Name
Joseph Albert Herring
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/07/1918
18
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
41733
South Staffordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
STAGLIENO CEMETERY, GENOA
I. B. 20.
Italy
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Abbots Langley Village Memorial, St. Lawrence Church Memorial, Abbots Langley
Biography
Albert Herring was born at Lambourn in Berkshire in 1899, the eldest son of Joseph and Charlotte Herring. Despite being baptised Joseph Albert, he was recorded as Albert throughout the Parish records. In the 1901 Census the family had moved to Lindlesham (sic) – maybe Windlesham - near Winnersh in Berkshire. Joseph Herring (father) worked as a Farm Labourer, and by 1911 the family had moved on once more and lived at Trowley Bottom in Abbots Langley, and later moved to “Mafeking House”, 29 Marlin Square. By this time Joseph and Charlotte had three sons and a daughter.
Albert enlisted at Watford and was first mentioned in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour in March 1917 when he was serving with the 25th Training Reserve. It is not known when he completed his training but by January 1918 he was listed with the 1st South Staffordshire’s. The South Staffs had sailed for the Italian Front in November 1917.
Albert died of wounds received on the Italian Front on 1st July 1918, the same day as another Abbots Langley man Alfred Else, also died from his wounds in France.
His death was recorded in the August 1918 edition of the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine –
“Through the death of Joseph Albert Herring, we mourn the loss of another of our old Choir Boys. He was wounded on the Italian Front, sent to Hospital in Genoa, where he died of thrombosis of the arteries on July 1st 1918. He was a most quiet, retiring, gentle disposition, one of the last boys that one would have expected to be a soldier, and yet, as has so frequently proved the case in these testing days, he made one of the best. We offer to his parents and friends the sincerest sympathy of us all.”
The Hertfordshire Advertiser reported his death on 10th August 1918 –
“Pte Joseph Albert Herring, a former Abbots Langley choirboy, was wounded on the Italian Front and sent to hospital at Genoa, where he died of thrombosis of the arteries. Though of a quiet and retiring disposition he made a good soldier.”
Albert’s younger brother (Earnest) Sidney served with the Royal Navy from September 1916 and survived the War.
Albert Herring was buried at Staglieno Cemetery, Genoa, Italy and was commemorated on the Abbots Langley War Memorial.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
