First World War
25 Souls
Private William Mark Alton (1898 – 1918) 240816, 1st/5th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment William Mark Alton was born in Peterborough in 1898, the son of John and Elizabeth Alton, who lived near Park Road, within the parish of All Saints. He attended the local Board School and worked as an apprentice joiner before enlisting in the Territorial Force in 1915, aged only seventeen. He served with the 1/5th Northamptonshire Regiment, a battalion drawn mostly from Peterborough and the surrounding villages. The unit fought in Palestine in 1917 – 1918 — notably at Gaza and Beersheba — and then transferred to France in the war’s final months. Private Alton was killed in action on 21 September 1918, during the British advance towards Cambrai in northern France, part of the so-called “Hundred Days” that broke the German lines. He was 20 years old. He is buried in Villers-Guislain Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord, France (Grave I. E. 9).
Private Austin Percy Baldwin (1896 – 1917) G/16051, 8th Battalion, Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) Austin Percy Baldwin was born in Peterborough in 1896, the son of Charles and Kate Baldwin, and grew up in the streets off Lincoln Road within walking distance of All Saints’ Church. Before enlisting he worked as a railway clerk, part of the city’s thriving rail-works community that sent hundreds of men to the front. He joined the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) and went to France in 1916, serving in the mud-churned trenches of the Somme and Arras sectors. In April 1917, his battalion was drawn into the Battle of Arras, one of the war’s most ferocious spring offensives. During those weeks the regiment lost nearly half its strength. Private Baldwin was killed in action on 3 May 1917, aged 21. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Bay 2. A notice in the Peterborough Advertiser described him as “bright, reliable, and much loved by his companions.” His parents placed his name on the All Saints memorial board soon after the war — a simple carving that now holds his entire biography in five words.
Lance Corporal Stanley Edward Barker (1898–1917) 235163, 1st/5th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers Stanley Edward Barker was just nineteen when he died, one of the youngest men commemorated on the All Saints memorial. Born in 1898, he came of age as Europe tore itself apart and volunteered for service with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, a regiment whose battalions were thrown into some of the hardest fighting of the war. By the summer of 1917, Stanley was serving in the sand dunes and flat farmland of the Flanders coast, where the 1st/5th Battalion was supporting the opening moves of the Third Battle of Ypres. On 31 July 1917, the first day of the offensive, he was killed in action. He is buried in Coxyde Military Cemetery, a quiet place of dunes and pines near the Belgian shore — far from the homes and pews of Peterborough, yet marked with the same white stone as countless others. His presence on the All Saints memorial is a reminder that the parish’s sons served in many regiments, not only the local ones, and that even the youngest carried the weight of war.
Lieutenant Joseph Keith Batten (1892–1918) Lieutenant, 5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment (formerly 2nd Lieutenant, then Lieutenant) Born on 20 October 1892 in Peterborough, Joseph was the eldest son of Joseph Henry Batten and Katie Alice (née Hawkes), of Park Road. He attended The King’s School, Peterborough, then Gresham’s School, Holt, before beginning his legal career as an articled clerk in his father’s solicitors’ firm. The King's +2 warmemorialsonline.org.uk +2 With the outbreak of the First World War, Joseph traded his legal papers for military orders. He joined the 5th (Territorial) Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment in October 1910, being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, and promoted to Lieutenant in 1913. The King's He was mobilised on 4 August 1914 and soon found himself on the Western Front. In September 1918, during the Allies’ push against the Hindenburg Line, Lieutenant Batten led his men “over the top” on 27 September and was killed by a shell burst soon after. He was just 25 years old. The King's He is buried in Moeuvres Communal Cemetery Extension, France, Grave I.A.16. The King's +1 His name is inscribed on the oak memorial board at All Saints Parish Church (Peterborough) (Park Road) and in the Book of Remembrance at Peterborough Cathedral. The King's +1 In the solemn words of his chaplain who attended his memorial service: “Here lies one whose unswerving devotion to duty and depth of faith are known to many, who carried the humour and courage of his home into the fields of war.” The King's Joseph’s story reflects a generation of young men in Peterborough whose promising civilian lives were redirected by war—and whose sacrifice became woven into the parish’s memory.
