24583Private
P.W. DRANE
Suffolk Regiment
18th October 1917
Private P W DRANE
Service Number:………….. 24583
Regiment & Unit:………….Suffolk Regiment
Date of Death:……………..Died 18 October 1917
Buried or commemorated at IPSWICH OLD CEMETERY
Grave:……………………...BA. I. 62.
Source: www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/...
Soldiers Died in the Great War, an HMSO publication from the 1920’s, records that 24583 Private Percy William Drane Died of Wounds on the 18th October 1917 while serving in France & Flanders with the Suffolk Regiment
He was born and enlisted Ipswich. No place of residence is shown
The Medal Index Card for 24583 Private Percy W. Drane, Suffolk Regiment, is held at the National Archive under reference WO 372/6/89452
Other than administrative references there is no additional information on the card.
Source: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D2680524
He qualified for the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. This combination of medals would indicate he did not serve in a Theatre of War until on or after the 1st January 1916.
His Service Records do not appear to have survived the incendiary attack during the Blitz on the Warehouse where all the Other Ranks Army Service Records were stored.
The death of a Percival William Drane, aged 27 was registered in the Fulham District of London in the October to December, (Q4) quarter of 1917.
The Ipswich War Memorial website has a picture of him along with a newspaper report on his funeral as well as showing genealogical details and that he died of wounds on the 18th October 1917 as a result of a shell wound to the right leg and septicaemia, at the Fulham Military Hospital, London. It records him as serving with the 7th Battalion at the time of his wounding. www.ipswichwarmemorial.co.uk/percival-william-drane/
The Evening Star, an Ipswich based newspaper, reported him as wounded in a casualty list that appeared in the edition dated 20th September 1917. His status changed to “Now reported died of wounds” in a Casualty List in the edition of the Evening Star dated 23 November 1917, and in the Official Casualty List that appeared in the edition of The Times dated 6 December 1917.