PRIVATE ROBERT WILLIAM PANKHURST BUCKINGHAM
PRINCE OF WALES' OWN CIVIL SERVICE RIFLES
1ST SEPTEMBER 1918 AGE 19
BURIED: RANCOURT MILITARY CEMETERY, FRANCE
Robert Buckingham was killed in the 47th London Division's capture of Rancourt on 1 September 1918. According to the Divisional History, the 15th Battalion London Regiment (Prince of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles), part of 140th Brigade, successfully took the west edge of St Pierre Vaast Wood "with many prisoners, and a motor ambulance complete with driver and two doctors". The troops were facing a newly-arrived German division but apparently "its quality was not remarkably good, however, and the morale of prisoners taken in large numbers later on fell distinctly low".
Private Buckingham's sister, Alice, signed for his inscription. Nine years older than him, she was an elementary school teacher in Croydon. Can I hear a sisterly attempt to encourage a dubious soldier of his duty, or am I imagining things?