Arthur Philpott was born in Faversham, Kent, England in 1878 and worked as a carter with his father before enlisting in the British Cavalry on the 27 December 1899 joining the 12th (Prince of Wales’s) Royal Lancers aged 21.
4822 Private Philpott was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with five clasps for service in the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Promoted to Corporal his regiment was in India in 1909 before returning to Potchefstroom, South Africa by 1911. On the 27 March 1912 Arthur was appointed an unpaid Lance Sergeant. Around Christmas 1912 the 12th Lancers returned to the UK.
On the 1 January 1917 Arthur is taken on the strength of the 1st Regiment, South African Infantry (The Cape Regiment). A month later he is promoted to Acting Sergeant and embarked at Cape Town per HMT “Galway Castle” on 10 March 1917.
10772 Private Arthur Philpott, age 39 died of wounds on the 9 December 1917 and is buried in the Fins New British Cemetery, Sorel-Le-Grand, Somme, France. Son of Esther Philpott of Forge House, Church Road, Oare, Faversham, Kent, England and the late John Philpott. Step-brother of William Charles Wright my great grandfather.
Fins and Sorel were occupied in April 1917 as the Germans retreated to the Hindenburg Line. Then lost on the 23 March 1918, when Sorel was stubbornly defended by the 6th King’s Own Scottish Borderers and staff of the South African Brigade; being regained the following September.
On the north wall of the parish church of St. Peter, Oare, Faversham, the local victims of the Great War are commemorated via a memorial window the work of F. C. Eden (1884-1944).
Arthur’s headstone is inscribed with this dedication:
“Grant Him Thine Eternal Rest”
