England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index: 1837-1983 about Walter Charles Bird
Name: Walter Charles Bird
Year of Registration: 1881
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Chorlton
County: Lancashire
Volume: 8c
Page: 832

1891 England Census about Walter C Bird
Name: Walter C Bird
Age: 9
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1882
Relation: Son
Father's Name: Daniel
Mother's Name: Emma
Gender: Male
Where born: Manchester, Lancashire, England
Civil Parish: Moss Side
Ecclesiastical parish: St James
County/Island: Lancashire
Country: England
Street address: 102 George Street
Occupation: Scholar
Registration district: Chorlton
Sub registration district: Hulme
ED, institution, or vessel: 81
Household Members:
Name Age
Albert E Bird 11
Arthur D Bird 17
Charlotte J Bird 14
Daniel Bird 48
Emma Bird 51
Henry H Bird 20
Walter C Bird 9
Charles M Sewell 43

In the 1901 Census Walter Charles Bird is still living in Moss Side Manchester/Lancashire and his occupation was a Lithographic Artist apprentice - he was probably working for his brother who was self employed.

1901 England Census about Walter C Bird
Name: Walter C Bird
Age: 19
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1882
Relation: Son
Father's Name: Daniel
Mother's Name: Emma
Gender: Male
Where born: Manchester, Lancashire, England
Civil Parish: Moss Side
Ecclesiastical parish: Moss Side St James
County/Island: Lancashire
Country: England
Street address: 102 George Street
Occupation: Lithographic Artist apprentice
Condition as to marriage: Single
Registration district: Chorlton
Sub registration district: Hulme
ED, institution, or vessel: 72
Household schedule number: 244
Household Members:
Name Age
Albert E Bird 21
Charlotte J Bird 24
Daniel Bird 58
Emma Bird 61
Walter C Bird 19

England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837-1983
about Walter Charles Bird
Name: Walter Charles Bird
Year of Registration: 1907
Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec
District: Chorlton
County: Lancashire
Volume: 8c
Page: 1394

Walter Charles Bird was married to Anne Jane Roberts at the Register Office in the District Of Chorlton in the counties of Manchester and Lancashire on 19th October 1907. At that time Anne Jane Roberts is not noted as having an occupation. She was aged 26 and living at 25 Derby Street Moss Side Manchester.Her father is noted as John Robert (Deceased) a stone quarryman. Walter Charles Bird was also aged 26, His profession was given as warehouse porter. He was living at 102 George Street Moss Side and his father is given as Daniel Bird a Compositor. Present at the wedding were Bertie Harris an Maggie Roberts who I guess is Anne Jane Roberts' Sister. The marriage document all appears to be written in the same handwriting i.e. that of the registrar.

In 1870-72, John Goring's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Moss Side like this: "MOSS-SIDE, a village, a township, and a chapelry, in Manchester parish, Lancashire. The village lies 2 miles S by E of Manchester, is neatly built, and has an ornamental public park. The township comprises 430acres. Pop. in 1851 = 943; in 1861, 2,695. Houses, 435. The increase of pop. arose mainly from the extension of buildings and other improvements. -The chapelry is much larger than the township, and was constituted in 1854. Polp. in 1861 = 6,114.Houses = 1,114. The church is modern. There are national and other schools. I can't find any reference to George Street Or Derby Street in modern maps. It is possible that these street swere slum/ back to back areas that were cleared in the late 50's and early 60's to build the Crescents of Moss Side and Hulme.

From the Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Debt of Honour Register
"In memory of Walter Charles Bird, Private 2666 of the 6th Batalion King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regt.) Who died on tuesday 11th April 1916 aged 36.
Son of the late Daniel Bird: Husband of Anne J. Bradshawe (formerly Bird), of 1, Edge Court, Bowden Street, Edgeley, Stockport."

