Samuel Aston - Private - Royal Welsh Fusiliers – Formerly Welsh Regiment

 Very little information has survived concerning the life and military service of Samuel Aston, and details of his family background and early years remain unknown.

Samuel initially enlisted in the Welsh Regiment before subsequently transferring to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, with whom he served during the First World War.

Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects

The Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects provide one of the few surviving records of his military service, recording that his death was officially presumed to have occurred on 27th May 1917.

His death occurred during the period of the Battle of Arras, a major British offensive fought in northern France between April and May 1917. Although the date of his death falls within the final stages of this offensive, the precise circumstances in which Samuel lost his life remain unknown.

Samuel's body was never recovered or identified, and he has no known grave. His name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, in the Pas-de-Calais region of France, which honours thousands of British, South African and New Zealand servicemen who died in the Arras sector during the First World War and have no known grave.