Arthur Algernon Pickles died of wounds on this day in 1918
Arthur was born on 25 June 1895 in Newchurch-in-Pendle, Lancashire. His parents were John Pickles (an antique dealer and Sexton) and Hannah. Arthur had a much older brother Hartley, as well a younger brother George and a younger sister Mary Lucy.
In 1901, aged 5, he lived with his family in Newchurch. By 1911, still living at home aged 15, he was working as a cotton weaver.
He was conscripted into the army in the spring of 1916. He was allocated to the 2/7th Warwicks after being sent to the Western Front in June 1917. He was involved in the 3rd Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.
He was awarded the Military Medal for actions during the German Offensive after operating a machine-gun despite having suffered a gun-shot wound to the leg on 21 March 1918.
Initially posted as missing (this was the last time any of his comrades saw him alive), it later transpired that he had been taken prisoner by the advancing Germans, but died of his wounds in a German medical facility on 8 April 1918.
Arthur Pickles is now buried in St.Souplet British Cemetery, Nord.
325151 Pte Arthur Pickles MM, 2/7th Bn Royal Warwickshire Regt