Private Victor Dennis Boreham (c.1894–1918) Private V. Boreham, 16046 — 5th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment Victor Dennis Boreham’s name survives in two different forms: as “V. Boreham” in the official Commonwealth records, and as “Victor Dennis Boreham” in a local Peterborough Roll of Honour. The two threads meet in the autumn of 1918, during the final Allied advance on the Western Front. Born in the mid-1890s, Victor was part of the generation drawn from the railway streets, workshops, and market-town terraces that fed the ranks of the Northamptonshire Regiment. The 5th Battalion, a Territorial unit, was heavily recruited from Peterborough and the surrounding villages, making his presence in its ranks entirely consistent with a parish connection to All Saints. By September 1918, the battalion was engaged in the Battles of the Hindenburg Line, pushing through the shattered villages east of Péronne. The fighting was close, brutal, and relentless: barbed wire, splintered orchards, collapsing trench-systems, and the constant thump of machine-gun nests that had survived the bombardment. On 20 September 1918, during the fighting around Epehy, Private Boreham was killed. He was about twenty-four years old. His body was recovered and laid to rest in Epehy Wood Farm Cemetery, a quiet plot of white stones on the rise above the battlefield. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission recorded him simply as “V. Boreham”, with no forenames given — a not uncommon outcome when paperwork followed after rapid battlefield burials. But the Peterborough War Memorial Hospital Roll of Honour preserves his full identity as Victor Dennis Boreham, anchoring him firmly in the memory of the city that sent him. His death came just seven weeks before the Armistice. On the All Saints memorial, his name stands for the many whose service was split between official record and local remembrance — a young man from Peterborough whose life ended in the final push toward peace.
Private Albert Branker (1885–1918) 59594, Labour Corps (formerly Northamptonshire Regiment) Albert Branker was born in Barbados and later made his home in Peterborough — a journey that reflects the far-flung currents of the British Empire in the early twentieth century. When war came, he enlisted in the Northamptonshire Regiment, later transferring to the Labour Corps, the vast and essential organisation that kept the armies supplied, fed, and moving. By autumn 1918, as the Allies pressed toward victory, Albert was serving in eastern France. He died on 19 October 1918, aged 33, and is buried in St Germain-au-Mont-d’Or Communal Cemetery. His resting place sits on a quiet hillside above the Rhône — far from Barbados, and far from Peterborough, yet tended with the same reverence as any Commonwealth grave. Albert’s presence on the All Saints memorial tells a broader story: the First World War was not only a local tragedy but a global one, drawing men from the Caribbean, Africa, India, and beyond into the mud and fatigue of the Western Front.
Private Robert Branker (c.1883–1918) M2/105254, Army Service Corps (Mechanical Transport) Like Albert, Robert Branker was born in Barbados and later settled in Peterborough. The brothers (almost certainly brothers, given the shared birthplace and local connection) served in different branches of the wartime army. Robert joined the Army Service Corps, specialising in Mechanical Transport, the supply lifeline that moved food, ammunition, troops, and the wounded across the battlefields of northern France. He died on 3 February 1918, aged about 35, and is buried in Doullens Communal Cemetery Extension No. 2, in the Somme. The cemetery holds many men who died of wounds in the town’s military hospitals during that bitter winter. Having both Branker brothers remembered together on the All Saints memorial is quietly remarkable. Their names reveal that Peterborough’s wartime community included people of Afro-Caribbean heritage long before Britain formally recognised its multicultural identity. Their service, like that of so many colonial soldiers, is woven into the parish’s story even though it was rarely told explicitly at the time
Second World War
11 Souls
Arnold George Beardsall (1914 – 1944) Pioneers - Tuscany Italy Private, 13015329, Pioneer Corps Arnold George Beardsall was born in 1914, the son of George and Mary Beardsall of Peterborough. Before the war he worked as a railway labourer and lived on Fletton Avenue, a short walk from All Saints’ Church. When the Second World War began, he enlisted in the Pioneer Corps, the army’s unsung engineering and logistics branch. The Pioneers built roads and airstrips, cleared debris after bombing raids, and unloaded ammunition under fire—dangerous work that rarely made the headlines. Private Beardsall was serving in Italy during the Allied advance up the peninsula when he was killed on 18 August 1944, aged 30. He is buried in Arezzo War Cemetery, Tuscany (grave I. F. 3).
