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Rifleman Arthur H. WEST, London Regiment (Queen’s Westminster rifles)
1890 - 1st July 1916

Born in Sidcup in 1890, Arthur West was just one of the ‘doomed’ generation who it seemed were
destined for an early death in the cause of the British Empire.

In 1901, living in Black Horse Road , Sidcup with his parents and seven brothers and sisters, whose
ages varied from 16 years to three months, young 11-year-old Arthur had already left school and was
working locally, along with his 14-year-old brother, George, as an errand boy at a local chemist. Their
father’s income from his milk rounds was never enough for the rent, food and clothing needed for such
a large family, and as soon as they were of working age, even at the tender of eleven, it was vital that the
boys should find some means of helping with the family finances.

By 1914, the family were living in one of the tiny Mayfield Cottages, Cray Road and when the chance of
an adventure, with the added bonus of being considered a local hero came his way, Arthur
enthusiastically enrolled and was placed in the Queen’s Royal Westminster Rifles, The London
Regiment, which initially formed in August 1914 at 58 Buckingham Gate, London. On mobilisation
they moved to Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire for training and landed at Le Havre, in France, on
rd
3 November 1914. For the first six months the Battalion was in the Armentieres Sector before
moving up to the Salient in May 1915.

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The 16 Battalion, Westminster Rifles, was just one of the Divisions who took part in the disastrous
Battle of the Somme attack. They suffered over 600 casualties from the 750 men who went into action.
Rifleman Arthur West was one of those killed on the notorious first day of the Somme. Like many
hundreds of other families throughout the country, his distraught parents and his brothers and sisters
were left to mourn their tragic loss, but comforted by the knowledge that they could be proud that he
had done his best for the country and the Empire.

In memoriam: Arthur West has no known grave but his name has been recorded, along with many
thousands of others, on the magnificent Thiepval Memorial.