Born on 13th September 1892 Reginald was the youngest son of Harry and Mary E Langley of Uttoxeter Old Road, Derby, and was the younger brother of John Harry Langley who was also killed.

On 29th October 1900 John and his younger brother Reginald were enrolled into the Shipston Boys School, having just arrived in the town. The School Register notes that the lads’ father is a Hotel Proprietor and that they are living at the Bell Inn. The Register also notes that their previous schooling took place in Solihull.  In 1901 the census confirms their address as being the Bell Hotel, Sheep Street, Shipston-on-Stour, Worcestershire.  John remained in school until he was fourteen and a half, leaving on the 27th February 1907. It was during this year that the only known photograph of Reginald was taken, showing him with his sister in their outfits for the annual pageant, Robin Hood.

Reginald was listed in the Evesham Journal of the 26th September 1914, as having joined up in Shipston. The 1st/5th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment were a Territorial Force Battalion in existence before the war, and with a low Territorial Service Number of 713 it is assumed that Reginald had served with them before the war and was called up when the Battalion mobilized in August 1914. Like Sidney Batchelor, Reginald went to France with the 1st/5th Battalion on the 29th March 1915 and the two men fought alongside each other throughout the war. After Sidney was sent home with pneumonia the Battalion had a quiet spring and build up to 1916’s big push on the Somme. They weren’t used until the 19th July, when B Company were told to take Point 79. Unfortunately it was too heavily defended and they suffered heavy casualties, as they did when they tried again o n the 20th. They tried again a third time on the 21st and reached their objective, but with no cover had to withdraw. Incredibly they tried again on the 23rd and the Regimental History records that as soon as they set off out of their trenches the enemy “met them with murderous machine gun and rifle fire” and casualties were again heavy. At this point they were withdrawn and went to Cramont for training.  They were back in the front line by the 16th August, when they undertook another failed attack, this time losing over 100 men killed or wounded. They were back again on the 27th August, when they lost another 100 men in another raid.

For the next 11 months the Battalion were lightly used until late July 1917 when they moved north to the Ypres Salient, where they were to take part in the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as Passchendaele. The Battalion first took part in the Battle of Langemarck and were in the lead in the centre. This attack was the first time they had encountered the Germans’ new defensive invention, concrete ‘pill boxes’. Attacking at 4:45am on the 16th August they initially made good progress, but were then held up by machine gun fire from pill boxes untouched by the British Artillery barrage. They dug in and held their new line, but continued to be sniped at. When they were relieved the following day they had lost 217 men. On the 27th August the Battalion took part in an attack where they were the supporting Battalion and lost 344 men.

After such heavy losses they were not used in any attacks again until the 4th October, although they did still serve in the line in that time. The attack was launched at 5pm in conditions that were described in the Regimental History as ‘beastly’ and barely 300-yards of progress were made. The war diary records casualties as being light, but 131 men and officers were lost, and this perhaps reflects the fact that they had been conditioned into accepting such high losses for minimal gains. Although they didn’t know it, this was to be their last attack at Ypres. On the 11th October they marched out to camp and within a couple of weeks the Division was ordered to Italy to assist in resisting an Austro-Hungarian offensive in the Julian Alps.

The Evesham Journal of the 13th July 1918 reports, in a piece next to the one reporting the death of Sidney Batchelor, the following:

Corpl Fitter F C Beachus, in a letter from the Italian front to his parents at Shipston, states that Pte Reginald Langley, recently of the Bell Hotel, Shipston was missing and either a prisoner or killed.  He was a Territorial when the war broke out, belonging to the Shipston section of the Gloucesters and has seen considerable service in France and Italy. Corpl Beachus states that he received this news directly he returned to his battery after a month in hospital, suffering from an accident and an attack of influenza.

From this report it is difficult to work out which action Reginald went missing in, but his body was at some point recovered.  He is buried in a communal cemetery along with one other British soldier and it may be that he was taken prisoner by the Austrians and then died. Amongst this uncertainly there is also some variation on the year of his death, with the Shipston on Stour town memorial listing 1917, but given the weight of evidence above it is clear that this is a mistake.  

Reginald is buried in Egna Communal Cemetery, North of Lake Garda in Italy, where he is one of only two Commonwealth War Graves.  He is remembered on both the Town and Council School Memorials.

Mike Wells