Private Edward Reginald LETTS (known as Reginald)
1st Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment 16619
Reginald was born on 24 November 1893 in Spratton, the son of Harry Letts, a farm waggoner and his wife Eliza. His mother, Eliza, came from a long-established family in the village. They lived in one of a group of small cottages on the corner of Manor Road and Middle Turn (now Brixworth Road). Reginald was brought up with his four sisters and they all attended the village primary school. When Reginald left school in 1907 he became a farm labourer, but volunteered for the army when war was declared in August 1914. His father died at about the same time and his mother left Spratton and moved into Northampton.
Reginald served in the 1st Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment and was sent overseas on 29 April 1915 just as fighting on the Western Front near Ypres was becoming more intense. The enemy had greatly strengthened their defences with thick barbed wire, concrete blockhouses and machine gun emplacements, and poison gas was being used for the first time. The British Expeditionary Force could not break through and the Northamptonshire Regiment suffered terrible losses at the Battle of Auber’s Ridge on 9 May 1915. Reginald, aged 21 years, was killed at Auber’s Ridge. He had been fighting for only one week. He has no known grave but his name is on Le Touret Memorial (on the Bethune to Armentieres Road) in France and also on the War Memorial in Spratton churchyard. He was awarded the 1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
The Le Touret Cemetery and Memorial, France
The Le Touret Cemetery and Memorial, France
EXPLORE SECTIONS
MEN WHO SERVED
- Private Charles Herbert AUSTIN (known as Herbert)
- Corporal Frank AUSTIN
- Lance Corporal James William AUSTIN
- Private John Samuel AUSTIN
- Sergeant William Henry AUSTIN
- Sergeant Bertie Henry BALDERSON
- Corporal Frederick Charles BALDERSON MM
- Lance Corporal Robert Samuel BALDERSON
- Private George William BUCKBY (known as William)
- Private Henry Andrew BUCKBY
- Richard Henry Horne BUCKBY
- Transport Sergeant Thomas BUCKBY MM
- Company Quartermaster Sergeant William Gander BUCKBY
- William Archibald COPSON (known as Archibald)
- Sapper Ebenezer COPSON
- Private Ernest Edward COPSON
- Pioneer Henry Owman COPSON (known as Harry)
- Private James COPSON
- Private John William COPSON
- Private Joseph COPSON
- Private Arthur Sidney GOODEN (known as Sidney)
- Private Hugh Henry GOODEN
- Sergeant Joseph Eric GOODEN (known as Eric)
- Private Arthur Thomas HAYTER
- Driver Frank Leonard HAYTER
- Private Harold Herbert HAYTER
- Lance Corporal John Charles HAYTER DCM (known as Jack)
- Private Walter Ernest HAYTER
- Ordinary Seaman Arthur Charles HORNE
- Private John William HORNE (known as William)
- Lance Corporal Lewis HORNE
- Private Thomas HORNE
- Driver John Henry LEESON
- Corporal Joseph Henry LEESON (known as Harry)
- Thomas Baden Powell LEESON (known as ‘Bard’)
- Private Albert MANNING
- Corporal Amos MANNING
- Private Arthur Cecil MANNING
- Private George MANNING
- Sergeant George William MANNING
- Sapper Henry Stanley MANNING (known as Stanley)
- Private John Thomas MANNING
- Private John William MANNING
- Air Mechanic Nathaniel MANNING
- Driver/Saddler Samuel MANNING
- Gunner George Albert MARTIN
- Private Joseph MARTIN
- Private Thomas Henry MARTIN (known as Harry)
- Private Thomas Walter MARTIN (known as Walter)
- Pioneer Walter Ernest MARTIN
- Sergeant William Higgs MARTIN, DCM
- Private Arthur Walter PAGE
- Private Francis Samuel PAGE (known as Sam)
- Private Frank PAGE
- Private Stephen PAGE
- Lieutenant George REEVE MC MM
- Private Richard Henry REEVE (known as Harry)
- Private Samuel REEVE
- Private Sidney Philip REEVE
- Private Frederick Thomas RICHARDSON
- Private John William RICHARDSON
- Private Percy John Partridge RICHARDSON
- Private Abraham Bert SMITH
- Private Alfred SMITH
- Private Frank SMITH 46648
- Private John Samuel SMITH
- Private John William SMITH (6942)
- Private John William (William John) SMITH (8964)
- Private Charles Walter WADHAMS
- Private John Edward WADHAMS
- Private Thomas Edwin WADHAMS
- Private William WADHAMS