Reeves, Percy George M (aka Reeves, Percy Charles Milburn)

Summary

Father: John Henry REEVES
Mother: Mary Elizabeth MILBURN

Birth: c1885
Birth Source: FreeBMD & Census

Death: 1917, France
Death Source: CWGC

Spouse1:

Narrative

Percy Reeves is the sixth of eight known children of John Henry REEVES and his wife Mary Elizabeth (nee Milburn). His place of birth is consistently noted as Hornsey, Middlesex. FreeBMD has a birth registration in the name of Percy George M REEVES during the first quarter of 1885 in the Edmonton Registration District although on the 1911 census and by the CWGC Percy is referred to as Percy Charles Milburn REEVES.

On the 1891 census, Percy appears in his parents' household on Palace Road, Hornsey, Middlesex, where he is the next to youngest child. He is six years old and a Scholar.

By the time of the 1901 census Percy is sixteen years old and living in his parents home at Grove Villas, Hornsey. He is working as a warehouse assistant in a tie company. In addition to his parents, six of his siblings complete the household. (His eldest sister May is now married and living with her husband in the same house that was Percy's home a decade ealier.)

On the 1911 census Percy (recorded by his father as Percy Charles Milburn Reeves) is again to be found with his parents, now living on Fallow Court Avenue, North Finchley, London. He is now 26 years of age and working as a Salesman for a Tie Manufacturer. The household comprises his parents, four siblings and a nephew.

Percy enlisted in 7th (Imperial Service) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment on 2 Septemeber 1914 (as Private 2551) for four years service and was heading for Gibraltar on 4 September 1914 on-board SS Gloucester Castle. He (and the Battalion) returned to England in February 1915 and on 12 March 1915 embarked from Southampton for France, where his Battalion became part of the British Expeditionary Force in France. At some point his service number changed from 2551 to become 200540; he was also promoted to the rank of Corporal.

Whilst serving as Corporal 200540 in the 1st/7th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, Percy Charles Milburn Reeves was killed in action in April 1917. He is buried in the London Cemetery, Neuville-Vitasse, in the Pas de Calais département of France (FR-62). The CWGC additionally notes "Son of John Henry and Mary Elizabeth Reeves, of 6, Homefield Rise, Orpington, Kent."

The death of Corporal 200540 of the Middlesex Regiment in 1917 is included in the GRO Index to War Deaths 1914-1921. Army (other Ranks) page 3013 as Percy Reeves, year 1917, vol I.70, page 311

The "UK, Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929" entry for Corporal 200540 Percy Reeves shows him serving with the 7th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. It comprises two distribution entries, both to his father John H Reeves.

Research Notes

(1) Percy's WO363 Army file includes a copy of Form W.5020 completed by his father John in June 1919 listing all seven of Percy's siblings.

Sources

Birth:        FreeBMD     1885, March quarter, Edmonton Registration District as Percy George M Reeves
Baptism:  
Marriage:
Death:      GRO Index to War Deaths 1914-1921. Army (Other Ranks) page 3013 as Percy Reeves
                 CWGC     http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/285532/REEVES, PERCY CHARLES MILBURN
1891 Census: RG12, Piece 1062, Folio 16 face, Page 25 and continued on Folio 16 reverse, Page 26
1901 Census: RG13, Piece 1245, Folio 11 reverse, Page 14
1911 Census: RG14, Piece 07166, Registration District 131 (Barnet), Sub Dist. 3 (Finchley), Enum.Dist. 8, Schedule 394

From Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1918 at FindMyPast

First name(s) 		PERCY
Last name 		REEVES
Service number 		T.F.200540
Rank 			CPL.
Regiment 		Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment)
Battalion 		1/7th Battalion.
Birth place 		-
Residence 		NORTH FINCHLEY, MIDDLESEX
Enlistment place 	HORNSEY, MIDDLESEX
Death year 		1917
Death day 		9
Death month 		4
Cause of death 		Killed in action
Death place 		France & Flanders
Theatre of war 		Western European Theatre