worked on the land. Robert and Henry were farm carters and as a young man, Reg laboured on a nearby farm. By this time the family had moved from Burton Bradstock and were living in Brook Street, Shipton Gorge.
In October 1915, Reg married Bessie Tattershall and a daughter, Olive Elsie was born a year later when they were living with Bessie’s parents at 105 North Allington.
It’s not clear if Reg was already serving in the army, but his records show that initially enlisted with the Dorsetshire Regiment before being transferred to the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.
The 1st Battalion was deployed to the Western Front in August 1914 and remained there for the rest of World War 1. They fought in many battles, including those at Vimy, Polygon Wood and the 3rd Battle of Scarpe.
In October 1917 another major offensive was planned along the Ypres Salient, which would be remembered as the 2nd Battle of Passchendaele.
The offensive was executed in a series of attacks, delivered at intervals – the first on October 26th, followed by a second on the 30th and a third on November 6th – the battle coming to an end on November 10th.
Reginald survived the first two attacks but was killed in action on the first day of the final assault on the German lines.
He is buried at the Hooge Crater Cemetery, West-Vlannderen, Belgium.