Name
Martin Henry Farey
1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
05/12/1915
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2211
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BETHUNE TOWN CEMETERY
IV. G. 24.
France
Headstone Inscription
LORD THY WILL BE DONE
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, 4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hitchin, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, Not on the Preston Memorial
Pre War
Born in 1894 in Preston, Herts, son of Amos and Mary Farey (nee Isaacson) and the eldest of three sons.
In the 1901 Census the family were living at 70 Bancroft, Hitchin, where his father was working as a labourer on a farm. Present were both parents, Amos (47) and Marey (43), and their children were listed as Frederick (19), Florence (17), Jane (12), Martin Henry (6) and Hugh Wilfred (3).
They remained in Hitchin in 1911 but were listed on the census as living at 5 Penn's Yard, St Andrew's Street, Hitch. Present were both parents, Amos still working as a farm labourer. The census recorded they had been married for 18 years with 3 children all living. Of the children listed above only Martin Henry, now 16 and a chemists errand boy and Hugh Wilfred were present, but they were joined by a new sibling, Arthur Heber (9).
Officially x was recorded as born in Preston, Herts., and living in Hitchin when he enlisted there.
Wartime Service
Martin was allocated the Regimental Number 2211. He volunteered in August 1914 and according to his Nation Roll of The Great War entry, went to France later that year and fought at Ypres, Bethune and Lens where he was mortally wounded. In fact he was already in the Hertfordshire Territorials, enlisting sometime between 28 January 1913 and 1 January 1914, so he volunteered for overseas service as so many did.
The Battalion received orders to be ready to embark by the 5th November 1914 and and they sailed from Southampton on the 'City of Chester' arriving at Le Havre the following day, then proceeding to the front lines on 11 November. They lost their first casualties at Ypres, eventually taking up positions near Hooge. In May 1915 the Battalion fought in the Battle of Festubert and the Battle of Loos in September.
The circumstances of his death are not easy to establish as the Hertfordshires were not engaged in any major attacks throughout the winter period. However, they were in the vicinity of Bethune and spent the time in the front line, on reliefs and in billets, with shelling, sniping, snow, mud and rain creating a steady toll of casualties.
On 5 December 1915 when the Battalion were near Bethune, they were heavily shelled and, according to the war diary, there were three casualties. Martin was may have been one of those three or wounded earlier. He may have been admitted to No. 33 Casualty Clearing Station which was operating in the area of Bethune at that time. and died of his wounds there as he is buried in Plot 4, Row G, Grave 24 in the Bethune Town Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
A private inscription on the stone reads "Lord Thy will be done" and ordered by his mother -although recorded as May of 5 Penn's Yard, St Andrew's Street, Hitchin.
His mother received a war gratuity of £5 10s and pay owing of £4 10s 9d. No pension appears to have been payable.
After his death £4 10s 9d was authorised to go to his mother on 15 February 1916. Later, a war gratuity of £5 10s was authorised to be paid to her, on 17 September 1919.
His pension cards record Marey Farey, his mother, as his dependant, living at 5 Penns Yard, St Andrews Street, Hitchin. It suggests that she did not receive a pension, but a gratuity was awarded on 23 June 1916.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
www.bedfordregiment.org.uk/Hertsrgt, Adrian Dunne, Philip Wray - www.prestonherts.co.uk/page137.html David C Baines, Jonty Wild,
