Benjamin Wilfrid Skerman

WWI Roll of Honour

By Lynette Wray

BENJAMIN WILFRID SKERMAN

Military History:        

Regiment:                               Royal Garrison Artillery

Rank:                                      Gunner

Regimental Number:             101649      

Date of Enlisting:                   3.7.1916

Date of death:                        26.7.1941

Cemetery/ Memorial:            

UK Cemetery/Memorial:       St Mary’s Church Ashwell Roll of Honour                                                     St Mary’s Church Ashwell cemetery

Benjamin (Wilf) enlisted on 3rd July 1916 with the Royal Garrison Artillery, Regimental Number 101649.  It is not known where he was posted nor if he served overseas, but he survived the War and died in Ashwell, Hertfordshire in the 26th July 1941 and is buried in the St Mary’s Church Cemetery in Ashwell.

Wilf was awarded the British War medal and the Victory Medal.

He is commemorated on the St Mary’s Church Ashwell Roll of Honour.

Family History:

Date of Birth:                2nd quarter 1883

Birth Place:                   Ashwell, Hertfordshire

Residence:                    Ashwell, Hertfordshire

Marriage:                      11.4.1914

Wilf was born at Ashwell, Hertfordshire in the 2nd quarter 1883, the eldest son of Alfred William and Eliza Betsy (nee Barton) Skerman. He was a pupil at the Merchant Taylors School in Ashwell. Wilf’s father was a platelayer with the Railways in 1901 and the family spent a few years in Islington, London. The family had returned to Ashwell, Hertfordshire by 1911 where Wilf was a labourer on a farm.

Wilf married Alice Frances Russell on 11th April 1914 in Bromley, Kent. They had two children, Frank Wilfrid born on 18th March 1920 at Ashwell, and Olive Mabel born on 2nd August 1917 also at Ashwell.

Wilf died at Ashwell, Hertfordshire in the 26th July 1941 and is buried in the St Mary’s Church Cemetery, Ashwell.

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