Percy Groves ‘Poop’ Dingley, born on 28th July 1891, was admitted to King Edward’s School in January 1903. He lived with his father, William, a jeweller on Warstone Lane, his mother, Beatrice, and his three siblings at 294, Hagley Road, Edgbaston. During the war, William Dingley manufactured various war service badges which were issued to serving men who had not yet received their uniforms or to men in reserved occupations. The Dingley family were friends with the Sanders family, both of which would lose Old Edwardian sons to the war.
Percy appears little in the School records other than the School Lists, which reveal that French was his weakest subject. After leaving School, Percy entered his father’s business. His only brother Alan was wounded in France. Between Percy, Alan, and their seven male cousins, all were either killed, wounded, captured or serving as of October 1917.
Percy joined the 1st City Battalion in 1914 after undergoing an operation in a private hospital to “fit him for acceptance”. On 23rd July 1916, he went into action in France near Delvelle Wood, but from that day went missing, presumed killed, aged twenty-five. He is buried in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval, France, and is commemorated on St Augustine’s Church Memorial, Edgbaston. He left his estate of £1,309 to his father.