PRIVATE REUBEN LEWIS
2nd Battalion, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry
He was Born in 1890 in Grove Common, Sellack
In 1911 his parents were living at Upper Grove Common
In 1909, age 18, Reuben enlisted into the 1st Battalion of the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry having previously worked as a farm labourer for Mr A Rudge, at Baysham Farm
In November 1914, the Battalion moved from India to France
In 1915 they saw heavy action in France
In January 1916, the Battalion went with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force to Greece where they stayed until 1918 fighting the Bulgarians in Macedonia
Between September & December 1918, Private Lewis was admitted to hospital in Greece with Malaria
In January 1919 he was admitted with both influenza & a ‘pustular infection of the eye lids’
He was invalided back to the UK and discharged from the army on 1st April 1919
On 24th November 1919 he died of Erysipelas at his parent’s house at Grove Common, Sellack, age 29
He was buried in Sellack churchyard on 26th November 1919
He does not have a CWGC listing but it seems likely that he contracted erysipelas as a result of his war service
He is commemorated on the Sellack War Memorial