James Young

James Herbert

Rifleman, A/200557, 4th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps who was killed in action on Thursday, 16th August 1917. Aged 34. Born Dry Drayton, enlisted Cambridge. Husband of Sarah Alice Brickwood, of Station Cottages, Oakington. Formerly 6164, Cambridgeshire Regiment. No known grave. Commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Panel 115 to 119 and 162A and 163A

Sidney Horace

Private, 44643, "D" Coy. 8th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment who died on Thursday, 30th May 1918. Aged 18. Born Cambridge, enlisted Whitehall, London. Son of Elizabeth Ann Dant, of 20, Victoria Rd., Cambridge, and the late Charles Dant. Fromerly 537227, London, Regiment. No known grave. Commemorated on Soissons Memorial, Aisne, France

Bert Webster

Private, 33331, 36th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, Labour Corps who was killed in action on Sunday, 23rd September 1917. Born and resident Oakington, enlisted Willingham. Buried in Divisional Collecting Post Cemetery, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Row D. Grave 6.

Charles Kimpton

Private, 29341, 1st/8th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment formerly (36501), Suffolk Regiment who was killed in action on Thursday, 4th October 1917. Aged 32. Born Destwich, Cambs (sic), enlisted Cambridge, resident Oakington. Husband of Georgina May Doggett, of Cross Roads, Oakington. Buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Plot XX. Row A. Grave 23.

Hubert

probably Hubert James Golding, Private, 19375, 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment who died of wounds on Saturday, 28th July 1917. Enlisted Coventry. No known grave. Commemorated on YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Panel 8

[Wilfred] Clarence

Private 26724, 14th (Service) Battalion, Hampshire Regiment formerly 22513, Suffolk Regiment. Killed in action 19th October 1916. Born and resident Oakington, Cambridgeshire, enlisted Cambridge. Son of Mr. and Mrs. H. Hopkins, brother of Bertie Hopkins (Army Service Corps) and Edgar Hopkins (Canadians). In the 1901 census he was aged 8, born Oakington, Cambridgeshire, son of Herbert and Martha Hopkins, resident Sheeps Green, Oakington, Chesterton, Cambridgeshire. In the 1911 census he was aged 19, born Oakington, Cambridgeshire, single, a Butcher's assistant, boarding at 11, Inkerman Road, Kentish Town N.W., St Pancras, London & Middlesex. No known grave. Commemorated on THIEPVAL MEMORIAL, Somme, France. Pier and Face 7 C and 7 B.

Arthur Charles

Major, 19th Bty., Royal Field Artillery who died of wounds on Sunday, 9th May 1915. Aged 35. Son of Maj. Henry Littledale and Elizabeth Littledale; husband of Mary Josephine Littledale, of Cherwell Edge, Oxford. Buried in CABARET-ROUGE BRITISH CEMETERY, SOUCHEZ, Pas de Calais, France. Plot XVII. Row B. Grave 4.

Gerald

Private 3251, Suffolk Yeomanry, who died on Monday, 1st November 1915. Aged 21. Son of Mr. G. S. and Mrs. M. A. Newton, of Malzie Lodge, Hills Avenue, Cambridge. Born at Warboys, Huntingdon, resident Warboys, enlisted Woodbridge. Buried in Pieta Military Cemetery, Malta. Plot D. Row I. Grave 2.

[Christophe] Leckonby

Lieutenant, 118th Siege Bty. Royal Garrison Artillery, attached Royal Flying Corps, Royal Garrison Artillery who was killed in action on Tuesday, 14th August 1917. Aged 20. Son of Gerald Edward and Emily Phipps, of St. Albans. Buried in The Huts Cemetery, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Plot II. Row C. Grave 16

William Henry

Corporal 40733, 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment who was kiled in action on Thursday, 10th May 1917. Aged 24. Born Cottenham, enlisted Cambridge. Son of Henry and Caroline Pierson, of 3, Elm Cottages, Corbett St., Cottenham. Formerly 4327, Suffolk Regiment. Buried in Feuchy Chapel British Cemetery. Plot I. Row F. Grave 36.

William Edwin

Private 15585, 11th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment who was killed in action on Friday, 22nd March 1918. Born Brampton, Hunts, enlisted Cambridge. No known grave. Commemorated on Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. Bay 4.

[Jesse] Ellis

[J E Stearn on CWGC] Private 27230, 7th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City Of London Regiment). Died of wounds 1 November 1917. Aged 20. Born and resident Oakington, Cambridgeshire, enlisted Cambridge. Son of Robert and Jane Stearn, of High St., Oakington, Cambs. Buried in Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Poperinge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Plot VI. Row F. Grave 44.

George

Private 15826, 11th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment (confirmed in Petty Sessional Division of Cambridge, Roll of Service, July 1915). Killed in action Saturday 1st July 1916 in France & Flanders. Born Cambrwell, Surrey, enlisted Cambridge. No known grave. Commemorated on THIEPVAL MEMORIAL, Somme, France. Pier and Face 1 C and 2 A

Walter

OAKINGTON.

News has reached this village of the death of Pte. Walter Young, of the Cambs. Regt. He was dangerously wounded on September 22nd, and died soon after. Pte. Young, who was only 18 years of age, was the first man from this village to come on leave from the front, and he is the first to be killed. He had lived in this village a good many years, having made his home at Miss A. Smith's and also at Mr. H. Neal’s. In a letter to Miss Smith, informing her of Pte. Young’s wound, the chaplain said: "He was standing near another man who was killed, and Young was hit high up in the inside of the thigh. I am thankful to hear from the doctor that the wound was not made his body, but his condition is grave because of the great shock.”

