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59586 11th Battalion, Manchester Regiment
Percy Mayes was born in 1890 in Sudbury, the eldest son and one of seven children of Henry and Emma Mayes. His father was an agricultural labourer and the family lived at 25 Cross Street, before moving to Elliston’s Yard, Ballingdon. By 1911 Percy had moved to Billericay and was employed as a baker’s assistant.
Percy married Gladys Bebbington in Oswestry, Shropshire in 1917. He was living in Oswestry when he enlisted in Ongar, Essex to serve with the Army Service Corps (formerly 4/110041) before transferring to the Manchester Regiment.
It is not known when Percy transferred to 11th Battalion which had moved from Egypt to France in July 1916 and saw action during the Battle of the Somme. The battalion formed part of 34th Brigade, 11th (Northern) Division and in 1917 saw action during the Third Battle of Ypres, more commonly known as Passchendale (31 July – 10 November).
In the summer of 1918 the Allies began the Final One Hundred Days Offensive (8 August – 11 November) which led to the end of the war. The battalion saw action at the Battle of the Scarpe (26 August – 3 September) and the Battle of Cambrai (8 – 9 October).
Percy was killed in action on 9 October 1918 aged 28. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the Vis-En-Artois Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. He was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
The Vis-En-Artois Memorial has the names of nearly 10,000 men with no known grave. All were killed in the last three months of the war. A Cross of Remembrance was laid by his name in March 2014.
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