Rifleman Walter Edgar George Moore.
There would appear to be a difference of opinion in the name of this man. The entries on both the birth and the baptismal registers show him as Walter Edgar George Moore as does his army medal and effects registers, but the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Islington Book of Remembrance record his name as Walter Edward George Moore.
He was born on 27 November 1895, the son of George Robert Moore (1872-1895) and Edith Kate Urry Moore née Cooper (1871-1915). His birth was recorded in the 1st quarter of 1896 in the Pancras registration district. His parents had married on 14 February 1895 but his father, who was an optician, died, the death being recorded in the 2nd quarter of 1895 in the Pancras registration district.
He was baptised on 15 March 1896 at St Jude's Church, Grays Inn Road, Camden. The baptismal register shows that he was residing at 72 Swinton Street, King's Cross.
The 1901 census shows him as Walter G. Moore, still living at 72 Swinton Street with his maternal grandmother Agnes Eunice Cooper née Urry (1828-1905) and his uncle Walter H. Cooper (b.1875), whilst his mother is shown as a barmaid residing at 18 Old Bailey, Farringdon with the publican, Alexander Harris, his wife Hannah and son John, together with two barmen and a female domestic servant. The public house was probably The Magpie and Stump.
In the 3rd quarter of 1901 the birth of his half-brother, John R. B. Moore (1901-1966) was recorded in the Whitechapel registration district, but who the father was is currently unknown as their mother did not remarry until 6 March 1904 to William Cooper, a postman of 46 Pentonville Road, Islington, at St Mary's Parish Church, Islington. They went on to have at least five children: twins William H. Cooper (1904-1982) & Mabel Agnes Cooper (1904-1970), Sidney Arthur Cooper (1906-1987), Ernest James Cooper (b.1908) and Edith Maud Barnett (b.1910).
When his half-brother William and half-sister Mabel were baptised on 30 January 1905 the baptismal register shows the family were living at 16 Block I, Peabody Buildings, Wild Street, Holborn. Baptismal registers show that when his half-brother Sidney was baptised on 17 November 1907 the family resided at 38 Theobalds Road, Holborn and when Ernest was baptised on 10 May 1908 they were living at 111 Goodinge Road, Holloway.
The 1911 census shows him as Walter E. G. Moore, a GPO telegraph messenger, living at 111 Goodinge Road, Holloway, with his mother, step-father and his six half-siblings. Post Office records inform that he was promoted in December 1912 to the grade of assistant postman in the London Postal Service and in January 1914 he was regraded as a male sorter in their Inland Section.
He enlisted in the 9th Battalion, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own), service number S/29448, and died, aged 22 years, on 24 March 1918. He was buried near where he fell but on 2 December 1919 his body was exhumed and reburied in Plot 3, Row L, Grave 17 in the Chauny Communal Cemetery British Extension, 67 Rue Ernest Renan, 02300 Chauny, Aisne, France. As his mother had died on 13 April 1915 it was not until 1 March 1922 that his army effects totalling £15-4s-10d together with his £15-10s-0d war gratuity were sent to his aunt, Mabel Urry Cooper (1878-1940). He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
