1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Arthur Bertram Workman was born in Minchinhampton in the second quarter of 1887, the son of Frederick and Hannah Workman, who at the time of the 1901 Census had three children.
When the census was held in 1911 Arthur was living with his brother and sister in law at 47 St Mary’s Grove, Gorse Hill, Swindon. His occupation is given as a machinist (drilling).
In the last quarter of 1911 he was married and when the CWGC Register was compiled in 1921 his wife Mary Catherine Workman was living at Forwood, Minchinhampton.
Unfortunately his Army Service Record has not survived but according to his Medal Index Card he was in the 1st Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment and he landed in France on 13 August 1914.
This was a Regular Army Battalion, so it is probable that he had enlisted in the Army in the years between 1911 and 1914.
The 1st Gloucesters, part of 3rd Brigade, 1 Division were at Bordon camp and embarked for Le Havre from Southampton, on board the SS Gloucester Castle on 12 August 1914.
On the 15th they travelled north by means of train and marching towards the front line, near Mons coming into contact with the enemy on the 24th.
Thereafter they took part in the British Expeditionary Force’s retreat to the Marne and, with the turning of the tide, its advance via the Aisne back up to the Belgian border.
According to a report in the Gloucester Journal of 12 November 1914 Private Workman was wounded on 5 September, during the Battle of the Aisne.
On 4 December 1914 he underwent an operation, at the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich, to extract a bullet and died on the operating table: he was aged 27.
On 11 December the Stroud News reported: A military funeral, one of the first in the district during the war , drew many sympathisers to Minchinhampton Church.
Private Arthur Bertram Workman was buried in the churchyard of Minchinhampton Holy Trinity Church, where a standard CWGC headstone now marks his grave.
Research by Graham Adams 1 May 2014 (revised)