Richard William Wilkins, known as William, was born in 1887 to William and Milicent Snelling. His parents are recorded living in St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex on Richard’s Commonwealth War Graves record but it is not known if that is where Richard was born or whether they had moved there at a later date. His links to the Hemel Hempstead area seem to be his employment with John Dickinson & Co Limited in Apsley Mills and St Mary’s Church in Apsley-End, where he was a member of the congregation.

William enlisted with the Colours in April 1915, attesting at St Leonards-on-Sea and joining the 28th (County of London) Battalion (Artist’s Rifles) which was based at Richmond Park Camp. When he completed his basic training, he was posted to the 1/15th (County of London) Battalion (Prince of Wales’s Own Civil Service Rifles) and sent to France. He disembarked on the 22nd June 1916 and joined his Battalion at Souchez a few miles north of Arras where he was soon in action in the trenches. William had been in France for less than a month when he was one of three men wounded by enemy shell fire on the 19th July at Berthonval, and he was taken down the line to hospital.

His wounds were serious enough that he was evacuated to hospital in England where he spent a number of months in recovery before he was fit enough to go back to the Front. He was posted to the 1/13th (County of London) Battalion (Kensingtons), which had trained at Abbots Langley on mobilisation in 1914 before going to France, and William now joined his new battalion in mid-January 1917 at Bailleul just north of Armentières.

By April, the 13th Kensingtons had moved south to Achicourt outside Arras and engaged in early preparation for the ‘Nivelle Offensive’ which was the preliminary action in the Battle of Arras. At 5.30 a.m. on the 9th April the Battalion attacked the village of Neuville-Vitasse to the south of its position. All companies achieved their objectives quickly and experienced relatively little opposition before consolidating late in the day.

Despite the lack of significant resistance from the enemy there were casualties, and the Battalion War Diaries recorded 128 in total of which forty-three men were Killed in Action, practically all from shell fire. The Diary also noted that it was: “The most successful days fighting since the Bn. came to France”.

William was one of the unfortunate men killed and he died on Monday, 9th April 1917.

He was commemorated on the Memorial Plaque in St Mary’s Church Apsley-End.

William is Remembered with Honour in London Cemetery, Neuville-Vitasse, Pas-de-Calais, France where he is interred in Grave II. B. 12.

He was 30 years old when he died.

William was entitled to the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.