Eric

possibly Eric Gordon Baker, Lance Corporal, 5933206, 1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment who died on Saturday, 14th February 1942. Aged 28. Son of Gordon and Ettie Baker, of Avondale, Auckland, New Zealand. No known grave. Commemorated on Singapore Civil Hospital Grave Memorial, Singapore. Panel 3.

Arthur George Jonathon

Driver, T/234070, 258 General Transport Company, Royal Army Service Corps who died on Tuesday, 16th March 1943. Aged 35. Son of George and Fanny Cross; husband of Lilian Alice Cross, of Oakington. Buried in Tripoli War Cemetery, Libya. Plot 6. Row B. Grave 18.

Reginald Charles Henry

Private, 5777821, 4th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment who died on Wednesday, 3rd March 1943. Aged 23. Prisoner of war. Son of Charles Henry and Phoebe Maria Neal, of Oakington. Buried in Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore. Plot 13. Row A. Grave 8.

Felix Owen Warboys

Flight Sergeant, 1392466, Air Bomber, 106 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died on Wednesday, 16th February 1944. Buried in St. Andrew Churchyard, Oakington.

Arthur Douglas

John

DIED OF WOUNDS
L./Cpl. Toates, of
Oakington

News has been received by Mr. C. Toates, of Station Road, Oakington, stating that his son, Lce.-Cpl. Toates, 56th London Division, Provost Company, Control Military Police, has died of wounds whilst serving with the Central Mediterranean Forces. Lce-Cpl. Toates was 29 years of age. He was educated at Oakington School, and afterwards employed -by Messrs. W. Eaden Lilley and Co. He was a keen footballer. He joined His Majesty’s Forces on the 13th June, 1940.

Jonas Newton

There is a second record for him on the CWGC which lists him as 16th Indian Light Cavalry commemorated at Rangoon.

Rifleman 25232737, 7 Rifles (Territorial). Shot as his patrol came under fire near Sangin in Helmand province 15 November 2009. Aged 23. Born 29 July 1986. Buried in St. Andrew Churchyard, Oakington.

Note: After his death, one of the tributes to him was a bench, set in place outside the Pavilion at Oakington.

Photograph Copyright © CambridgeshireLive November 2016

Extract from The Times, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009, article by Andrew Norfolk:

Soldier killed on patrol was awaiting new armour
Andrew Norfolk

A Territorial Army soldier who was killed after serving only two weeks in Afghanistan told friends that his battalion was still awaiting delivery of new body armour and helmets.

Rifleman Andrew Fentiman, 23, a university graduate who volunteered to serve in Helmand province because he hoped to become a commissioned officer, was shot dead by the Taleban on Sunday while on foot patrol near Sangin.

Eleven days before his death, the reservist posted a blog informing former work colleagues that he had arrived in Afghanistan and was about to be moved to a forward operating base. He wrote: "We are still waiting on these new body armour and helmets that were promised to us. You would have seen the story splashed all over the news. They said they would be ready for us but we hope they will arrive soon ..."

In September the Ministry of Defence announced that 5,000 sets of its new Osprey Assault body armour and adapted Mk 7 helmets were being shipped to Afghanistan for the use of frontline troops. The MoD said last night that the equipment reached Helmand in October but it was unable to confirm whether, or when, any of the sets were issued to Rifleman Fentiman's battalion, 7 Rifles, which was attached to the 3 Rifles Battle Group.

He was the 234th member of the British Armed Forces to die in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001 and the 97th to be killed this year. He is the second TA soldier to be killed.

An estimated 650 of the 9,000 troops on operational tours in Helmand are TA volunteers; in total, 3,000 TA soldiers have served in southern Afghanistan since 2006. The MoD was unable to say how many of them had been killed.

The wife of a British Army bomb disposal expert killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan,Rifleman Andrew Fentiman was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday,on Sunday described him yesterday as a "true hero". Corporal Loren Marlton-Thomas, 28, from 33 Engineer Regiment, died while clearing a route in Gereshk in Helmand. His wife, Nicola, described him as "army barmy", adding: "He did the job he loved and paid the ultimate price for his friends, comrades and country."

Corporal Marlton-Thomas, who was from Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire and lived in Braintree, Essex, joined the Army in 1998.

Rifleman Fentiman, from Cambridge, studied mechanical engineering at the University of Leicester, where he was a member of the East Midlands University Officer Training Corps. After graduating, he became a sales manager for an American software company, Teamstudio, and joined the TA in 2007. He had intended to return to his civilian job at Teamstudio, whose European operation is based at Huntingdon.

An MoD spokeswoman said the new body armour and helmets were designed to improve soldiers' comfort and flexibility but offered no greater protection than the equipment used in Afghanistan until now.

The front and back plates of the former Osprey armour hung off the shoulders; the plates' in the new Osprey Assault armour, inserted into front and back body pouches, are less,bulky and allow arms to swing more freely. The adapted Mark 7 helmet is easier to use in combination with the new body armour when lying on the ground.

'New kit provides better comfort but does not give better protection'

General Nicholas Houghton, Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, said of Rifleman Fentiman's death: "The newer kit provides better comfort but it does not give better protection. Sadly, therefore, there is no reason to believe it would have made any difference in respect of survivability in this case."

Speaking to BBC News in the week he was killed, Corporal MarltonThomas described seeing the "nerveracking" process of searching for and destroying IEDs. "Each time we go out, we see a broad spectrum of devices. For the lads who are doing the searching, the colour has drained from their faces quite a few times.

"For myself, I'm a little farther back, but still I'm worrying about the guys on the ground. So for me it is nerveracking as well."