Rank: Lieutenant Regiment: Indian Army Reserve of Officers - 51st Sikhs (Frontier Force) Died: 22/04/1917 Parish: Budleigh Salterton Local Memorials: Budleigh Salterton War Memorial, St Peter's Church War Memorial Other Memorial: Basra Memorial; Alderholt, Dorset [Google] PDF Download: SWIFT Wilfred Harold
Born in New Brighton, Cheshire in 1888 to Harold Swift and Constance Octavia (Moore). He is living with his parents in Lancashire up to 1901 and by 1911 he is a Bank Clerk staying in a hotel in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, with his Mother while his father is still in Cheshire.
He married Marjorie Fox-Strangeways on 25 January 1917 in Pishawar, India, barely three months before he was killed.
The only link to Budleigh Salterton is that Harold Swift appears in the 1923 P O Directory living at 7 Copplestone Road and he is buried in St Peter’s Cemetery, Moor Lane, Budleigh Salterton in 1924. He must have lived here at the time that the War Memorial was implemented so that his son’s name could be included.
Major Reinhold Meitzen Adams also served with the 51st Sikhs and was killed on the same day and whose wife was living in Links Road, Budleigh Salterton at the same time.
Wilfred is remembered with honour on the War Memorial, the brass plaque in St Peter’s Church and the Memorial at Basra.
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I am doing research on the WW1 for the Fordingbridge area. Please note on the Alderholt War Memorial that Wilfred Harold is also listed. Thanks to your research - I was able to pinpoint him. The name Harold is on the electoral role for Alderholt for a couple of years before he appears with you.