Officer’s Great War Memorial Plaque awarded to Captain R.L. Pratt, 4th (City of Bristol) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment who having served on the Western Front from May 1916 died of wounds likely received the previous day, on 18th October 1916 and was buried in Pont-Du-Hem Military Cemetery, La Gorgue. A notable sportsman he was a member of the Clifton Foot Harriers, The Aerial Rowing Club and Clifton Football Club. He was also the chairman of the Bristol and Kingswood section of the Boot Manufacturers’ Federation and was the son of Mr. E. Woodhall Pratt, J.P., who owned Pratt’s Boot Factory.
Great War Memorial Plaque; (RALPH LEWIS PRATT)
Condition: a hook soldered to the reverse for hanging from a wall, otherwise Good Very Fine
Ralph Lewis Pratt was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 4th (City of Bristol) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment in the London Gazette of 18th September 1914 and would serve in France from May 1916 and died of wounds likely received the previous day on 18th October 1916, aged 41 being buried in Pont-Du-Hem Military Cemetery, La Gorgue.
His obituary taken from local newspaper reports states:
‘Information has been received of the death at the front of Captain Ralph Pratt, elder son of Mr E. Woodhall Pratt, J.P., boot manufacturer, Kingswood. Soon after the break of war Mr. Ralph Pratt obtained a lieutenant’s commission and went with the Gloucesters to France. His ability was rewarded by his being made captain three months ago. The late Captain was a thoroughly good sportsman. For 15 years he was a member of the Clifton Foot Harriers and for some six years he was a member of the Aerial Rowing Club. In the Clifton Football Club he was such a capable right-half that he was picked on several occasions to play in county matches. For some time he was chairman of the Bristol and Kingswood section of the Boot Manufacturers’ Federation, and on the Executive he did much valued work. His ability was referred to a meeting of the Federation last night (Tuesday), and a unanimous vote of sympathy with his relatives was passed.’
Pratt’s Boot Factory was one of many in the Kingswood area. A major employer in the heavy boot industry in Kingswood, this rim manufactured an extremely good, high quality agricultural and miners boot.
In the early period Kingswood boot factories tended to be small, family-run units relying heavily on outwork. The various parts of the boots were collected by the outworkers from the factory and made up at home, the boots being returned to the factory to be ‘finished’. This type of production which was later superseded by larger, more mechanised factories better geared to mass production. For hundreds of years, leather production and manufacturing has been a high profile feature of Kingswood.
