Basil Adkins

Bank: Manchester & Liverpool District Banking Co

Place of work: Not known

Died: 1 October 1917

James Francis Basil Adkins (known as Basil Adkins) was born in Preston on 4 April 1898, the son of James Edward Adkins, an organist and composer, and his wife Louisa. He was educated at Preston Grammar School and St Paul's Cathedral Choir School, London. He was a chorister at St Paul's from 1908, when he was 10 years old, until 1914. He sang at the coronation of King George V in 1911, and was a soloist from 1911 to 1914. After his voice broke he was awarded the Merchant Taylors' Musical Scholarship, and began studying with his father to become an organist. He was church organist for Christ Church, Preston. He also worked for Manchester & Liverpool District Banking Co.

Adkins' uncle Hector Ernest Adkins was bandmaster of the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, and in May 1916, just after his 18th birthday, Adkins himself joined the same battalion, in order to become a line bandsman. He went to the Western Front in May 1917, and was severely wounded at Ypres on 29 September 1917, while acting as a stretcher-bearer attached to the Field Ambulance Corps. He died in a casualty clearing station two days later, on 1 October 1917. He was 19 years old.