Pte 29603 Arthur Edwin Dean

Arthur Edwin Dean was born on 04th December 1892.  He was the son of Walter Edwin Dean and Sarah Jackson.  

 

Although his birth was registered in Birkenhead, Arthur was baptised on 23rd January 1893 in St. Peter’s Church, Liverpool, his parents’ residence given as Virgil Street, and his father’s occupation given as pawnbroker.  

 

No marriage record can be found for his parents.  His mother Sarah was born in Seacombe in about 1860.   The only Walter Edwin Dean in the north of England was born in Liverpool in 1863 and is found on the 1891 census as a pawnbroker’s assistant in Liverpool, and in 1901 as single, a railway porter.  

 

In 1901 Arthur and his mother, Sarah Dean, are boarding with William and Alicia Adamson and family at 54 Edgmond Street, Seacombe. His mother is 40, listed as married, and employed as a charwoman, Arthur is 8.

 

Walter Edwin Dean was admitted to Cheshire Lunacy Asylum in Seacombe in March 1902, and died in June, aged 39. He was buried in Toxteth Cemetery, Liverpool.

 

In 1911 His mother Sarah Dean, 50, listed as a widow, is head of household at 1 Margaret Street, Seacombe.  Arthur is 18, a labourer in a flour mill.  They have a boarder Suther Corbett, 39, a plumber. 

Although he lived in Seacombe, Arthur Edwin enlisted in Liverpool joining the 22nd Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 29603. 

Arthur died on 07th January 1916 of meningitis in an Auxiliary Military Hospital; as his death was registered in the Birkenhead district, this could have been Manor Hill or Upton Road Hospitals. He was aged 23 and is buried at Wallasey (Rake Lane) Cemetery at 13.G.673 where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"AT REST" 

 

There are 259 First World War burials in the Cemetery.

Arthur's death was reported in the Birkenhead News on 12th January 1916:

Soldiers Sad Death

WALLASEY MOTHER BEREAVED

An inquest was held on Monday at the Birkenhead Coroner's Court by the deputy coroner Mr A. F. Cotton, relative to the death of a soldier named Private Arthur Edwin Dean, aged 23, of the 22nd Reserve Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment, who resided when at home with his mother at Margaret Road, Wallasey. It appears that the deceased, who was home for the New Year on leave, complained on December 28th of not feeling well, and he informed his mother that he had been in the sick bay at Knowsley Park some days previously. On Wednesday December 29th, Doctor Inman of Wallasey was called in and said that he was suffering from lumbago and rheumatism and advised that a military doctor should be called to see him. On Sunday January 2nd, Dr McKeown called on behalf of the military authorities and after examining the deceased he said that it was a case for a military hospital, and the soldier was accordingly removed to the Palm Grove Military Hospital. On Wednesday the 5th, owing to his delirium, deceased was removed to the Tranmere Military Sanatorium where death took place on Friday the 7th inst. Evidence of identification was given by the mother, Mrs Sarah Dean, who spoke of her son complaining of feeling unwell. Dr Stanfield of the Tranmere Military Hospital said that a post mortem revealed that the death was due to meningitis. The jury returned a verdict accordingly.

Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, Arthur had served for less than a year when he died.

 

His mother Sarah received Arthur’s Army effects of £2-4s-4d and War Gratuity of £3, pension of 10/- a week.

Arthur is commemorated on the Liverpool Liverpool Hall of Remembrance at Panel 6. 

Sarah appears to have died in 1932 in Birkenhead, aged 72. 

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