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Quorn WW1 Roll of Honour - Laurence Wakeling
Died 12th July 1917, aged 33
Coxyde, Belgium
Laurence Wakeling was the son of Joseph and Ann Wakeling of Leicester and one of nine children. Shortly after Laurence married Kate Amelia Faire in Leicester in 1905, the young couple moved to Quorn and lived at ‘Glen Rosa’, which now 43 Loughborough Road. The 1911 census records Laurence working for the London City & Midland bank as a clerk.
Laurence was a regular Churchgoer and a Sunday School teacher. Although he and Kate lived in Quorn for less than ten years, he made an impression and was respected and liked within the community. The following item appeared in Quorn Parish Magazine in October 1914:
“We are losing two valuable Churchworkers this month owing to their removal from the Village. Mr Wakeling leaves the offices of Sidesman, Bible Class Teacher, CLB Correspondent, and Secretary of the Free Will Offering Scheme, to be filled. And we shall not easily find another who will undertake so much, or do it so capably. He goes to Oadby.”
After their move to Oadby in 1914, Laurence joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a gunner. He was wounded on 10th July 1917 in Belgium and died of his wounds two days later. His death was reported in the Quorn Parish Magazine in September 1917:
“Laurence Wakeling who died of wounds on July 12th, was for some years an ardent Church-worker on the Parish and a representative and typical layman possessed of the right spirit and of a clear and pronounced mind and judgement on Church matters. We missed him when he left the parish, we naturally mourn his loss now and feel deep sympathy with his widow.”
Laurence was a pupil at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester, between 1895 and 1899 and is included on their Roll of Honour. His name is also on Oadby War Memorial and memorials at both St Peter’s and St Phillip’s Churches in Leicester. He is buried in Coxyde Military Cemetery, West Vlaanderen, Belgium.
Kate and Laurence didn’t have any children. Kate never remarried and she remained in Oadby, were she died in 1980, aged 71.
Below on the left is a newspaper photograph of Lawrence. On the right is a modern photograph of his former home, ‘Glen Rosa’, 43 Loughborough Road.
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