LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWI
Private Percy Frederick Finch
Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)
Town Memorial P3.R1.C1.
Taken, Not Given
PtePercy F Finch
Machine Gun Corps
India
Oct 21 1918
Percy Frederick Finch was born in Leatherhead and he enlisted at Epsom.
He first served in the A.S.C. (Corps no. 54/161688) and died while serving in the Machine Gun Corps (Corps no.118340) in India. (1)
On the memorial at St Mary and Saint Nicolas, the parish church in Leatherhead, his Corps is given as the A.S.C.
He is buried at Mhow (near Indore) in Plot U27. (2)
(For what it is worth, he died in one of the most beautiful places in India. Mhow is a sub-hill station reached by small single track narrow-gauge railway which runs from Khandawa on the main Bombay-Delhi line to Mhow. It spans the majestic ravine of the Narbada River, best seen by moonlight, and crosses “tiger country“) (3)
Notes on sources
1. Soldiers who Died in the Great War - Machine Gun Corps – Imperial War Museum, Lambeth.
2. Register of Graves – Imperial War Graves Commission - Imperial War Museum, Lambeth.
3. Author's memories from November 1945.
Further research
PrivateFINCH, PERCY FREDERICK
Service Number 118340
Died 21/10/1918
Aged 24
Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)
Buried at MHOW NEW CEMETERY
Location: India
Cemetery/memorial reference: Plot U. Row 2. Grave 7.
According to the Burial Register for Mhow he was in No.3 Depot Company of the Machine Gun Corps.
On the same page, including Percy (who was buried the day he died, 21 October 1918), in the period 14 October to 7 November there were two burials of pneumonia cases followed by six burials of influenza cases.
Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser
30th November 1918
ECHOES OF THE WAR –
Mr and Mrs Finch of The Withies, Leatherhead, have just heard that their eldest son, Pte Percy Finch, of the Machine Gun Section, died from influenza in India on October 21st. Pte Finch had been serving his country for three years, and previous to joining up was in the employ of Mr Riddington at Sutton.
Mr and Mrs Finch of The Withies, Leatherhead, have just heard that their eldest son, Pte Percy Finch, of the Machine Gun Section, died from influenza in India on October 21st. Pte Finch had been serving his country for three years, and previous to joining up was in the employ of Mr Riddington at Sutton.
His life
Percy Frederick Finch was born 21 May 1894 and baptised 4 June 1894 at Leatherhead Parish Church, Surrey.His father was Frederick Finch, birth registered April 1867 at Horley, Surrey. He was described as a soldier at the time of Percy's wedding and had previously been a Labourer and a House Painter. In the 1881 Census, when he was 14, his family were living in Poplar Road, Leatherhead. In the 1891 Census, the year he got married, he was living with his brother William's family at 5 The Crescent, Leatherhead.
His mother was Ada Stacey, born 23 July 1867, Godstone Surrey, a daughter of George Stacey from Godstone, a Labourer in Nursery Gardens and Anne Stacey, a Laundress, also from Godstone. In the 1891 Census she was living with her aunt Elizabeth Collins, a Laundress in Clinton Road, Leatherhead for whom she worked.
They married at Leatherhead Parish Church on 3 August 1891. Frederick was at that time a Warehouseman.
Percy's siblings were Florence b 1892, Edith Ada b 1897, Eva M b 1900, Bertie b 1902, Mabel Lillian b 1904, Ethel Finch b 1906, and Ernest b 1909.
At the time of Percy's baptism in 1894 his parents' abode was Church Walk, Leatherhead (4 Church Walk in the 1901 Census). In the 1911 Census the family was at 4 Inkerman Terrace, Leatherhead. The press report of Percy's death gives their address as The Withies [off Garland Road], Leatherhead.
Marriage: At the age of 21 Percy married Susan Anne Collins (19) on 31 October 1915 at Christ Church, Epsom, Surrey. She was born at Reigate, Surrey (registered January 1896, baptised at St Mark's Reigate on 18 March 1896), a daughter of George William Collins and Susan Anne Fowler. In 1911 her family were in Chessington, Surrey. Her father was a Chauffeur.
Percy and Susan's address was entered as Virginia, West Hill, Epsom.
Their son Percy George Finch was born on 3 August 1916. He died in Edinburgh on 12 November 1992.
After the war
Percy's widow Susan remarried, to Herbert John Hagger (1896-1931) at Woolwich in 1920.A Susan A Hagger married Henry Perrin (registered Surrey Mid Eastern District in July 1943), and in the same District the death of Susan A Perrin (born about 1896) was registered in October 1947.
Percy Finch is remembered on these memorials
Leatherhead Town Memorial
Leatherhead RBL Roll of Honour, Leatherhead Parish Church
Ladies War Shrine, Leatherhead Parish Church
Church Lads Brigade Memorial Tryptich, All Saints Leatherhead
Surrey in the Great War
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last updated 4 Aug 20