Name
Bertie Charles Letch
1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/07/1916
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
G/7315
Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment)
4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 12 D and 13 B.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Shenley Village Memorial
Pre War
Bertie Charles Letch was born in 1888 in Boreham, Essex, the son and eldest child of William and Letitia Letch and one of four children (Bertie, Herbert, Edith and Florence). He was baptised on 29 April 1888 at St Andrew's Church, Boreham.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Boreham Street, Boreham, Chelmsford, where his father was working as a coachman. They had moved to Brook End Cottages, Little Dunmow, Essex by 1901 and 13 year old Bertie was a stable lad/groom stable lad/groom.
By the 1911 Census the family had moved to Shenley and were living at Green Street, and Bertie was working as a house painter.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Bedford and served with the Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment) in France from 15 June 1915.
A local newspaper report of 16 October 1915 indicates that Bertie was in a trench which was blown up by the Germans and he was buried in the debris but managed to crawl out. He was slightly wounded in the neck but was repatriated to England and admitted to hospital where he was suffering from shattered nerves and loss of speech. His parents were able to visit him but he could only answer their questions in writing. He eventually recovered and was sent back to the front.
Bertie was killed in action on 2 July 1916, aged 28, during the Battle of the Somme when he and four other men were blown up by an enemy shell. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. (N.B local newspaper report gives the date of death as 1 July)
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £6 and pay owing of 2s 6d. Pension cards exist in respect of Bertie and his brother Herbert, with their mother as dependant, but give no indication of the amount of pension paid.
Brother of Herbert William Letch who died from a gun shot wound to the chest on 27 March 1918 and is buried in St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France. Both are named on the Shenley Memorial.
Acknowledgments
Taff Williams, Brenda Palmer
shenleyww1.wordpress.com
