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Basil Geoffrey Wills-Sinclair

Rifleman - 7th Rifle Brigade - 1st Battalion London Rifle Brigade - Service No. 6968400

Background Information

Born

18th February 1920

Academics

Rank

Rifleman - 7th Rifle Brigade - 1st Battalion London Rifle Brigade - Service No. 6968400

Campaigns

Died

27th April 1943 age 23

Basil Geoffrey Wills-Sinclair was born on 18th December 1920 in Herefordshire. His father was Douglas William Wills-Sinclair, his mother was Catherine Matilda Lucy (née Browning). The previous school that he attended was the Convent High School in Gravesend.
In 1928 Basil Wills-Sinclair joined The County School for Boys – now known as Gravesend Grammar School. The Head Master at that time was the Reverend Samuel Lister. The County School for Boys was located in Darnley Road, Gravesend close to the Railway Station (now the Victoria Centre for Education). In 1938 the School moved to brand new premises in Church Walk, Milton, Gravesend opposite to Milton Church.
The School’s Admission Register lists Basil’s address as Sydenham, 15 Whitehill Road, Gravesend. Whilst at the School, Basil was in Hill House. Older brother Keith (born 1914) also attended the School.
In 1935 Basil left the School and started work as an Architecture Apprentice. In World War Two he enlisted in the 7th Rifle Brigade, 1st Battalion of the London Rifle Brigade as a Rifleman, Service Number 6968400.
Basil Wills-Sinclair was acting as a stretcher bearer and medical orderly, serving in the North Africa campaign. On 27th April 1943, he was killed while bringing in a wounded officer, during the attack on Tunis. He was 23 years old. He is buried at Massicault War Cemetery, Tunis, Tunisia. Tunis fell, and the Germans surrendered in Tunisia, on May 7th that year.
Basil Wills-Sinclair was in the same Form as two other fellow students who were killed in action in World War Two – Reginald Pascoe and Thomas Wilson.

There are links below to Newspaper Clippings and Photographs from the Gravesend Grammar School Archives.
Below are links to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and a few other websites that might be of interest:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2197266/wills-sinclair,-basil-geoffrey/

Massicault War Cemetery, Tunis, Tunisia