(22) 17 Reginald Nugent Coombs T/Sergeant, 2719 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade
 

22nd of the Old Boys of St Wilfrid's School, Haywards Heath to die in WW1.

Born 26 Feb 1891 in Haywards Heath, Sussex, the youngest of the five children of John Coombes (who had been both a railway signal man and a gardener) and his wife Mary Ann, they had lived in Hazelgrove Road in 1901. Reginald’s mother died in 1910.

I have not been able to find Reginald in 1911, although at the time of his enlistment at Brighton he gave Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire as his address. I wonder if he may have been a regular soldier. He left for France 16 Jun 1915, and was killed in action on 25 Sep 1915 at Ypres, he has no known grave, but is commemorated on the Ploegstreet Memorial.


(That number 17 in the title refers to him being 17th in alphabetical order in the memorial board)

The Register of Soldier's Effects reveals that Reginald married, he had married Ruth Sheffield in Sheppey district, Kent in October quarter 1914. She was paid a War Gratuity of £4 on 18 November 1919.