Walter was born in 1896. The 1901 census, when he was 5 reports that he lived in Bryn Seion Terrace with his parents Father John (a carpenter) and mother Emma. Walter had four sisters (Florence 3, Edith 4, Bertha 6 and Elizabeth 2) and one baby brother called Albert.
The next census of 1911 finds the family still at Bryn Seion Terrace. Head of the household John was 41 years old and was listed as a Colliery Carpenter. His wife of 19 years Emma was 44. She had given birth to 13 children, four of whom had not survived. The children listed in the house on census night were Walter, 15 a Colliery Labourer underground. Bertha was 14, Elizabeth 12, Albert 10, Frederick 9 and Ethel was 7.
Walter joined up in June 1914 when he was 18. UK Soldiers who Died in The Great War 1914 -19, accessible on www.ancestry.co.uk confirms all the regimental details at the top of this page and adds that he enlisted in Mold. His Medal Index Card also on Ancestry, lists his medals and tells us that he first entered a theatre of war on the 27th September 1915 and this was in France.
The Register of Soldier’s Effects in which monies owed to deceased soldiers was calculated, lists Corporal Walter Chambers and says he ‘Died of Wounds’. He was owed £24..3sh..8d which went to his sole Legatee, his mother, Emma.