Name: BIRD, WALTER CHARLES Initials: W C Nationality: UnitedKingdom Rank: Private Regiment/Service: King's Own (Royal LancasterRegiment) Unit Text: 6th Bn. Age: 36 Date of Death: 11/04/1916 Service No: 2666 Additional information: Son of the late Daniel Bird; husband of Anne J. Bradshaw (formerly Bird), of 1, Edge Court, Bowden St., Edgeley, Stockport. Casualty Type: Commonwealth

Basra Memorial, Iraq. Panel 7, Until 1997 the Basra Memorial was located on the main quay of the naval dockyard at Maqil,on the west bank of the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, about 8 kilometres north of Basra. Because of the sensitivity of the site, the Memorial was moved by presidential decree. The move, carried out by the authorities in Iraq, involved a considerable amount of man power, transport costs and sheer engineering on their part, and the Memorial has been re-erected in its entirety. The Basra Memorial is now located 32 kilometres along the road to Nasiriyah, in the middle of what was a major battleground during the first Gulf War.

Walter Charles Bird is also remembered on the Stockport War Memorial/Art Gallery inside the main doors on the corner of Greek Street/London Road.

Walter Charles Bird, was killed in the First World War. It is a family story that she went on to marry Alfred Bradshaw who is said to be the man who brought the telegram telling her of her husbands death. It is known that they both worked for the Post Office during and after the war and they may have met through work.

Walter Charles BIRD
Rank: Private
Number: 2666
Unit: 6th Battalion KING'S OWN ROYAL LANCASTER REGIMENT
Date of Death: 11 April 1916
Age: 36
Cemetery: Basra Memorial, Iraq

The men in the Bird family were all employed in the printing industry, as confirmed by their entry on the 1901 Census. 58 year old Daniel Bird was a printer compositor. His eldest son, 29 year old Samuel was a Lithographic printer. Albert (21) was a Lithographic artist and Walter (then 19) was still serving his apprenticeship to become an artist. There was one daughter at home – Charlotte (24). The matriarch of the family was Emma (then 61).
Walter had been born in Manchester but the family were living in the Stockport area, at 102 George Street, when the Census was taken. A few years later, in the late autumn of 1907, Walter married Anne Jane Roberts, in the South Manchester area. They set up home at 1 Edge Court, Bowden Street, Edgeley.
Walter is reported to have enlisted into the army when war was declared and his service number is consistent with him joining one of the Regiment’s Territorial Battalions and seeing overseas service with it. At some point, perhaps after recovering from a wound or a period of illness, he will have been transferred to the 6th Battalion. The most likely first unit will be the 1/5th Battalion which fought in France and was then based in Egypt around the end of 1915 and early 1916. The 6th Battalion was also in Egypt at the same time. Walter is known to have first gone overseas on 15 October 1915 and this date is entirely consistent with the speculation in the previous sentence.
He went to Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) in March 1916. The whole of that month was spent getting into position and training for an attack on the Turkish positions near the Orah canal. The first of these attacks came at 5am on 5 April, with the King’s Own successfully driving the enemy out of its front line trench “at the point of the bayonet” with very few casualties. Breakfast was being eaten by 7am. 12 hours later, the Battalion was back in action again, capturing a further three enemy trenches.
On the 9th, they attacked again at 4.20 am on the enemy positions at Sannaujat. .The Turkish troops were prepared for an assault and sent up flares. This enabled them to keep up accurate rifle and machine gun fire until 8 am. The attack was a failure, with 12 killed, 89 wounded and 91 missing.
During one of these engagements, Walter was severely wounded and did not recover. As with many of the men who died in this theatre of the war, the location of graves became lost during the course of the fighting and Walter is now commemorated as one of the 40658 names on the Memorial to the Missing at Basra.
After the War, Anne married a Mr Bradshaw and they continued to live in the home she and Walter had shared.
(NB: Original research into the military aspects of this biography by John Hartley for the Cheadle & Gatley War Memorials website)