Reginald ("Reg") Berryman was the son of William Lewis and Emily Kate Berryman - one of eight children, one of whom died in infancy; he was born on 31 Mar 1892 in Merthyr Tydfil. The family home was 10 Norman Terrace, Merthyr Tydfil.

At the age of 17, Reg left Wales and went off to an unknown uncle to try his hand at being a "farmer's boy". However, after a month, he moved to London, and in 1912 he landed a job with The London and Southwestern Bank.

In 1915, Reg went off to war - initially with the General Service Corps, but joined the Infantry Division of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) as a Private Soldier.  He was trained at the Tower of London Headquarters, and then spent the rest of the War in or near the front line in France, ending finally with the Army of Occupation in Germany. The HAC is an old and distinguished Regiment, and at the time of the First World War, it had been specially re-organised as an active-service Officers' Training Unit. This was in common with one or two other special regiments then, such as the Inns of Court Regiment and the Artists Rifles, which also recruited in all ranks from the professions.

Like many others in his position, Reg probably had no great ambition to be commissioned. He was in good company, and with the Bank making up his Army pay to his full civilian income, he may well have thought himself as altogether better off than the officers standing in the mud beside him. Whatever he thought, he remained in the ranks throughout the War and was not to be commissioned until joining the Home Guard in the Second World War.

He was admitted to the HAC on 24 January 1917 and was originally in 'A' Company of the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion. His regimental number was 10002. He travelled from Southampton to Le Havre on the SS Londonderry on 15 April 1917, joining 'D' Company of the 1st Battalion HAC on 14 May, having narrowly missed the fighting at Gavrelle, where two of the Batallion's officers were awarded the VC.

A record book on the 1st Battalion, compiled by the Quartermaster, Major George H. Mayhew, notes that he went to hospital on 1 July 1918 and rejoined the Battalion on 28 October. On 2 December 1918, he went to the HQ of the 2nd Army as O/S [Officers' Steward?] of Captain C. W. Holliday of the 1st Battalion, then transferred to the Military Police, and at the end of the war, he went with his regiment to the army of occupation in Germany. He survived relatively unscathed, and returned to work as a cashier in the  London and Southwestern Bank at Waltham Green, London (later to be merged with other smaller banks to become Barclays Bank). A regimental number register notes that he was demobilized in England on 24 September 1919. His address in the printed membership list for 1920 was 10 Norman Terrace, Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan. On 6 Jan 1920, he married Daisy Constance ROGERS.

In 1925, Reg was moved to the newly-constituted Barclays Bank at 311 North End Road, Fulham, at the corner of Lillie Road, where the family lived over the Bank premises. He was later promoted to 'Clerk in Charge' of Barclays Bank, 220 Horn Lane, Acton, and then to the Millbank branch, not far from the Tate Gallery on the Thames Embankment, as Chief Cashier. Later, he became the youngest Manager at Barclays Bank.

In World War II, Reg joined the Local Defence Volunteers in Ealing (later to become the Home Guard, or "Dad's Army"). Starting as a sergeant, he progressed to lieutenant before the Home Guard disbanded. This photo shows Reg with son Neville("Nick"), then a pilot with the RAF.

Reg retired slightly early from Barclays Bank in 1951 due to ill health. He lived in comfortable retirement in Clatterfield Gardens, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex with his beloved wife, "Connie", until his death in 1966.

"In the Nick of Time", written by Reg's son, Neville ("Nick") contains the following passages about him: