| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Reginald was born in early 1895 in Kidderminster and baptised there at St George’s Church on 9 Mar 1895. He was the eldest of five children born to Edward Leigh Tonkinson of Kidderminster (1862-1933) and his wife Sarah who came from Stoke-on-Trent where they were married in 1886. Edward worked for the Post Office, initially as a clerk but by 1911 had reached the position of postmaster in Atherstone near Coventry. He was soon to become the Beverley postmaster and the family moved to 73 Norwood. Nothing is known of Reginald’s upbringing, but he is recorded in the 1911 census as being a miller’s clerk. He was unmarried.
Reginald enlisted in the army in early 1916 joining the Royal Fusiliers 20th Battalion, later transferring to the 11th. His army records are missing so it is difficult to be precise on the stages of his military career, but the 11th spent the second half of 1916 on the Somme and it is possible that Reginald joined them there. The Fusiliers were in action at Albert, Trones Wood, Delville Wood, Thiepval Ridge and on the Ancre on the Somme.
On 24 Feb 1917, aged 22, Reginald died of wounds incurred in unknown circumstances. He was buried at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery and it is likely that he had been transferred to a military hospital in that area of France. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals. He is commemorated on the Norwood Street Shrine, the Hengate Memorial, the Beverley Minster’s East Riding Memorial and on St Mary’s Roll of Honour.
Reginald’s brother, Stanley Tonkinson (WL/20/18), born in 1899, had been killed in action in 1916 on the Somme where he served as a private in the 8th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment.
Includes information taken from census, military records |