The Fallen – 1920 to 1922

The Fallen of Aston and Weston – 1920  to 1922 

2nd Lieutenant Reginald Walter Cartlidge of the Tank Corps died on the 30th July 1920 and was buried in the churchyard of Weston on Trent parish church on the 3rd August. He was 24 years of age.   

His military career began in 1913 at Devonport as a 16 year old boy artificer in the Royal Navy. In 1915 he was dismissed from that service for lack of progress and unsatisfactory conduct. Very soon after his discharge from the Royal Navy he enlisted in the army and for a period served with the 16th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Chatsworth Rifles) during which time attained the rank of Sergeant. In early 1916 he was posted to the Machine Gun Corps at Pirbright for Officer Cadet training. Gaining his commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the Heavy Branch of the Machine Gun Corps he was then transferred to the 6th Battalion Tank Corps and subsequently posted to France. He was ordered home on the 15th August 1918 due to concerns regarding his health. 

On his return to England he spent a considerable amount of time at the Tooting Surgical Hospital, London, where he underwent intense treatment to relieve his condition, but to no avail, and he returned to Weston two weeks before his death on the 30th July 1920. His death certificate reveals the cause of death to have been tuberculosis of the spine and cardiac failure.

Prior to his death he had resigned his commission and this was confirmed by the London Gazette on 30th December 1918. 

Reginald Walter Cartlidge was born on the 8th July 1896 at Branston, near Burton on Trent, and was the first child of Walter and Mary Cartlidge, who eventually settled their family in Weston on Trent at the Plough Inn. The start of Reginald’s military career appears less than satisfactory, but his commendable rise through the ranks, once he had transferred from the Royal Navy to the Army, must demonstrate that he possessed outstanding ability.