Name
Herbert Winwright
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/08/1917
37
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
G/14679
The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
11th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 11 - 13 and 14
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Thomas’s Church, West Hyde, Not on the Mill End memorials
Pre War
Herbert Winwright was born in 1881 in Mill End, son of Frederick and Mary Ann Winwright. His father was a groom and a gardener and they already had 3 daughters and 2 other sons.
In 1891 they were still living in Mill End with another son, a grandson and a boarder living in the house and Frederick worked at the asbestos works. Herbert was at school but, presumably not St Peter’s School in Mill End, as his name does not appear on the school Roll of Honour. In 1901 census, he was living with his father in Uxbridge Road and working as a labourer in the asbestos mills.
In 1905 he married Kate Stratfull in Uxbridge and in 1911 was living at 6 Belle Vue Terrace in Harefield, employed as a textile worker at the asbestos mill. As well as their 3 children, Algernon, Ada and Maud, Kate’s mother and sister were also living in the house along with Charlie Wiggins, described as a ‘nurse child’. The textile mill was presumably Bell’s Asbestos Company which was a major employer in the area, providing many social amenities such as a brass band, football club and a canteen. A fourth child, Leslie George, was born to the couple on the 4 May 1913.
Kate died in 1918.
Wartime Service
Herbert Winwright enlisted in Watford, the date of his enlistment not being known. On enlistment he served with the Rifle Brigade (No. 19120), later transferring to the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment. The 11th Battalion were mobilised for war and landed in Havre in 1916. The Battle of Pilckem Ridge (31 July-2 August 1917) was the opening attack in the Third Battle of Ypres.
The War diaries for July 31st 1917 describe how ‘the Battalion moved forward with the barrage. It was found that, owing to the heavy state of the ground, the troops had great difficulty in keeping up with the barrage which was gradually creeping away. About 300 feet from the final objective 3 concrete shelters were found; these shelters were held by the enemy with machine guns and apparently picked riflemen. The taking of these ‘forts’ by the infantry bordered on the impossible. The parties withdrew during the night. The casualties for the day were estimated at 200.’
The Register of soldiers’ effects state that he was presumed dead on 1/8/1917
His effects of £1 6s 6d were left to his wife Kate and children and the war gratuity of £7 10s was shared between Emma Winwright, Ellen French and Fanny Barnard.
Acknowledgments
Pat Hamilton
P Szelewski, Jonty Wild, Pat Hamilton, Paul Johnson
