Name
John Hedley Trask
1898
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
20/11/1917
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
Hampshire Regiment
14th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LA CLYTTE MILITARY CEMETERY
IV. A. 5.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
OF BERKHAMSTED, HERTS. AN ONLY CHILD
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted Town Memorial, St Peter's Church Memorial, Berkhamsted, Berkhamsted Collegiate School, Berkhamsted
Pre War
John Hedley Trask was born in 1898 in Berkhamsted, the only child of John and Laura Trask.
On the 1901 Census the family were living in 2 Hope Villas, Kings Road, Berkhamsted where his father was working as an assistant master in a secondary school. They remained there in 1911 at which time John was a scholar.
He initially attended Chigwell School, Essex and later Berkhamsted Collegiate School, Berkhamsted, which he left in 1914.
Wartime Service
John was deemed to have been enlisted on 2 March 1917 as Private 45078, with the Bedfordshire Regiment, although his service record suggest he enlisted in Watford on 8 March 1917 hoping to be accepted into the Officer Training Corps (Cadet Unit). He was successful and was required to join No. 13 Officer Cadet Battalion at Newmarket the following day before 4.00 pm.
After training he served as 2nd Lieutenant, with the 14th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment in France from August 1917. He died of wounds, probably received during the 2nd Battle of Passchendaele, on 20 November 1917, aged 19, and is buried in La Clytte Military Cemetery, Belgium.
Additional Information
His father received pay owing of £60 10s 5. He also ordered the personal headstone inscription, while living at Hope Villa, Berkhamsted, Herts. it reads: "OF BERKHAMSTED, HERTS. AN ONLY CHILD".
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild
