Thursday 21st October 1915: It is with regret that we learn that Lance Corporal Walter Bert Southgate, aged 36, of 32 Beaconsfield Street, Bedford, died at Folkestone Hospital on Saturday from wounds received in the recent Battle of Loos, being part of 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. He was the son of the late Mr Walter and Mrs Phoebe Southgate and was educated at the Harpur Trust Elementary School. Before the war he was employed as a cabman by Mr G H Keech, Mill Street. In December last he joined the Duke of Bedford’s Training depot at Ampthill, No. 2 Company, and went in a draft for the Front from there in August. His wounds were received about four weeks ago, the first time he went into the trenches.
At the funeral, which took place on Wednesday at the Bedford cemetery, the mourners were Mr Sam Southgate and Miss Amy Southgate, Mr W Soughgate and Miss Mary Southgate (brothers and sisters), Annie and Ada Southgate (sisters-in-law), Miss Geary and Mrs Bunker, Miss Bunker and Master J Geary, Miss Billington and Miss Ingram (friends). The Ampthill Battalion was represented by 119 men, including a firing party, under the command of Captain Hon. Moubray Saint John(1). The non-commissioned officers present included Company Sergeant Major Roberts, Company Quarter Master Sergeant Burke, Sergeant Norman and Sergeant Allen and there were many of Southgate’s old comrades and friends of No. 2 Company in the ranks.
The coffin, which was drawn on a gun carriage, was draped with the Union Jack and was covered with wreathes. It was preceded by the magnificent band of our 2nd Battalion, and on the route they played the Dead March in “Saal”. The Rev. Canon Speck conducted an impressive service at the cemetery, where a large crowd of friends had gathered to pay a last tribute to a gallant soldier and a beloved friend.
Source: Bedfordshire Times 22nd October 1915
(1) Later 19th Baron Saint John of Bletsoe
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