Victor Stokes

Story:
Victor Stokes was born in Hartgrove, Shaftesbury, Dorset, registered in the 1st quarter of 1900, the son of Harry Stokes and Augusta Farmer Stokes (née Gatehouse), a local family.  Victor lived for the first few years of his life at Hartgrove but, by 1905, had moved with his family to Milton on Stour, Gillingham, Dorset.  He enlisted with the 8th Battalion of the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire) Regiment as a Private (Service No. 45981).  He served in France & Flanders where, according to the Dependant's Pension Record Form, he was accidentally killed on 5th September 1918 along with at least two other fellow members of the Regiment.  He was buried in the Mericourt-L'Abbe Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France, (Grave Ref: III. H. 15.) and is remembered on the Gillingham War Memorial.   He was awarded the Victory and British War medals.  His family received a pension payment for some years after the event certainly up until 1934 when Victor's mother died in 1934.