Captain Patrick Sidney Cooper PRESTON (71682)
B Company, 1/7th Battalion Middlesex Regiment

Date of birth: 16th March 1910
Date of death: 28th October 1942

Killed in action aged 32
Buried at El Alamein War Cemetery Plot XXVI Row B Grave 11
He was born at Wallington, Surrey on the 16th of March 1910 the son of the Reverend Sidney James Cooper Preston, professor of music, and Cicely Frances (nee Jenner) of 12, Manor Road, Wallington. He was christened at All Saints Church, Carshalton on the 10th of April 1910.

He was educated at the King’s School Canterbury from January 1924 to March 1926 where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps.

On leaving school he became a travelling salesman. He was married at St Mary’s Church, Beddington, Surrey on the 1st of September 1934 to Dorothy Frances (nee Wooldridge) of Falmouth and they lived at 88 Cedar Court, Colney Hatch Lane, London N10.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1/ 7th Battalion Middlesex Regiment on the 8th of May 1937. He was moblised for war service on the 28th of August 1939 and was promoted to Lieutenant on the 8th of May 1940. He was promoted to Captain on the 27th of October 1940 and to temporary major on the same date.

The 1/7th Battalion Middlesex Regiment landed at Port Tewfiq in Egypt on the 11th of August 1942 as part of the buildup of allied forces prior to the Battle of El Alamein. The battalion was to act as the machine gun battalion to the 51st Highland Division with one platoon being attached to each Highland battalion and they were largely involved in training before they moved up to the front line in preparation for the battle on the night of the 20th of October.

At 8.30pm on the night of the 23rd of October 1942 the machine gun platoons formed up for the attack. At just before midnight, the Middlesex men began to make their way through the channels which had been cut in the British minefields and their start line for the attack, which lay beyond. At 10.40pm on the 24th of October 1942 the barrage, fired by some 800 guns, began to fall on the enemy lines and at 11pm the allied infantry rose from their positions and began their advance. In spite of counter fire from German artillery batteries the infantry continued to move steadily forward. B Company, under the command of Patrick Preston, was in support of the 7th Battalion Black Watch and the 7th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Their objectives were on the Miteirya Ridge and, due to determined enemy resistance, the Scots were unable to take their objectives. The Middlesex men dug in on the reverse slope of the ridge to support them but only one team was able to engage the enemy. The attack was resumed on the 25th of October by the 5th Battalion Black Watch, again supported by the machine guns of the Middlesex. By the night of the 26th of October all the Division's objectives had been taken and the battalion had suffered casualties of eleven killed with fifty five men wounded.

On the 28th of October 1942, B Company’s headquarters came under attack from enemy dive bombers. Patrick Preston and Company Sergeant Major Joseph Webster were both killed when a bomb exploded near to the trench in which they were sheltering, causing it to collapse on them.


He is not currently commemorated on the war memorial at the King’s School Canterbury.
 

Back