Name
Herbert Handscomb
24 October 1884
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/04/1918
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Rifleman
A/204548
King’s Royal Rifle Corps
12th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
FORESTE COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Sp. Mem. 12
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
St James’ Church Memorial, Thorley, Working Men’s Club / Village Hall, Memorial, Thorley, Bishop's Stortford Town Memorial
Pre War
Herbert Hanscomb was born on 24 October 1884 in Bishop's Stortford to James and Lydia Hanscomb and baptised at Hockerill, Herts on 25 January 1885. On the 1901 Census he was living with his widowed mother and siblings at 2 Malting Cottages, Hockerill, Bishop's Stortford and working as a bricklayer. By the 1911 Census he was living with his older brother Ernest and his family at 4 Thorley Terrace, Bishop's Stortford and working as a Carpenter. He was employed by Messrs. W. Lawrence & Son Building Contractors, Sheering, Essex. His home address was 10 Twyford Road, Bishop's Stortford, although he was said to be living at Histon, Cambridgeshire on enlistment.
Wartime Service
Herbert enlisted in Bishops Stortford and joined the Army on October 26th 1915 in the Army Ordnance Corps. He was sent to France in November 1915, and transferred to the 12th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps in December 1917.
Herbert in fact died on April 2nd 1918 aged 33 years, and is buried in the Communal Cemetery at Foreste, Aisne with 22 other soldiers. A commemorative stone in the cemetery bears the inscription: TO THE MEMORY OF THESE 23 SOLDIERS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO DIED IN 1918 AS PRISONERS OF WAR, AND WERE BURIED AT THE TIME IN THIS CEMETERY, BUT WHOSE GRAVES ARE NOW LOST.
Additional Information
*1 There is a discrepancy in the dates of death as it is given as 23rd March 1918 on Memorial. He may well have been severely wounded and thought dead by his comrades whilst in action on March 23rd, 1918, but instead taken prisoner by the advancing German army. His brother Thomas received a war gratuity of £11 and his pay owing was divided between his brothers Thomas, Ernest and Edward and sister Ada.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
John E. I. Procter (Rector of Thorley), Bill Hardy, Philip Hargrave - www.friends-stjames.org, Jonty Wild
