E Reginald Silkstone

(Edward) Reginald Silkstone was born in Carlton Scroop in 1899.  He was the eldest of the 9 children of William Silkstone and Mary (nee Bembridge).  William was an ironstone miner and parish constable.

Reginald started working as a farm waggoner. By 1914 he was working as a gardener for Captain Rennie* at Carlton Scroop Hall.  He was a member of the choir and a bell-ringer.

He volunteered for the Lincolnshire Regiment soon after war broke out in Aug 1914. He was sent to France with 7^th Battalion in July 1915 and was wounded twice.

He was injured during the opening days of the Battle of the Somme and died from wounds on 5^th July 1916.  He is buried at Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L’Abbe.  During the 1916 Somme campaign there were 3 casualty clearing  stations around the Mericourt-l’Abbe.  His name is also on the Carlton Scroop memorial window.

(* later Major John Henry Wyndham Rennie.  His wife Mary was born in New York)