Name
Francis William Ernest Hemming
8/7/1885
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/09/1918
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
55953
Royal Welsh Fusiliers
14th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
VIS-EN-ARTOIS MEMORIAL
Panel 6.
France
Headstone Inscription
He has no headstone. He is commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial to the missing in Northern France.
UK & Other Memorials
St Matthew’s Church Memorial, Oxhey,
Watford Borough Roll of Honour
Pre War
Son of Francis Joseph Bache an accountant and Annie (nee JONES) HEMMING of Watford.
His parents married 7 April 1885 at St Matthew’s, Bayswater, London. Annie died 29 December 1932 in Watford aged 77, and was buried 2 January 1933 in Vicarage Road Cemetery, Watford. Francis remarried 1934 in the Holborn, London, district to Edith LODGE; he died 24 October 1936 in Watford aged 70, and was buried 27 October, also in Vicarage Road Cemetery.
There is an article about Francis senior in Watford in the 20th Century volume 1 among the Movers and Shakers Watford.
Francis was born 1885 in Paddington, London, and married Jessie in 1913 in the Watford district the eldest daughter of Walter and Laura Kipling, of Falconer Road, Bushey. John Lionel Calvert Booth, an artist from the Herkomer Art School, was a lodger at their house.
On the 1891 Census, a scholar aged 5 he lived in Osborne Villa, Brougham Road, Acton, Middx, with his parents and brother Arthur 4, and sister Annie 2. The family had a live-in Domestic Servant.
On the 1901 Census, a junior clerk to a public company aged 15, he lived in Granville’, Watford Place, Watford, with his parents and three siblings, May aged 9 having joined his siblings – a sister Annie died in 1902.
By 1911 they had settled at 58 Kingsfield Road, Watford, where they had two boarders and a domestic servant. Francis was employed as a commercial clerk in a chocolate factory and lived at home with his parents and sister May.
He and his wife, Jessie, made their home at 44 Rudolph Road, Bushey. The had three children Ernest, Joseph, and Stanley.
Jessie never remarried and died 1975 in the Watford district aged 87.
Wartime Service
Francis enlisted at Warley, Essex and posted to the Essex Regiment with the Service No. 32798, later transferred to Royal Welsh Fusiliers, with the Service No. 55953.
He served initially with the 15th Battalion then the 14th.
He was killed in action on 18 September 1918, aged 33. His final resting place is unknown, but his name is listed on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial in Northern France, to the missing. He is commemorated on the St Matthew’s Church Memorial in Oxhey. He was entitled to the Victory and British War medals, and was presumed killed in action.
Jessie later moved to 29 Rudolph Road, Bushey. She never remarried and died in Watford in 1975.
Additional Information
Francis is also commemorated on the family headstone in Watford Cemetery. His part of the inscription reads:
ALSO OF FRANCIS WILLIAM ERNEST SON OF FRANCIS AND ANNIE HEMMING,
BORN JULY 8TH 1885, KILLED IN FRANCE SEPTEMBER 1918.
Jessie was awarded a widows pension of 49/- per week for her and the children.
The value of his effects were £6-5s-11d, Pay Owing and £10-10s-0d, War Gratuity which went to his widow Jessie.
Son of Francis Joseph and Annie Hemming, of Alywne Lodge, Rickmansworth Rd., Watford; husband of Jessie Hemming, of 29, Rudolph Rd., Bushey, Herts.
Some information provided with kind permission of Bushey First World War Commemoration Project – Please visit www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
