Abingdon and the First World War
Those Who Served
West
Archibald Buller West
Archibald was the son of JGT West. There is an article about him on the Buildings and People website published by the AAAHS.
https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/history/people/john-george-timothy-west
Details from the Abingdon Roll of Honour
Name: WEST, Archibald Buller
Status: Returned
Address: "The Knowl" Stert Street
Battalion, Ship or Squadron: 5th
Regiment: both Fiji Defence Corps and King's Royal Rifle Corps
Chronology: January 1916 to April 1919, Fiji
There are entries in the Roll of Honour for other Abingdon men with this surname. To find them go to
There is also an article about The Knowl on the Buildings and People website on this link.
https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/history/buildings/knowl-52-stert-street
Herbert West
There are no entries in the Abingdon Roll of Honour for this person. This is not unusual for a family based outside the town centre due to the way the Roll of Honour was compiled by house to house visits from the organisers.
There are entries in the Roll of Honour for other Abingdon men with this surname. To find them go to
Family notes tell us that Miss Bonner of 116 Ock Street was Herbert's future wife. This postcard is the briefest and most brutal of updates ending in the word "killed". The official letter would have gone to his parents as is mentioned in the newspaper articles written many years later. If they were in Little Milton did they send a telegram or phone message to Miss Bonner in Ock Street of which this is the transcript?
Another extremely brief update but of a very different kind. This is from Herbert himself letting her know that he was alive. The postmark shows that it was sent from the camp where he was imprisoned.
Original scans from the WW1 Families Collection
click on an image to see it in close up
We thank the families who gave us copies of information and photographs. We understood in all cases that material was free of copyright and there was no objection to putting the information in the public domain. If you wish to alert us to inadvertent copyright infringement or you would like family details removed please go to the About Us / Contact Us page.
We welcome new scans of photographs and other documents, and personal details or memories. They must be of someone who lived or worked in Abingdon or very nearby and relate to the First World War. Click here for further information about how to contact us to do this.
