Guest Post: The Tale of Arthur George Bacon (1895-1916)

Over the summer, I have had the help of two wonderful students at Cardiff University who have used their detective skills to compile short biographies of some of the book owners in my Edwardian book collection. Here, Llio Mererid shares the story of Arthur George Bacon - a working-class boy from Weston-Super-Mare tragically killed in World War One - which she managed to piece together from archival records.

Arthur George Bacon was the first son of Albert John and Alice (née Hooley) Bacon born in 1895 and baptised on the 4th of August of the same year at the Parish of Emmanuel, Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England. At the time, his parents were living at 12 Gloucester Street and his father was a Coachbuilder.

The same can be said in 1911, when Arthur was 16 years of age. By then, his father was in the same profession as a Coach Body Maker and was boarding a Coach Trimmer of the same age named Albert George Powell at 5 Gloucester Street. The house had six rooms, which could be the reason why the family could accommodate a boarder. By then, Arthur was working as a Clerk for the County Council in the Education sector and his 10 year old brother (Albert Robert) was a scholar.

Moving from one side of Gloucester Street to another would have been a short-distanced move but would have secured the great location of the Bacon’s family home near the seaside. Indeed, Gloucester Street was the next street from the Marine Parade and a stone’s throw away from the Grand Pier. Situated here was a 2,000 seat theatre pavilion that hosted concerts, ballet performances, opera and boxing matches; as well as being the perfect place to roller skate or walk on a warm summer day.

There is no doubt that Arthur and his family would have taken part in these activities and been part of the fun on the pier whilst living at Gloucester Street. Residing here would also have been Arthur’s home when he received his prize of Tales of Adventure by R. M. Ballantyne in 1909 for good attendance.

Receiving an adventure fiction book might well have given Arthur a fantastical idea of life abroad in another country and when the First World War came in 1914 with the opportunity to see what was beyond the seaside of Weston-Super-Mare; Arthur signed himself up to fight.

He joined the 12th Battalion, Gloucester Regiment in 1914 and was transferred to the clerical department of the Regimental Headquarters. He was killed at the age of 22 in the advance of the Somme on the 3rd of September, 1916. In a newspaper article in the Wells Journal on the 13th of October, 1916, he is said to be the third member of the county staff to be killed, but the first from his office. “He was taking steps to keep something of a record of those who had fallen in case the committee at the termination of the war desired to consider the question of commemorating the memory of these brave men.”

He is buried at Guillemont Road Cemetery, Guillemont, Department de la Somme, Picardie, France; plot XIV. M. 5. and is titled Private Arthur George Bacon.