Percy was born in Dover around 1889 into a family with strong military connections: his father, Stephen, served as an infantryman in the East Kent Regiment of Foot.
In the 1891 Census, we first encounter the young Percy (aged 2) as living at the regimental camp in Farnborough (Hampshire) along with his father, mother (Martha) and baby sister Henrietta Ellen.
Ten years later, the family was much enlarged with five more children, and living in Barth Road, Plumstead, where Percy’s father was employed as a metal worker.
By 1911, Percy had joined the British Army as an artilleryman – the Census records him as serving in Ceylon and India with the Royal Field Artillery. His family had moved to Marmadon Road, Plumstead and his mother recorded that she had borne eleven children, two of whom had died.
He married in the spring of 1916 to May Winifred Harrison but was killed in action on the Western Front in the autumn of the same year. He died on 25th September, aged 26. His widow remarried in 1919 to a Frederick W Heathfield, and was last recorded as living at 302 Yarrow Street, Welling.
Percy Everett is one of the 70,000 men recorded on the Thiepval Memorial in France.
The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of the men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. The memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial.
This world famous memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, was built between 1928 and 1932 and unveiled by the Prince of Wales, in the presence of the President of France, on 1 August 1932.
Commemorated
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This story has been researched by volunteers. We have taken every effort to ensure its accuracy. If you are related to Percy (Percival Stephen) Everett, or if you have any further information, please do get in touch.