Name
Robert William Gash
13 February 1893
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
26/09/1917
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
104177
Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)
198th Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 154 to 159 and 163A.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, We are not aware of any Piccotts End memorial
Pre War
Robert William Gash was born in Piccotts End, Hemel Hempstead on 13 February 1893, the son and only child of Robert and Alice Gash, and baptised at St Mary's Church, Hemel Hempstead on 12 March. His mother died the following year, aged 28, and his father remarried in 1896 to Lizzie Wise. They went on to have a further seven children, two of whom died in infancy.
He was educated at Bury Mill End school in 1898 and transferred to Boxmoor School in December 1899, although he was only six years old and should not have been accepted until the age of seven. He completed four of the seven 'Standards' before he left in April 1906 to start work in domestic service at the age of 13.
On the 1901 Census he was living with his family at 13 Cotterells Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Bricklayer. They remained living at the same address on the 1911 Census and Robert was then employed as a Fireman working for the Dairy Outfit Company which manufactured equipment for the dairy industry. He later worked at the Boxmoor Iron Works as a sheet metal maker.
Prior to the war, Robert had served as a territorial soldier with the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment, having joined in January 1912 as a way to supplement his wages.
In 1917 he was granted home leave to marry Alice Greenhill on 13 March 1917 at St John the Evangelist Church in Boxmoor. She had been working as an Envelope Maker at the factory of John Dickinson & Co Ltd in Apsley Mills. (On pension records she gave her address as 21 London Road, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead.)
Wartime Service
Having already been a territorial soldier with the Hertfordshire Regiment, Robert was immediately mobilised for active service at the outbreak of war and was sent to France on 5 November 1914, disembarking at Le Havre the following day.
He was in the trenches in the final days of the First Battle of Ypres and saw action around Cuinchy in 1915, followed by the Battle of Festubert in May and the Battle of Loos in September.
On 28 January 1916, his four year period of engagement with the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment came to an end and he was discharged from the Army, however he immediately re-enlisted and transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and returned to England for training. He was back in France by July and saw action with the 198th Company of the Machine Gun Corps throughout the Somme offensive.
On his return to the Front after his marriage, Robert was back in action in the Battle of Bullecourt in May 1917, followed by the Battle of Menin Road Bridge in September. On 26 September Robert was one of five men killed in action during the Battle of Polygon Wood. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium. He was 24 years old.
Additional Information
Brother to Alfred who served with the Royal Berkshire Regiment and who died on 25 March 1918 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. His widow received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £4 19s 8d. She also received a pension of 13s 9d a week. After Robert's death she did not remarry and lived in Hemel Hempstead for many years before moving to Leighton Buzzard where she died in December 1979 aged 85.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com.
