Percy James Wall was born in the Somerset village of Kilmersden in the summer of 1880. The fifth of ten children, his parents were called Robert and Amelia. Robert was a cashier for a local colliery, but it seems that Percy did not follow into his father’s line of work.

The 1901 census found Percy working as a draper’s assistant for Jolly & Son’s in Bath. He was one of 27 boarders at the company’s lodgings on Milsom Street in the city centre. By 1911, he was still working for the same company, but as a draper’s clerk, and had moved to some new lodgings just to the north in Lansdown Road.

When war broke out, Percy stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Gloucestershire Regiment, although his full service records are no longer available. Private Wall was attached to the 1st/4th Battalion, and, by the autumn of 1916, he found himself caught up in fighting at the Ancre, part of the Battles of the Somme.

Percy was badly wounded, and evacuated to Britain for treatment. Full details are unclear, but his injuries were enough for him to medically discharged from the army. He was awarded the Silver War Badge – proof of his genuine discharge – but at this point his trail goes cold.

Percy struggled on with his injuries for a further two years. Hhe may have remained in hospital since his original injuries, but there are no records to corroborate this either way. At the start of 1919, he had been admitted to the Bath War Hospital, his family having also moved to the city by this point. He finally succumbed to his wounds, passing away on 3rd March 1919: he was 38 years of age.

Percy James Wall was laid to rest in the sprawling Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath, his pain finally eased.

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