Walter Pinnells
Birth 1887, Froyle, Hants
Parents Son of Silas & Emily Pinnells.
Residence Alton, Hants
Occupation Labourer on farm (1911)
Enlisted Winchester, Hants, August 1914
Regiment 10th Battalion Hampshire Regiment
Regimental No: 15826  
Rank Private  
Service Record The Regiment mobilised for war on 7th July 1915 and embarked for Gallipoli out of Liverpool
Death 7th December 1915    Killed in action, aged 28
Theatre of War Balkans
Commemoration Doiran Memorial
Medals 1914-15 Star, Victory Medal, British War Medal
Walter Pinnells was born in Froyle, in 1887, two years after his brother, Harry, and the family of no less than 11 children lived with their parents, Silas and Emma Pinnells, in Husseys Lane, Lower Froyle. The 1911 Census describes Walter as a ‘labourer on farm’. In August of that same year Walter married Sarah Louisa Chiverton, but we are not sure where the couple set up home. The couple had a daughter, Dorothy, who was born the following year. Sarah, sadly, died in 1915 at the age of 28 years. She died in Hampstead, so this may well have been where the couple had been living before Walter enlisted.
Walter had enlisted in Winchester in August 1914, serving with the 10th Battalion Hampshire Regiment as 15826 Private Walter Pinnells. By the time the regiment mobilised for war on 7th July 1915 and embarked for Gallipoli out of Liverpool, he was a widower. Going via Mudros, the regiment landed at Gallipoli on 6th August 1915.
Walter entered the Balkan Theatre of War on 3rd October 1915 and we believe he lost his life on the Kostorino Ridge, Salonica, Greece, on 7th December of that same year. He was 28 years old.
Private Walter Pinnells was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. His final resting place is not known, but he is commemorated on the Doiran Memorial, Northern Greece.

Walter PinnellsWalter’s Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) citation states that he was the son of George Pinnells, but this is incorrect and it is worth noting, from the point of view of researching, that mistakes can be made anywhere. The CWGC could only print what it was told by family members. Indeed, the Alton Gazette report of the commemoration of the Froyle Memorial states he is William Pinnells.
The CWGC honours each of the 1,700,000 men and women of the forces of the Commonwealth who died in the two world wars with a certificate similar to this one.