259155 Spr. Percy Thomas Chater Atkins British Army 1st Field Squadron Royal Engineers from:Clapham, London In 1914, Percy Atkins was 16 and the youngest brother of two Regular Army soldiers and a Territorial. He enlisted in the 1st Field Squadron, Royal Engineers and was in the trenches aged just 17. At some point in the war he transferred to 123rd Field Company, Royal Engineers, with whom he finished his service.
He was hospitalised at least twice in the war, and in fact, was in the 2nd General Hospital with pleurisy when the guns fell silent on 11th of November 1918. By then, his eldest brother had been a POW for four years in Germany and his other two brothers had been killed in action (on the same day, though a thousand miles apart). In later life he lived in Barnet.
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