Arthur George Maslin

Arthur Maslin was the eldest of George and Jessie Maslin’s eight children.

He was born in 1896 and his father was a Builder’s Labourer with the family living at 11 Great Western Terrace. Prior to the war, Arthur worked for Messrs Pritchards, Hairdressers of 193 High Street, Cheltenham where he had been apprenticed since leaving school. Arthur was a cross country runner, representing his battalion and in peace time a member of Cheltenham and District Harriers.

He joined the 1/5th Battalion (Territorials) of the Gloucestershire Regiment in July 1915 going to the front in the spring of 1916, where his regiment were heavily involved from the outset in the battles of the Somme.

The day he died on 21st July 1916 the Gloucesters were at Ovillers-la-Boiselle. ‘C’ Company crawled out into the open ready to attack as soon as the artillery barrage lifted, but the Germans dropped a barrage between the trenches a quarter of an hour before the attack was to commence.

Arthur is buried at Pozières British Cemetery, Ovillers-la-Boiselle, France where he is remembered as one of 1,387 casualties. The inscription on his stone reads “He died the noblest death a man may die fighting for God and liberty”. In Cheltenham, Arthur is commemorated on the Cheltenham war memorial and on St. Mark’s Methodist Chapel Roll of Honour.