Name
Francis Horwood Vercoe DCM & Bar
1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
04/06/1917
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Corporal
54571
Royal Garrison Artillery
145th Siege Bty.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Distinguished Conduct Medal and Bar
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
UNDERHILL FARM CEMETERY
A. 4.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
GOD WILL LINK THE BROKEN CHAIN CLOSER WHEN WE MEET AGAIN
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead
Pre War
Francis Horwood Vercoe was born in 1889 in Hemel Hempstead, the son of James and Mary Vercoe. He had an older brother Henry and younger sister Ellen. On the 1891 Census the family were living at Adey Field Farm, St Albans Road, Leverstock Green, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Carpenter and Builder.
He started his education in 1895 at Bury Mill End School when he was six years old and it wasn't a promising start as his teacher recorded the comment that "he was very backward and hardly knew his letters". Sadly his father's death in 1895 created very difficult circumstances for the family and his brother Henry was sent to "Spurgeon's Orphanage", also known as Stockwell orphanage, a home and school for fatherless boys. Soon afterwards in 1900, Francis was sent to King Edward's School, Witley, Godalming, Surrey, a school for the destitute, and although the children were scholars, they had to work to contribute towards their attendance. In 1901, 11 year old Francis was working there as a 'Kitchen Boy'. It is believed he may have returned to Hemel Hempstead and started work as a baker, but by the time of the 1911 Census, Francis was living and working in Stanmore, Middlesex as a baker.
Meanwhile, his mother and sister continued to live in Hemel Hempstead where his mother took in lodgers in Crescent Road in 1901, later moving to 18 West View Road, Hemel Hempstead in 1911 when she was described as a Boarding House Keeper, living with her daughter Ellen and widowed mother Mary Grist, with three boarders.
He joined the Metropolitan Police on 12 January 1914 with the Warrant Number 103596 and was posted to the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich Dockyard.
Wartime Service
Francis enlisted in London in 1915, joining the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner. He was posted to Great Yarmouth to 13 Company before being sent to Lydd, Kent, two weeks later. Less than a month afterwards he was sent to France on 31 July 1915 and joined 7th Siege Battery on 23 August 1915.
He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal with bar for two acts of gallantry.
The first was awarded in 22 January 1916 "For
conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty near Ypres on 29th December 1915, when,
under a heavy fire of high explosive and gas shells, he left his dug-out and went
about 200 yards through a dense cloud of gas to a farm where another
battery was billeted, and rendered first aid to several wounded men. Whilst he was
doing this a bursting shell blew him across the room in which he was working, but
he coolly picked himself up and returned to his work."
The second was awarded on 30 March 1916, "For conspicuous gallantry. He went out with his officer under heavy shell fire and assisted in rescuing the drivers of a wagon which had been hit by a shell, drivers and horses being wounded. He and his officer were then both wounded by a shell, the latter very severely. Gunner Vercoe, wounded as he was, carried him back under heavy fire, and refused to have his own wounds attended to till he had assisted to dress those of his officer." For this second act of bravery Francis was awarded a 'Bar' (a second DCM) for his bravery.
He spent two weeks in a Base Hospital recovering from his wounds before returning to his unit on 11 March 1916 and was then granted home leave, returning to Hemel Hempstead on 24 March to visit family and friends. Unfortunately, soon after arriving back in France he accidentally fractured a fibula and was evacuated back to England and transferred to a VAD Hospital in Torquay where he spent four months recovering. When he returned to France he was posted to the 145th Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery, being appointed Acting Corporal in November 1916 and confirmed as Corporal on 2 December 1916.
A letter from his section officer, Lieutenant G. Cecil North, was published in the local newspaper and described how he died on 4 June 1917 when "he was off-duty, sitting outside his dug-out reading. There was a sudden burst of shelling in the wood and one of the first shells struck him". He was killed instantly. He was 28 years old when he died and is buried in Underhill Farm Cemetery, Belgium.
In his letter, Lieutenant North declared "I have never known a man more fearless, more keen and more devoted to duty. Nothing seemed to tire him; nothing discouraged him; nothing was ever too hard for him",
Additional Information
His mother, Mrs Mary Louisa Vercoe, 18 West View Road, Hemel Hempstead, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "GOD WILL LINK THE BROKEN CHAIN CLOSER WHEN WE MEET AGAIN". His mother received a war gratuity of £10 and pay owing of £45 2s 10d. She also received a pension of 8 shillings a week. The Dacorum Heritage Trust purchased three First World War medals which were awarded to Corporal Francis Vercoe, the 1914-15 Star Medal, British War Medal and the Distinguished Conduct Medal with a Dated Bar for the second award of gallantry.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk., www.hemelatwar.org., www.kesw.org., www.scottishpolicemedals.co.uk., www.hemelheroes.com.
