Notes
The Roll lists his address as 8 Henry Street. It wrongly states that he died on 18/3/1915; his death certificate records that he was actually killed in action on 13/3/1915.
(The birth of Percy Ward was registered in Peterborough in 1893. On the 1901 census he was living with his parents Betsy and William Thomas Ward at Anchor Cottages in Gladstone Street North, Peterborough. On the 1911 census he was living with them at 8 Henry Street in Peterborough, working as a joiner's apprentice.
CWGC currently records inaccurately that Private P. Ward, regimental number 787, died on 2/3/1915, serving in B Squadron of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry. He is now buried in grave V.E.10 at Aubers Ridge British Cemetery in France, having been reinterred after the War. [Their Grave Registration records states that he was originally buried in grave A.4 in Winchester Post Military Cemetery in Rue de Bacquerot, Laventie. That Cemetery was near Neuve Chapelle, in front of a farm building known as "Winchester Post" that was used as a Dressing Station and Battalion Headquarters during WW1].
Soldiers Died in the Great War correctly recorded that Percy Ward died on 13/3/1915, as did the Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, which stated that his father William Thomas Ward was his legatee. The Medal Rolls, however, inaccurately recorded that Percy was killed in action on 3/3/1915, having disembarked on 6/11/1914.
Percy Ward's death was announced on 26/3/1915 in the Northampton Mercury. Mentioning that Percy had served three years in the Yeomanry, and had celebrated his 22nd birthday on 28/2/1915 (i.e. born 28/2/1893), the Mercury inaccurately reported that he had been killed in action on 14th March 1915. A fellow Trooper from Peterborough was quoted as having written that: "'Tush' Ward and four others were on guard at Headquarters and were sleeping in the guardroom when a shell burst in and 'Tush' and another man were blown to pieces... I feel awfully sorry for Mrs Ward, as 'Tush' was such a favourite". The report did not name the comrade who had also died in the same incident as Percy. However, the previous week's edition of the Northampton Mercury had announced the death of Lance Corporal Arthur Neal of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry, whose parents were reported to have been informed by Major Miller that their son had been killed "by the bursting of a shell while engaged at a dressing station"; Dr Allison had accurately informed Arthur's parents that he was killed on 13th March. [CWGC record that Lance Corporal A.E. Neal of B Squadron, Northants Yeomanry, regimental number 722, is now buried alongside Percy Ward in Aubers Ridge British Cemetery, and that the two men had also originally been buried in adjoining graves at Winchester Post Military Cemetery].
CWGC currently records incorrectly that Arthur died on 2/3/1915. The death certificates of Percy Ward and Arthur Neal record that they both died on 13/3/1915. From the newspaper's descriptions of their deaths, and the fact that they were the only men from the Northants Yeomanry buried in Winchester Post Cemetery in March 1915, it is reasonable to deduce that they both died in the same shell explosion at the Winchester Post Dressing Station/Battalion H.Q. CWGC have therefore now been sent the death certificates of both Percy and Arthur, with a request that they consider amending their records for both men, and also the date of death on their headstones).