Walter was born in Rainham , Kent in 1890 the Son of William Thomas and Elizabeth Spencer who had both been born in nearby Hoo.
By 1901 William and Elizabeth had moved to 17 Queens Road, East Wickham. Walter was 11 years old and had three older brothers, Charles, Alfred and Arthur, who like their father all worked as general labourers. Walter also had three younger siblings, Herbert, Rachael, Phillip and Harold. A boarder, Robert Gamnadge, also lived with them and worked as a general labourer.
By 1911 the family were living at 36 Talfourd Road, Welling, Kent, which in 1912 changed its name to Springfield Road. William was then aged 63, Elizabeth 57, Walter aged 21, and brothers Herbert James, 19, Philip, 16 and Harold, 14. There had been thirteen siblings,one of whom had died and the remainder having left home. All of the children had been born in Rainham and Upchurch.
William was employed as a bricklayer’s labourer and Walter was a blacksmith’s striker. (A blacksmith’s striker is either an apprentice or a labourer to the blacksmith and does the heavy hammer work, striking to form and shape the basic black metal whilst still red hot). Both were employed at the local gasworks whilst Herbert was a plumber’s labourer and Philip and Harold were nursery labourers.
Walter enlisted at Bexleyheath and joined the 1st Battalion of the Essex Regiment Service number 202950 which by that time was returning from the disaster of the Gallipoli campaign where the Battalion had been decimated (See notes on Charles Carpenter for these details.) It would appear that for a short time Walter had also served with the Sussex Regiment service number G/10058 (from Soldiers Died in the Great War) and his medal card also states he served in Hertfordshire Regiment service number 7358).
What was left of the Battalion returned from Egypt to the Marseilles during March/April 1916 to be further reinforced and transferred straight to the front. They remained part of the 88th Brigade, 29th Division for the remainder of the war.
Unfortunately we are unable to ascertain his enlistment date and therefore when he first saw active service but the Battalion were in action on the 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, transferring to Ypres and then back to the Somme at Goudecourt later that year.
In April 1917 the 1st Essex were at Monchy-le-Preux south of Arras and took part in the First and Second Battles of the Scarpe which formed parts of Battle of Arras . The Arras battles were initially very successful but were petering out by the of May by which time the Battalion had already suffered 661 casualties out of the 923 engaged.
Walter was killed in action 22nd May 1917 aged 27 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Faubourg-D’Amiens, Bay 7, MR20 and also on the East Wickham Memorial.
Commemorated
Links
This story has been researched by volunteers. We have taken every effort to ensure its accuracy. If you are related to Walter George Spencer, or if you have any further information, please do get in touch.