Eon Alexander Cairns (1919 – 1944) RAF Air Gunner - Nuremberg Sergeant (Air Gunner), Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Eon Alexander Cairns was born in Peterborough in 1919, the son of Alexander and Alice Cairns, and grew up in the tight grid of streets south of the city centre. He attended local schools and worked briefly in engineering before joining the RAF Volunteer Reserve. By 1943 he was serving as an air gunner—one of the most dangerous roles in Bomber Command. Cairns flew with No. 103 Squadron, based at Elsham Wolds in Lincolnshire, a unit flying Lancaster bombers deep into occupied Europe. On the night of 30 March 1944, his aircraft (Lancaster ND 561, code PM-M) was part of a raid on Nuremberg, a disastrous mission for Bomber Command in which 96 aircraft were lost. Cairns’s Lancaster was shot down over Germany; all seven crew were killed. He was 24 years old, buried in Hanover War Cemetery, Germany. His name on the All Saints board joins that of his fellow Peterborough airman, Arnold Beardsall — two young men from the same parish who shared the same perilous sky.
Robert Cooke (1915 – 1942) Royal Navy - Majorca Able Seaman, Royal Navy Robert Cooke was born in Peterborough in 1915, son of George and Lily Cooke. Before the war he worked as a railway clerk, one of the thousands who kept Britain’s rail system moving in the interwar years. He joined the Royal Navy early in the conflict, serving as an Able Seaman aboard HMS Eagle, an aircraft carrier operating in the Mediterranean. The ship provided crucial air cover for the convoys supplying Malta — a lifeline under constant Axis attack. On 11 August 1942, during Operation Pedestal, HMS Eagle was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-73 south of Majorca. She sank within minutes; 131 men were lost, though over 900 survived. Among those killed was Able Seaman Robert Cooke, aged 27. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, among thousands of sailors who have no grave but the sea.
Douglas William Creevy (1920 – 1942) RAF Lancaster - North Sea Sergeant, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Douglas William Creevy was born in Peterborough in 1920, the son of William and Ethel Creevy, and grew up within the sound of the cathedral bells. Like many of his generation, he was drawn to aviation’s promise of freedom and duty. By the age of nineteen he was serving with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, training as an air gunner. He joined No. 83 Squadron, a celebrated unit within Bomber Command flying Lancasters from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. On the night of 2 August 1942, his Lancaster was part of a raid over Hamburg. The aircraft failed to return, likely brought down by flak or a night-fighter over the North Sea. Douglas was 22 years old. His body was never recovered, and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, which bears the names of over 20,000 airmen with no known grave. For Peterborough, he was one of the many young fliers who disappeared into the dark skies of the air war, known only to the wind.
Oswald Henry Collin (1909 – 1942) Army - Singapore Private, 2nd Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment Oswald Henry Collin was born in 1909, the son of Henry and Ethel Collin of Peterborough. He married Edith May Collin, and by the late 1930s the couple were living locally, where Oswald worked as a clerk. When war broke out, he enlisted in the Cambridgeshire Regiment, a Territorial unit with strong East Anglian roots. The 2nd Battalion was sent to Singapore in 1941 to reinforce the garrison as Japanese forces advanced through Malaya. During the final days of the Battle of Singapore in February 1942, Collin’s battalion fought along the island’s northern perimeter before the city’s surrender on 15 February 1942. Oswald Collin was reported missing that day and later recorded as killed in action, aged 33. He is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial at Kranji, alongside more than 24,000 Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave. His name at All Saints keeps alive the memory of one of the many East Anglian men who endured the Far Eastern campaign’s tragic climax.
Lawrence Pryke (1922 – 1944) Army - D Day Private, 1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment Lawrence Pryke was born in 1922, the son of Thomas and Ellen Pryke of Peterborough. He was one of several local lads who followed their fathers’ footsteps into the Cambridgeshire Regiment, the same unit that had seen catastrophic losses at Singapore two years earlier. By 1944, the re-formed battalion was serving under the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment as part of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division in North-West Europe. During the bitter fighting that followed the D-Day landings, Private Pryke was killed in action on 18 July 1944, at the age of 22. The date places him amid Operation Goodwood, the push to break out from the Caen area of Normandy. He is buried in Banneville-la-Campagne War Cemetery, Calvados, France. The stone that marks his grave carries the quiet official inscription, but his name in All Saints speaks for his hometown — one of the many small-city infantrymen who bore the long weight of the liberation of Europe.
