Bertie Wilfred Theodore Manning

A Private with the 9th Battalion, Bertie died on 5th of October 1918 aged 26. 

Bertie was born at Carlton Colville in 1892, a son of George and Matilda Frances Manning. He was baptised at Saint Peter’s Church, Carlton Colville, on 10 September 1893. In 1901 his family lived at Worcester Terrace, Carlton Colville. By 1911 they were living at 10 Severn Terrace, Kirkley Run, and Bertie was a labourer.

Bertie enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft. He joined the Labour Corps, service number 249256, and served with the 5th Labour Battalion. Bertie was transferred to the Yorkshire Regiment, service number 34269, and posted to France to join the 9th Battalion. 

On 5 October 1918 the 9th Battalion began an attack on Beaurevoir. Their war diary records that they were held up by machine-gun fire. Bertie was killed in the attack. During the month of October, the battalion lost 69 killed, 361 wounded, and 47 missing. 

Bertie was buried in a ‘German trench grave’ and his grave marked with a cross. In 1924 he was exhumed and reburied at Beaurevoir British Cemetery.