Walter Edward Matthews was born in 1889, one of the ten children of Henry William Matthews (1851-1932) and Alice Elizabeth Matthews née Havard (1863-1942). His birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1889 in the Holborn registration district. His father was a sealing wax maker.
The 1891 census shows him living at 52 Central Street, Islington, with his parents, an elder brother Henry C. Matthews (b.1885), and his elder sister Alice Jane Matthews (b.1887). In the 1901 census he is listed as a schoolboy residing at 11 Baldwin Street, Finsbury, with his parents, his elder sisters: Emily Matthews (b.1885) and Alice Jane Matthews, his younger sister Eliza Bessie Matthew (b.1893) and brothers Willie Matthews (b.1897) and Thomas Matthews (1901-1979).
The 1911 census shows him as a umbrella finisher living at 109 Shaftesbury Street, Hoxton, with his parents, his brother Albert Matthews (b.1903) and sisters Eliza Bessie Matthews and Edith Matthews (1906-1969).
He enlisted as a Private in the 1st Battalion, Prince Albert's (Somerset Light Infantry), service number 13153, and entered France on 2 May 1915. He died of disease, aged 28 years, on 31 May 1918 at a military hospital in the Warrington, Lancashire, registration district and was buried on 8 June 1918 in Plot 127, Grave 71 at the Manor Park Cemetery, Serbert Road, London, E7 0NP. The grave has no headstone and he is commemorated on Panel 108 of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Screen Wall near their Cross of Sacrifice in the cemetery.
On 12 November 1918 his army effects totalling £7-2s-8d were sent to his mother who was residing at 15 Wimborne Street, New North Road, Islington and on 17 December 1919 she was sent his £21-10s-0d war gratuity. He was posthumously awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal. He is also commemorated in the London Borough of Islington's Book of Remembrance.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
