Private Bertram Joseph James White
| Date of Birth | c. 1895 |
|---|---|
| Age at Death | 20 |
| Date of Death | 1 July 1916 |
| Service Number | G/2353 |
| Military Service | 7th Battalion, The Queen's, Royal West Surrey Regiment |
| Merton Address | 5 Westfield Road, Mitcham |
| Local Memorial | Mitcham War Memorial |
Additional Information
Bertram Joseph White was born in 1895 and baptised the same year at St Peter and Paul Church in Mitcham. He was the only child of Joseph and Alice White. The family were living in Love Lane, Mitcham but by 1911 had moved down the road to 5 Westfield Road, Mitcham. Joseph was employed as a Stove Cleaner at the nearby Gas Works, while 15-year-old Bertram had started an apprenticeship as a Marble Polisher.
Bertram enlisted with the 7th Battalion, The Queen’s, West Surrey Regiment on 1 September 1914, and was first in France on 27 July 1915. The 7th Battalion were mainly made up of Kitchener Volunteers as part of the 55th Brigade. In 1916 they were in action on the Somme in the Battle of Albert.
The Battle of the Somme (1 July – 18 November 1916) began on the 1 July 1916, and is known as one of the bloodiest battles of the War, which took the lives of nearly 20,00 men on the first day. The Battalion’s War Diary records that the men started the attack on enemy lines at 7.30 am. They suffered heavy machine gun fire and were already exhausted from lack of sleep due to shelling over the previous days, when 40 of their men had been killed. The Battalion’s losses were 7 officers and 174 men killed. Sadly, Bertram was one of those men who were killed on the first day of the battle.
Bertram is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France, and locally on the Mitcham War Memorial. He is also remembered on a family grave in the Churchyard of St. Peter and Paul.