Reginald Southgate

Story:
Reginald Southgate was born at Higher Coombe, Donhead St. Mary, Wiltshire, on 21st November 1899 and baptised at St. John the Baptist Church, Charlton, Donhead St. Mary, Wiltshire, on 2nd June 1901, the son of Ernest Southgate and Sarah Sally Southgate (née Dawson). (Reginald's elder brother, Ernest Harold Southgate, was baptised on the same day and also served in the war.)  Reginald lived most of his early life at Landsley Farm, Higher Coombe.  He enlisted on 27th December 1917 and joined the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry as a Private (Service No. 30521).  He later transferred to the Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars on 29th March 1918 (Service No. 67043).  He served in the UK only and was discharged on 10th February 1919.  There are no medal records.  By the 1921 Census he had returned to Higher Coombe and was working as a Plumber & Fitter for S. Humphries & Son, Shaftesbury.  Reginald married Florence Mahalia Bennett at Charlton, Donhead St. Mary, in 1923 and they went on to have two children.  By the 1939 Register he was living at 34 Herbert Crescent, Knaphill, Woking, Surrey, working as a Wholesale Dairy Producer.  He died in the Honiton, Devon, Registry District in 1982.