Name & Rank:
Lance Corporal Walter Fasham
Regimental Number
G/2842
Birth date & Location
Spring 1882 in Worth, Kent, UK
Parents
Ann and John Fasham of Kent, UK
Family Profile
Walter Fasham was the middle child of three boys born to Ann and John Fasham in the small town of Worth in Kent. His father, John, died in 1887, just one year after Walter’s younger brother was born. Following her husband’s death, Ann moved with her children to nearby Deal to live with her mother who worked as a laundress. By about 1907, Walter had moved to Charlwood, Surrey where he worked as a gardener and boarded with the Burbury family. His brothers continued to reside with their mother. It is unclear whether or not either of them enlisted or served during the war, if they did they survived and lived in near Deal.
Service Profile
The Surrey Mirror and County Post noted on 26 May 1916, that Fasham was one of the first to volunteer for service at the outbreak of war. He was first deployed to France in September 1915 with the 8th Battalion. In late April 1916, they were in trenches just half a mile south of Wulvergem, Belgium. From 26 April – 2 May, the battalion was subject to machine gun fire during the night. Deserters from German lines reported that a gas attack was eminent. It happened on 30 April 12:45-2 AM and resulted in 110 casualties, mostly due to gas. Walter Fashman was one of these casualties. While the battalion was able to repel a raiding party, the sounds of the machine guns covered the sounds of the release of the gas.
Death date & Location
Fasham died on 1 May 1916 from exposure to gas. He is buried in Bailleul Communal Cemetery, France.
Links to OA records accessed
