RUBERY, William

There is no official record of John Rubery and this name probably represents William Rubery, the son of Thomas and Mary Rubery. He was born in 1887 and was admitted to Old Swinford Hospital in 1895. He was apprenticed to Mr A. Hancox , a wheelwright of Pensnett and by 1914 was married to Gertrude. He volunteered for the Worcester Territorials, serving in the 1/8th Battalion and being promoted to the rank of Sergeant by 1917. The Worcesters had fought in much of the 1916 Battle of the Somme and in the Spring of 1917 had been in the force which followed up the withdrawal of the German forces to the Hindenburg Line. In 1917 they arrived for the second phase of the third Battle of Ypres and came up to the front in a relief on the night of the 17th August. There was much hostile shelling and Sergeant William Rubery was killed in action. He was 30 years of age and is buried in New Irish Farm Cemetery (XIII B 10) and commemorated on the Pensnett, Woodside and Old Swinford Hospital Memorials.