Pte Wilfred Tompkins, 57896, 11th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, was killed in action in Belgium on July 12th, 1917. He was within a few days of his 28th birthday.

Second Lieut E. Dixon, of C Company, in a letter to parents Thomas William and Sarah Annie Tompkins at 42 Maple Road, Luton, said their son had joined the Cheshires only on July 11th. On the night of the 12th he was a member of a working party behind the line when a shell burst by him and killed him instantly.

Church of England chaplain W. Gabriel Harris wrote that he had buried Pte Tompkins in a military cemetery. A cross had been erected on his grave.

Wilfred Tompkins had enlisted in the East Anglian Royal Engineers (2221) on April 11th, 1915, and on July 10th left for Thetford for training. He was transferred to the Welsh Fusiliers in December 1916 and went to France on the 29th.

While in France he was transferred to the Machine Gun Section of the 18th Cheshires, but was invalided home sick after a short time in the trenches. He underwent an operation before returning to France to rejoin the Cheshires in the 11th Battalion about a month before his death.

Prior to enlistment Wilfred Tompkins was employed at the coach-building works of William Squires, Langley Street. For about four years he had been a member of the Bury Park Church Choir and Guild.