Walter Simon Kinsey was born in 1897 at Kirtling, Cambridgeshire, the son of Robert Kinsey and Rhoda née Ennals originally of Old Newton and Hintlesham, Suffolk. Walter’s father, like his father before him, was a shepherd and Walter’s early years were spent travelling around Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, moving with the family and flock. In 1911, at the age of 13, Walter was living with his parents and siblings at Shepherd’s Cottage, Nowton, Suffolk, and working as a farm labourer. By 1914 however he had moved to Shotley, near Ipswich, Suffolk.

Following the outbreak of war, Walter enlisted at Ipswich at the age of just 18, joining the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. After basic training he was posted to Belgium on 27 July 1915 where he experienced fighting at Hooge and trench warfare in the Ypres salient.

On 1 July 2016 Walter’s battalion was posted to the Somme. Marching via St Omer,  Doullens, Naours, Coisy, Francvillers and Cerisy they reached Carnoy close to the front on the 8 July. On 20 July the 2nd Suffolks as part of the 76th Brigade were ordered to attack the enemy positions in the village of Longueval in an operation to relieve remnants of the South African Brigade still defending the Delville Wood salient.

The attack began in the early hours of 20 July at 3.35am following an preliminary artillery bombardment. A thick mist that morning however caused part of the battalion to loose direction and the attack became confused. At 4am as the battalion approached the enemy positions on the outskirts of Longueval they encountered heavy machine gun and sniper fire that impeded the advance and many lives were lost in an attempt to take the machine gun emplacement. By the end of the day the 76th Brigade was able to push beyond Longueval and reach Delville Wood helping to relieve the last survivors of the South African Brigade but at the cost of many casualties. Walter Kinsey was amongst those who lost their lives in the attack.

Walter has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Thiepval, France (Pier and Face 1C and 2A) and on two other war memorials at Holy Trinity Church, Balsham, Cambridgeshire and St Mary’s Church, Shotley. Walter’s brother David Kitchener Kinsey was also killed during the war in 1918 however his youngest brother Albert Edward Kinsey, who has too young to serve, survived and continued the family’s shepherding business until the early 1960s.

  

Robert Kinsey