Pte 36489 Peter Davies

• Age: 25
• From: Bolton, Lancs
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Thursday 12th October 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Peter Davies was born in Bolton in the first quarter of 1891, the son of Peter and Sophia(nee Warburton) Davies who were married in 1871 at St George, Bolton. He was baptised at St Peter's Church, Bolton Le Moors on 22nd February 1891. 

The 1891 Census finds new born Peter living with his parents and 5 elder siblings at Victory Street, Halliwell, Bolton. 

His father is recorded as a cotton spinner born in Bolton in 1847, whilst his mother Sophia was born in Bolton in 1845. His five siblings, all born in Bolton are shown as; Herbert a cotton piercer born 1874, Alice a card room hand in a cotton mill born 1875, Robert a schoolboy and part time cotton piercer born 1880, Mary born 1882 and Sophia born 1884.  

The father died aged 44 just after the census in 1891. 

On the 1901 Census the family have moved to 127 Musgave Rd, Halliwell.

Widowed mother Sophia is aged 56, children Alice 25 a frame tenter in cotton mill, Robert 21 a spinner, Mary 19 a ring spinner, Sophia 17 a ring spinner, and Peter aged 10. 

The 1911 Census shows Peter as a 20 year old side piercer in a cotton mill. His mother aged 66, is shown as head of the household and he has 4 siblings still living at home; Alice 36 a drawing tenter, Robert 31 a cotton mill minder, Mary 29 at home, and Sophia 27 a ring spinner. 

He enlisted in Preston and was serving in the 18th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 36489 when he was killed in action on the 12th October 1916 during the Battle of the Transloy Ridges which was part of the ongoing Somme Offensive.

He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01^st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

Details of Peter's death were reported in the Bolton Journal on 17th November 1916:

"Mrs.Davies, 149,Musgrave-rd.,Bolton, has received news of the death of her son, Pte. Peter Davies, King's (Liverpool) Regiment, who was killed on October 12th by the bursting of a shell. He enlisted on March 16th, and went to the front on July 2nd. Before enlisting he was a minder at the Croal Spinning Company's mill, Deane-rd". 

Soldiers Effects and Pension to mother Sophia, 149 Musgrave Rd. 

The mother Sophia died aged 79 in 1924.

We currently have no further information on Peter Davies, if you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.