1/5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Maurice Hubert Weale was born in the third quarter of 1892 in the Parish of St Catherine’s, Gloucester, the son of Henry and Alice Weale: according to the 1901 Census he was the youngest of three children.
He enlisted in the 1/5th Glosters on 8 August 1914, within days of the outbreak of war, then aged 21 years and 11 months. He stated his occupation to be a clerk (accountant) at Gloucester Wagon Company Ltd and his address 41 Heathville Road.
His Army Pension Record survives at the National Archives and provides details of his Army service.
He served with the 1/5th Glosters from 8 August 1914 until 25 October 1915, of which the period 29 March to 25 July 1915 was spent in France.
He was discharged from the Army on 25 October 1915, as ‘no longer fit for war service’ and received a Silver War Badge. According to his medical report discharge was due to tuberculosis of the lung. This ‘originated July 1912 at Gloucester: man returned from France with cold due to repeated wettings and sleeping in damp clothes. Consolidation of upper part of right lung.’ It was considered that whilst his condition was not due to war service the deterioration in his condition was a result of it.
He was granted a partial disability pension, which was reviewed on a periodic basis — the reports indicate a fluctuation in the progress and effect of the disease. The last review was on 17 July 1918, when his address was shown as The Bungalow, Maisemoor.
Private Maurice Hubert Weale died on 24 July 1919, aged 26. He was buried in the churchyard of Brockworth Parish Church. He has a private headstone, in the form of a stone cross. In about 2010 the Commonwealth War Graves Commission refurbished the wording, which had become almost indecipherable: it shows his address as ‘White House, Coopers Hill’.
According to the Gloucester Journal of 2 August 1919, reporting his funeral, he was the Assistant Secretary of the County War Pensions Committee.
His Probate record records his occupation as ‘County Council Clerk’, which he probably became following his discharge from the Army. He left £316, to be administered by his widow. In the third quarter of 1916 he married Catherine Giblett, who appears to have re-married in 1924 (to Frank Hogbin).
Researched by Graham Adams 27 October 2011