During the Great War very few local families will have grieved as much as the Gray family. They lost four of their five sons, one during every year of the war except 1915.

William Gray, a chair polisher, and Emma Pearce had married in the summer of 1886.

Their first child was Herbert who was born the following year and they went on to have a large family of three daughters, Florence, Emma and Nellie, as well as their five sons. 

They lived first in Pennington Row near the town centre, before moving to The Quicks in London Rd, Loudwater, moving back to the town to live at No.76 Desborough Rd and then No.1 Brook St.

In addition to 4 of the family’s sons, their father William served during the war, in the National Reserves.

Their first son to be lost was Gilbert, born in 1886, who was killed in action in France on October 21, 1914. 

He was a Private in the Oxon & Bucks Light Infantry. The first news of his death reached his parents a couple of weeks later when they received a letter from a fellow soldier Private Randall.

In the letter he said that “he was by the side of Gilbert when he was shot down.” But they did not receive confirmation of his death from the War Office until sometime later; it is difficult to appreciate their anguish as they waited.

The next to fall was William, born in 1898, who was also in the OBLI. He was killed in action in France on July 19, 1916, aged 18. On this occasion the family did receive official notification of his death promptly.

William had only been at the Western Front for about eight weeks, following his training on Salisbury Plain. Before enlisting William had worked for the chair manufacturers R.J.Howland.

As if these two losses were not bad enough, the death of their third son Frank aged just 17 on December 18, 1917 was particularly tragic.

He was serving with the Royal Scots in County Kildare in Ireland when he was accidentally shot by a comrade, another soldier being slightly wounded in the incident.

Their Commanding Officer reported that they were “larking about in the room with a rifle they did not know was loaded”.

The family’s final torment came with the death of their eldest son Herbert, who had enlisted in the OBLI but was then transferred to the Royal Berkshire Regiment. 

He was seriously wounded in action at the Western Front and died shortly afterwards on April 14 1918. Herbert was 32 and left a widow and two young children, who at the time of his death were living at Wycombe Marsh. 

At the same time Mrs Gray learnt that her son-in-law Frank Horseman, who had married daughter Florence, had been gassed and wounded.

The Gray’s only surviving son Sidney, who was born on April 25 1901, was too young to serve in WWI. He married Bertha Slade in 1929 and the couple had three children, Joyce, Pamela and Gordon. 

In 1939 the family were living at No.4 Underwood Rd, High Wycombe, when Sidney was a wood machinist.

We would be very pleased to hear from any descendants of William and Emma Gray, contact Mike Dewey 01494 755070 or deweymiked@aol.com