11th Company, Machine Gun Corps
Bernard Whyte was an Irishman and according to the Irish Memorial Records from the Great War he was born at Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, in 1897. His father was Joseph Whyte. Soldier’s Died in the Great War has him enlisting in Navan and residing in Ashbourne.
Otherwise little is known of his military service, as his Army Service Record has not survived. His Medal Rolls Index Card records his initial service being with the Leinster Regiment and as his medal entitlement is for the British War and Victory Medals this indicates that he did not serve abroad until 1916. We do not know when he transferred from the Leinsters to the Machine Gun Corps but 11th Company was formed on 22 December 1915 and became part of 11 Brigade, 4 Division.
According to a report in the Gloucestershire Echo of 29 July 1916 he died of shrapnel wounds sustained in France, on 27 July 1916, aged 19. He was buried two days later in Cheltenham Cemetery, where a standard CWGC headstone marks his grave.
Researched by Graham Adams 26 May 2016