Private Reginald Samuel Fenner
1/5th Battalion, King's (Liverpool Regiment)
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1894
Place of Birth: Teignmouth, Devon
Date of Death: 16 May 1915 aged 21
Buried: Remembered on Le Touret Memorial, France; Seafront Memorial and St James’ Church Memorial Window, Teignmouth, Devon.
Awarded the 1914 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal
Rifleman Reginald Samuel Fenner, age 21.
Born in Teignmouth in 1894 and baptised on 26 February 1894 in East Teignmouth, his parents were James, and Louisa Ellen Fenner.
On the 1901 census he was shown with his father, an army pensioner, and his mother and brothers living in Wavertree, Liverpool.
Still at the same address in 1911 census he was living with his widowed mother and brothers; he was now an apprentice.
The family moved to Liverpool when Reginald was young.
His 2 older brothers were also serving in the Army and his mother had been widowed prior to 1911.
King’s (Liverpool Regiment) Cap Badge © IWM (INS 5535
He attested on 29 August 1914 at Liverpool, in 1/5th Battalion the Kings Liverpool Regiment, army service number 2368. He went to France on 21 February 1915.
Records show he was wounded on 24 April 1915 at Givenchy, the following month he was reported missing on 16 May 1915, and on 21 June 1915 his death was confirmed as killed in action at Richebourg d' Avone during the Battle of Festubert on 16 May 1915.
Remembered on Le Touret Memorial, France; Seafront Memorial and St James’ Church Memorial Window, Teignmouth.
The 1/5th King's Liverpool Regiment
The 1/5th Infantry of the King's Liverpool Regiment landed at Le Havre on the 22nd of February 1915.
British soldiers arrive in Le Havre, France. © IWM (Q 51472)
Le Havre is a port in France which during the First World War was used as a base for storage and as a transport hub .
1.9 million British soldiers passed through Le Havre en route to the Western Front which was further North.
The 1/5th Battalion then transferred to 6th Brigade, 2nd Division and moved to the Western Front.
The men of his unit were fighting in the Battle of Festubert (15–25 May 1915), an attack by the British army in the Artois region of France in which the 2nd Division lost 5,445 casualties.
The Battle of Festubert was part of a series of attacks by the French Tenth Army and the British First Army in the Second Battle of Artois (3 May – 18 June 1915).
Men preparing for a gas attack in the 2nd Battle of Artois 20th May 1915. © IWM (Q 51650)
Reginald Samuel Fenner of Teignmouth died on 16th May 1915 aged 21.