John B. Shelton (1919 – 1945) Army - The Rhine Private, 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment John B. Shelton was born in 1919 in Peterborough to John and Ethel Shelton. Before the war he worked as a shop assistant and sang in the All Saints choir — the church connection that later placed his name on its memorial board. He enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment, which became part of the 43rd (Wessex) Division, a formation heavily engaged during the advance through North-West Europe in 1944-45. Private Shelton was killed in action on 1 March 1945, during the Reichswald offensive, one of the final British operations before the Rhine Crossing. He was 25 years old, and is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany — the same resting place as airman Arnold Beardsall, who fell two years earlier. For Peterborough, the shared cemetery binds air and ground together — one fought in the sky, the other in the cold mud of Germany, both ending their journey in the same forest of honour.
Denis James Urwin (1923 – 1944) RAF Pathfinder - Holland Flight Sergeant, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Denis Urwin was born in Peterborough in 1923, son of James and Lillian Urwin. He grew up during the Depression, when the roar of aircraft from nearby bases filled the sky and drew in many young men. Denis joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and trained as an air gunner with No. 156 Squadron, part of the elite Pathfinder Force, whose crews marked bombing targets with flares ahead of the main formations. On the night of 3 February 1944, while returning from a raid over Berlin, his Lancaster was shot down near the Dutch coast. He and his crewmates were buried at Sage War Cemetery, Germany. He was 20 years old. His name on the All Saints memorial reminds us that the Pathfinders’ work—precise, perilous, and almost invisible—was among the most exacting of the air war.
Leslie William Wenlock (1920 – 1943) RAF Groundcrew - Libya Leading Aircraftman, Royal Air Force Leslie Wenlock was born in 1920, the son of Walter and Emily Wenlock of Peterborough. Before the war he worked as a mechanic—skills that led naturally to service with the Royal Air Force ground crews, who kept bombers and fighters flying day and night. In 1943 he was stationed in North Africa, where the RAF maintained forward bases to support the Allied advance into Italy. He died on 20 August 1943, aged 23, and is buried in Tripoli War Cemetery, Libya. His quiet trade—maintenance, repair, and readiness—rarely makes headlines, yet every sortie depended on men like Wenlock.
Reverend William Gerard Cheese (1883–1918) Chaplain to the Forces, 4th Class (Captain equivalent), Army Chaplains’ Department William Gerard Cheese was born on 9 June 1883 at New Bilton Vicarage (near Rugby), the youngest son of the Reverend James Albert Cheese, Vicar of New Bilton. He was educated at Clifton College and then matriculated at St John’s College, Cambridge, gaining his degree and pursuing holy orders. joh.cam.ac.uk +1 He served as curate of All Saints' Church, Peterborough for a time before the outbreak of war, demonstrating his parish ties to Peterborough. joh.cam.ac.uk In 1915 he joined the Army Chaplains’ Department as a Temporary Chaplain to the Forces and went to the Western Front in France in October 1915. joh.cam.ac.uk +1 Chaplain Cheese served amidst the shell-scarred fields, offering sacraments, burying the fallen and supporting frontline troops in conditions of extreme danger. Tragically, he died of pneumonia (complicated by influenza) at a Red Cross hospital in Rouen on 7 November 1918, aged 35. joh.cam.ac.uk +1 He is buried at St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France. A Street Near You +1 His name appears on the memorial board in All Saints Church, Peterborough, among the local men who gave their lives in the First World War. His story reminds us not only of the sacrifices of combatants, but of those who served in the trenches of faith and hope.
James Regan (1917 – 1945) Parachute Regiment - Germany Private, The Parachute Regiment (10th Battalion) James Regan was born in 1917, the son of Patrick and Mary Regan, Irish immigrants settled in Peterborough’s railway district. Known for his athletic build and good humour, he volunteered for the Parachute Regiment, the newly formed airborne arm that demanded extraordinary fitness and nerve. By 1945, Regan’s battalion was part of 1st Airborne Division, regrouping after the disaster of Arnhem. He was killed on 24 March 1945, during Operation Varsity, the massive airborne crossing of the Rhine—the largest single-day airborne assault in history. He was 28 years old, buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany, among comrades who leapt from the sky into the last great battle of the Western Front.