Born on the 17th February 1888 Reginald was the son of Charley and Bessie Douglas Chapple, of Rydal House, Sheep Street, Shipston-on-Stour, Worcestershire. The young Reginald was baptised on the 27th May 1888 and the records show Charley as a Draper and the family living in Sheep Street. The 1891 census again shows the family living in Sheep Street next door to the old Harrow Inn. Charley was obviously very successful because as well as the family, they shared the house with his niece Julia Smith, three live-in Drapers Assistants and a Domestic Servant.  The original shop sign is held by the Shipston Local History Society at the Museum and is regularly on display. Interestingly this type of large extended household being run by a draper is not unusual in Shipston. The 1881 census shows the household of William Dutton Akers, who has four assistants, one of whom was Charley, two apprentices and a Domestic Servant living in his house in the High Street.

The 1901 census shows the family, including Reginald, still living in Sheep Street and continued to have Charley’s staff living in.  There is no record of Reginald in the Infants School Log Books, and the size and successfulness of his father’s business may have meant that he was privately educated at Miss Ryder’s in Church Street. In the September of 1901 Reginald attended the King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford-upon-Avon, leaving in July 1904.  

Prior to the war Reginald served for three years as a Trooper with the Warwickshire Yeomanry, which would have stood him in good stead when he signed up early on in the war. He resigned from the Yeomanry on the 13th April 1913 when he moved from Shipston to Barnstaple in Devon. 

Whilst he attested on the 11th December 1915, he was not called up until the 29th February 1916 by which time he had moved to Bournemouth. Initially he returned to Devon serving as a Private in the 3rd/6th (Reserve) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment based at Barnstaple.  On the 2nd June 1916 he was promoted to Lance Corporal and was promoted again on the 15th August 1916 to Corporal. On the 15th February 1917 Reginald applied for a Territorial Commission, which after appropriate training at an Officer Cadet Unit, he received on the 27th June 1917.

Reginald’s commission was gazetted on the 11th July 1917 and he was assigned to the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and was posted to Belgium with the 1st/5th DCLI who were at Ypres. Over the next few months they were involved in actions at Polygon Wood and Passchendaele.  In the middle of March the Battalion moved to the Somme.

On the 21st March 1918 the Germans launched Operation Michael, the Kaiserschlact, a massive attack on the Somme designed to break through the British lines and then sweep north to the sea to cut the British Army off.

The 1st/5th DCLI were immediately involved in desperate fighting at St Quentin and Reginald had an eventful day.  At the time he was in charge of organising the Transport and it fell to him to get rations up to the Companies fighting at the front. The heavy bombardment had made it impossible to move wagons and so he instead used pack ponies. Setting off at about 4pm he made an attempt to find ‘B’ Company, but thickening fog made it impossible. On his way back he tried to keep off the tracks, instead moving over open country. While doing this a shell exploded near to him and a huge splinter hit his helmet. Somewhat dazed he is described as carrying on in a “plucky manner”. On his return at about 8:30pm he refused to see the Medical Officer but when he eventually did, over a week later, he refused the advised break in Hospital.

On the 26th and 27th March they were again involved in heavy fighting at Rosieres, Reginald was again wounded and again refused to leave.   Days later the 1st/5th DCLI had moved north again and were in action at Merville not far from the Belgian border with France. 

At 7.30am on the 12th April 1918 the Germans launched another attack, the British line was penetrated in several places and the Battalion came under heavy machine gun fire from their flanks. They pulled back, but again came under heavy machine gun fire on their right flank, and after half an hour pulled back again.  The Germans were advancing in strength and eventually the Battalion had to retire over the Lys Canal.  The crossing took place under heavy rifle and machine gun fire and losses were high. The regimental history reports that they put up ‘a splendid fight’ but with losses of 17 Officers and 467 Other Ranks either killed, wounded or missing the cost was very high. 

Reginald’s body was never recovered and he is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Near Messines. He is remembered on the Town Memorial, his Parents gravestone and on a Bronze tablet in the King Edward VI Grammar School War Memorial Library in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Mike Wells