Pte 86423 Arthur Edward Dyer

• Age: 22
• From: Sunningwell, Berkshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 30th March 1918
• Commemorated at: Pozieres Memorial
  Panel Ref: P21-23

Arthur Edward Dyer was born in 1895 at Sunningwell, Berkshire, and resided in Witney, Oxford. He was the son of George Edward Dyer and his wife Edith Laura (nee Bennett). His father, George Dyer was born in Wootton in 1871/2 (registered first quarter of 1872 with forenames reversed), the son of the labourer John Dyer and his wife Amelia, and was baptised at St Peter’s Church on 4 March 1872. His mother, Edith Laura Bennett (Mrs George Dyer) was born in Garsington in 1868/9 (registered first quarter of 1869).His parents were married in the Wallingford registration district in the fourth quarter of 1891 and had four children:

• George William John Dyer (born in Marston in 1892, registered fourth quarter, and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church there on 5 December 1892)
• Arthur Edward Dyer (born in Sunningwell in 1895, registered third quarter, and baptised at St Leonard’s Church there on 25 August 1895)
• Elizabeth Laura Dyer (born in Bayworth, Sunningwell in 1896, registered fourth quarter, and baptised at St Leonard’s Church there on 29 November 1896).
• Dorothea Mary Dyer (born in Sunningwell on 1 September 1898, and baptised at St Leonard’s Church there on 30 September 1898).

Arthur’s parents started their married life in Marston, and moved to Sunningwell by mid-1895 (with the address specified as Bayworth in 1896). His father was usually described as a labourer or gardener, but in 1895 as a coachman.

The 1901 census shows the family living at White Barn Cottages, Boars Hill, Wootton.

The 1901 census shows the family living at White Barn Cottages, Boars Hill, Wootton. Father George E. 29, a gardener b.Wooton, mother Edith L. 31 b.Dorchester, children George W. 8 b.Marston, Arthur E. 5 b.Sunninwell, Laura 4 b.Sunninwell, Dorothea 2 b.Sunninwell.

The 1911 Census shows the family have moved to North Hinksey.

Father George Edward 39, a domestic gardener b.Wooton, mother Edith Laura 41 (married 19 years 4 children), children George William 18 is an invalid, Arthur Edward 15 an errand boy, Dorothea Mary 12 at school.

He enlisted in Oxford and was formerly 286120, Queens Oxford Hussars and serving in  B Company, 8th Platoon of the 19^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 86423 when he was killed in action on the 30^th March 1918 aged 22 during the German Spring Offensive.

As Graham Maddocks points out in his book The Liverpool Pals, the CWGC records 38 men of the 19^th Bn of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as killed in action on 30^th March 1918 when as the Battalion diary below, shown in bold type, records that the men were actually out of the line and safely on the way to St Valery- sur- Somme.

The composite battalion moved off from ROUVREL at 8.30 am at 50 yards interval between companies, arriving at SALEUX at 3.20 pm where they entrained, detraining at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME the same night. The night was spent at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME.

Apart from those whose bodies were not found and are commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial all but two have burial sites at Savy British Cemetery, which itself is within a couple of miles of Roupy and contains most of the identified men killed on 22^nd March 1918. Therefore, it would appear that the date of death for these men shown as 30^th March 1918 is purely an arbitrary one and that they were in fact killed on 22^nd March. 

Arthur Edward has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial. 

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.

Arthur was initially declared Missing between 22nd-30th March 1918. His documents were received in the pension office in October 1918, which may give an indication of when he was officially reported killed in action

Nine months after his son had been declared Missing, his father, still seeking information, contacted the International Red Cross but was notified on 23rd December 1918 that they held no information on Arthur. 

Soldiers Effects to father George E. and pension to mother Laura Edith

Arthur is remembered on the war memorial outside St Peter’s Church at Wootton.


His mother died at Wootton at the age of 63 and was buried at the church there on 11 July 1932.

His father died at the age of 77 in the Abingdon registration district in the third quarter of 1949.

His sister Dorothea Mary Dyer married Sydney A. Douglas in the Abingdon registration district in the second quarter of 1922.

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