Born in 1887 at 15 Gladstone Cottages, Castle Yard, Woodford Green, son of Arthur (Postman) and Elizabeth Wells. 1891: With his family at 2 Warner’s Cottages, near Higham Park Farm, Chingford Lane. 1901: With his family at Holly Cottage Chingford Lane. In 1908 he married Anne Louise Taylor at West Ham Register Office, giving his address as 143 Chingford Lane, Woodford Green (Walthamstow). 1911: A Bricklayer living with his wife Annie Louise and son Arthur, at 10 Landscape Terrace, Horn Lane, Woodford Green. The couple would have two more children.
Prominent in the Crusaders Club associated with the Woodford Union Church, he was a keen athlete and good footballer. He was recalled as being a dutiful son and a good husband.
As part of 3 Guards Brigade, Wells and his colleagues had been preparing for the Third Battle of Ypres - also known as Passchendaele. A 10 day artillery bombardment had begun on 18th July 1917, but provoked enemy retaliation. His Colonel would write that Arthur Wells had been killed instantly in the trenches near Bleuet Farm by a German shell.
In 2007 the Commonwealth War Graves Commission agreed that grave 1.H.6 contained the remains of Arthur Wells, and not William Wells as had been believed and recorded since the war. In due course the headstone was changed.
Research by Adrian Lee, Local Historian
Sources:
Ancestry.com
Ancestry Family Trees