Walter James Pratt was born in Hemel Hempstead on Tuesday, 25th November 1890 the first son of Walter Pratt and Elizabeth Porter. He had two sisters, Cecelia who was six years older and Daisy May who was two years his junior. Within a couple of months of Daisy May’s birth, Walter’s mother Elizabeth suddenly died aged only thirty and she was buried in Heath Lane Cemetery on 6th January 1894. The three children were without a mother until their father Walter married for a second time to Emily Rhodes from Hemel Hempstead. Walter James soon acquired three half-siblings when his step-mother gave birth to Norman in 1903 followed by Ralph two years later and finally Eva Florence in 1907.

By this time the family was living at 137 Bury Road in Hemel Hempstead and at the next census in 1911, Walter is recorded working as a ‘Shop Hand’ aged nineteen. Intriguingly, the Pratt’s had a Boarder, called Miss Weight living with them and her occupation is recorded as ‘Actress’. This was Hannah Louisa Weight whose parents and four siblings formed a family acting troupe at the turn of the century. By the time of the 1911 census, Hannah was about to ‘retire’ and she married two years later in nearby Amersham.

Walter first went to school at Boxmoor JMI in 1895 where he spent four years before moving to Apsley Boys School. He completed his education there and left on the 25th November 1904, his fourteenth birthday, to start work. It is not known where Walter started worked but by 1912, he had moved to London and it was there that he met his future wife, an East End girl called Jane Elizabeth Bickerstaff. Their courtship, however, was interrupted by the outbreak of war and Walter immediately left his job to join the Colours.

He made his way to Hertford where he enlisted in August 1914 with the 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment and was sent to Ampthill Park to undergo basic training. He was granted some home leave a month of so later and he returned to Hemel Hempstead where he and Jane married in November. He returned to his Regiment and was sent abroad early in 1915 disembarking in France on the 2nd February. He joined his regiment on the 8th and was soon in the trenches. His time at the Front was very short however, and less that a moth after his arrival, he was severely wounded in nine places by shrapnel from enemy shelling.

Walter was evacuated and spend a number of months recovering from his wounds and when he was fit again, he was posted to the 5th Battalion Bedfordshires and this time set sail for Egypt. The 1/5th Battalion had fought at Gallipoli where it earned the nickname ‘The Yellow Devils’ and it had suffered catastrophic casualties to the extent that by December 1915 it evacuated to Egypt to undergo rebuilding. Walter was one of the many men sent to recover the unit’s strength and he arrived in Egypt sometime between January and March of that year.

The next twelve months were spend guarding the Suez Canal before Walter moved with the British and Commonwealth forces to Gaza in March 1917. Here he saw action in the advances through Palestine which followed and in July he found himself opposite the Turkish positions on ‘Umbrella Hill’ as the regiment made ready to attack. ‘Umbrella Hill’ was a 500 yard long trench system which was heavily fortified and the initial assault began on the morning of the 20th July. The fighting was intense and by late evening as the Bedfords pulled back to safety, the Turks launched a devastating barrage which accounted for most of the casualties on the day.

Walter along with twenty-three of his comrades was killed during the barrage. He died on Friday, 20th July 1917. All the men were interred in a small cemetery a short distance from the HQ of the raid on ‘Umbrella Hill’.

Walter is Remembered with Honour in Gaza War Cemetery, Israel and Palestine, Grave XXX. A. 10.

He was 26 years old when he died.

Walter was eligible for the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.