Reginald was born in Manor Park on 26th June 1896 and attended Ilford County High School between 8th September 1908 and 25th July 1912. When the Cleveland Road School War Memorial was revealed from behind the wooden panelling in the main school hall in 2011, his name was included, indicating that he had attended this elementary school prior to starting at Ilford County High School.
Reginald passed both the Oxford Junior and Senior Local Examinations before leaving school to become a bank clerk. When the war started, he was an employee of the London Joint City and Midland Bank Ltd, working in Threadneedle Street.
Reginald’s family lived at 53 Belmont Road, Ilford and his father, William worked as a commercial clerk.
Reginald joined D Company of the 13th Kensington Battalion (London Regiment) as a private (Service number 7584). Originally, he had enlisted with the Prince of Wales’ Civil Service Rifles in December 1915. He died on 14th September 1916, aged 19.
On Saturday 23rd September 1916, the Essex newsman newspaper reported that;
‘Reginald Evans Spencer, London Regiment, youngest son of Mr and Mrs W. T. Spencer of 53 Belmont Road, Ilford, died of wounds and was buried with military honours on Tuesday at the City of London Cemetery, Little Ilford.’
Research by Andrew Emeny, History Teacher at ICHS
Sources:
Ancestry.com
ICHS school records and magazines
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Essex Newsman (23/09/1916)
Note
Ilford County High School started life as the Park Higher Grade School in 1901 in Balfour Road, Ilford. It was renamed Ilford County High School (or initially County High School, Ilford) in the years after the school’s management was transferred from Ilford School Board to Essex Education Committee in 1904.