Peterborough & The Great War

Biography

Private A A Upton passed through Peterborough East Station and signed the visitors’ book on 14 March 1917.  He was serving with the 2/7 Battalion Essex Regiment.  His service number suggests that he would have joined up around December 1915.  The regiment was based in Egypt at the time and stayed there for the duration of the war.

We have found records for two servicemen with this name which are, Arthur Albert Upton from March, born 1888 and Arthur Alfred Upton from Peterborough born in 1874.  The first was a plasterer and the second was a railway clerk.

Please get in touch if you can help us to identify this soldier.

The 7^th Battalion went to Gallipoli and then on to Egypt where Private Upton is likely to have been.  The War Diary on 2nd November 1917, states “the 7th Essex were ordered to attack Rafah Trench and although their action was described as brave, they made slow headway eventually capturing the highly fortified Cricket Redoubt. Their losses were so heavy that they were withdrawn from the line and replaced by the 6th Essex.  In total 6 officers and 61 other ranks were killed with 31 missing and 177 wounded. The battle raged for several days until dawn on 7th November 1917 showed that the Turks had abandoned their positions.”  For more about the Essex Regiment please see http://bit.ly/2FksoqW