Name
Herbert John Foley
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/07/1916
35
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sergeant
13989
Bedfordshire Regiment
"B" Company, 7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DANTZIG ALLEY BRITISH CEMETERY, MAMETZ
VI. V. 6.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hertford Town Memorial, All Saints Church Memorial, Hertford, St Joseph’s Church Memorial, Hertford Not on the Bengeo memorials
Pre War
Born in 1881 in Hertford son of James and Emma Foley, he had four brothers and four sisters and living in the Folly, Hertford in 1891. They later lived at 96 Duncombe Road, Bengeo.
He married Mary Mahala Mumford on 20 Aug 1910 in Little Amwell at 2 Thornton Street, Hertford in 1911 and then 17 the Folly, Hertford. He was a timber sorter. Later they had three sons Herbert, Eric and Albert.
Wartime Service
Enlisted in Hertford and went to France on 26th July 1915 where they were sent to Ribemont near St Quentin. They remained in this area for over a month and were then sent to trenches at Fricourt near Albert where they remained until the end of the year. In 1916 they remained in the Albert area.
On the opening day of the Battle of the Somme their objectives were Pommier trench and Pommier Redoubt. When the attack went in at 0730 the Bedford’s. advanced with the 11th Royal Fusiliers. B Company were on the right of the formation and they were held up by German wire that had not been cut, together with heavy machine gun fire and suffered many casualties (mentioned in Battalion diary). They managed to reach Pommier Redoubt by 0930 and held it until the second wave of the attack arrived. There was a lot of congestion in the captured trench with men from three different units mixed together. This was one of the few successful attacks on the 1st July, but unfortunately Herbert was killed.
Additional Information
At the time of his death his wife was living in The Folly, Hertford and his parents were living at 96 Duncombe Road, Bengeo.
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Terry & Glenis Collins
