Name
Herbert William Letch
1891
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/03/1918
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
44453
Manchester Regiment
2nd/9th Bn
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ST. SEVER CEMETERY EXTENSION, ROUEN
P. VI. J. 13A.
France
Headstone Inscription
NOT GONE FROM MEMORY NOR FROM LOVE BUT TO HIS FATHER'S HOME ABOVE
UK & Other Memorials
Shenley Village Memorial,
Not listed on the Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford,
Aston Under Lyne Civic Memorial, Manchester
Pre War
Herbert William Letch was born in 1891 in Boreham, Essex, the son of William and Letitia Letch and one of four children. (Bertie, Herbert, Edith and Florence).
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Boreham Street, Boreham, Chelmsford, Essex where his father was working as a coachman. They had moved to Brook End Cottages, Little Dunmow, Essex by 1901 and by the 1911 Census the family had moved to Shenley and were living at Green Street, where Herbert was working as a butcher.
Wartime Service
He initially enlisted in Watford on 10 December 1915 and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment (service no. 25998), being sent to France on 1 July 1916.
He was admitted to hospital on 27 December 1916 with trench feet and repatriated to England on hospital ship Glenart Castle at Etaples on 1 January 1917. Upon recovery he was returned to the Front and was transferred to the Manchester Regiment on 22 March 1917, serving with the 2/9th Battalion from 25 June 1917.
On 22 March 1918 Herbert was admitted to the 34th Casualty Clearing Station with a gun shot wound to the chest and transferred to the 9th General Hospital on 27 March 1918 at Rouen where he died of his wounds. He is buried in St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £9 and pay owing totalling £13 0s 10d from two separate payments. Pension cards exist in respect of Herbert and his brother Bertie with his mother as dependant, but give no indication of the amount of pension paid.
Brother of Bertie Charles Letch who was killed in action on 2 July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and is named on the Thiepval Memorial, France. Both are named on the Shenley Memorial.
Acknowledgments
Taff Williams, Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, shenleyww1.wordpress.com
