Robert Pebody

Bank: Northamptonshire Union Bank

Place of work: Daventry branch

Died: 16 September 1916

Robert Baden Pebody was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, in 1895. From 1913 he worked for Northamptonshire Union Bank.

In 1915 Pebody left his job at the bank's Daventry branch to join the army, becoming a Serjeant in the Machine Gun Corps. He was a tank crewman in the first engagement in which tanks were used, at Flers in France.

The engagement began on 15 September 1916. On that day, Pebody's tank, D14, ditched in a trench and did not make it into action. The following day, 16 September, the objective was the German-held trenches in front of Gueudecourt. D14 was heading towards Gueudecourt over a piece of higher ground when the tank was seen to come to a halt and then suddenly explode, having been struck by a German shell. The tank's commander and five of the crew of seven were immediately incinerated in the fire. Pebody and a colleague were standing directly outside the tank when it was hit, probably trying to ascertain what had halted it. Both died later of their injuries. Pebody was 21 years old.