Bertie was born in Holwell in 1894 and was still living here in 1901, aged 7 with two older brothers, two younger sisters and a great aunt. His father Joseph was at that time a publican and carter, so he probably ran Holwell’s King William IV pub with his wife, Mary.

By 1911, Bertie was 17 and working as a waggoner on the Williamson’s farm at Langham Lodge, Oakham in Rutland.

He joined the Leicestershire Regiment in Melton Mowbray on 2nd September 1914, the same day as Harry Pepper and Charles Cecil Barlow, both also from Holwell and who died in the War. Bertie was just 21 years old and still living with his family in Holwell.

12473 Private Bertie King died on 17th July 1916 in the Battle of the Somme, aged 22. He is commemorated on the Theipval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, which bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men who died in the Somme sector and have no known grave.

His mother by then was named Mary Marriott, so had either remarried or had reverted to her maiden name.