Leonard Bastian: Sunday 13th October 1918
Leonard became a Lance Corporal (534315) in the Prince of Wales’ Own Civil Service Rifles, part of the London Regiment. He was posted to the Queen’s Westminster Rifles, 15th Batt., when he was killed in action. He is buried in Naves Communal Cemetery Extension in Northern France.
The Extension was begun by the 49th (West Riding) Division in October, 1918, after the capture of the village on the 10th. A number of casualties were also transferred from other cemeteries. Records do not survive as to whether Leonard was killed in the taking of the village, or in another action in the area. Probate records show he left an estate of £406 17s 5d to Edith Roberts, spinster.
Leonard was born in late 1892 in Wandsworth, and was the son of Archie and Annie Bastian of 7 Alma Terrace. Archie was a Cab proprietor and employed a live-in cab driver. Archie advertised in the parish magazine as working out of the County Armes yard:- “Rubber tyred cabs for all London stations”. Archie and Annie had two other sons, Archie L born ~ 1889, and Edward born ~ 1890. In 1911 Leonard was a boy clerk in the Civil Service and boarding with a retired Prison Service bootmaker at 341 Trinity Road. His father does not appear on the 1911 census implying he had died.