Rifleman 24458 Gerald Walter Roche

Gerald Walter Roche was born in Birkenhead on 11th March 1898, the eldest child and only son of James Joseph Roche and his wife Alice (née Archbold).  James, from Wexford, Ireland, and Alice, born in Birkenhead, married in Birkenhead in 1896. They had nine children, five of whom survived past their first year:  Gerald, Margaret (who died at age 5), Annie, Norah, and Mary Josephine. (One other daughter, Anastasia, and three sons, William, Albert and James Thomas, died in infancy.)

 

Unfortunately the family cannot be found on the 1901 census.

 

In 1911 they are living at 303 Brook Street, Birkenhead, with two children.  His father, 34, is a general labourer in a steel works, his mother is 36, Gerald, 13, and Annie, 9, are at school.  

 

Another daughter, Nora, was born in 1911, then Mary Josephine in 1915.

Gerald was employed as an assistant in a grain warehouse prior to enlisting. 

 

De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour shows that Gerald enlisted in October 1914 in Liverpool as Private 24458, in the 20th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment.  Gerald was serving as Rifleman 24458 with the 2/6th (Territorial) Bn K.L.R. when he was wounded in action and died of his wounds at 54 Casualty Clearing Station on 7th September 1917. He was 19 years of age.

 

Gerald now rests in Estaires Communal Cemetery and Extension, Nord, France where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"MEMORY IS THE ONLY FRIEND THAT GRIEF CAN CALL ITS OWN. RIP"

 

Estaires town was occupied by French cavalry on the 15 October 1914, and passed at once into British hands. On the 10 April 1918 it was captured by the enemy, after an obstinate defence by the 50th (Northumbrian) Division; and it was finally retaken by British troops at the beginning of September 1918.

The town was a Field Ambulance centre as early as November 1914, and later the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station was posted in it. It was later "adopted" by the County Borough of Plymouth.

Estaires Communal Cemetery was used for British burials from the early days of November 1914 to June 1917, and two burials of September 1918 are in Plot II, Row P. Estaires Communal Cemetery Extension was used from April 1917 to April 1918, and again in September-November 1918. The Plots are numbered IV and V, in continuation of the numbering for the Communal Cemetery.

The Portuguese graves of June-August 1917 and two French graves were removed after the Armistice. A German Plot of 63 graves, made on the North side during the enemy occupation in 1918, has been removed.

There are a total of 875 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-1918 war here, 63 of which are unidentified. There are 9 Commonwealth burials of the 1939-45 War, killed during the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk at the end of May 1940. There are also 14 Non Commonwealth burials in CWGC care.

The five Plots cover an area of 3,336 square metres.

 

His parents received his effects, including a War Gratuity of £12, and a pension of 3/6d a week to his mother at 97 St. Anne Street, later at 11 Vine Street, Birkenhead. His father died in 1919, aged 42. 

 

In 1939 his mother Alice is living at 14 Exmouth Street, Birkenhead with daughters Nora and Mary Josephine.  His mother died in 1949, aged 74.

 

Gerald is commemorated on the Birkenhead Civic Memorial.

 

We currently have no further information on Gerald Walter Roche, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.