Name
Bertram John Matthews
1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/11/1917
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
265353
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn., attached Hertfordshire Regiment
No. 4 Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 48 to 50 and 162A.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, 4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hitchin, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin, Kimpton Village Memorial St Peter & St Paul Church, Kimpton, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Bertram John Matthews was born in Kimpton in 1890, the son of Thomas and Sophia Matthews and baptised in Kimpton on 19 January 1890.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Kimpton Bottom, where his father was working as an agricultural labourer.
His father died in 1898 and on the 1901 Census Bertram was living with his widowed mother and older brothers William and Charles at Kimpton Bottom. His mother was working as a charwoman, William was a painter and Charles was a stockman on a farm, with 11 year old Bertram a scholar.
In 1911, Bertram and his brother Charles remained living in Kimpton Bottom with their mother. His brother was a bricklayer's labourer and Bertram was a plumber. Brother William was then married with two children and was also living in Kimpton Bottom and working as a plumber.
Wartime Service
Bertram enlisted in Whitwell, Herts and initially served with G Company, 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment, under Reg, No. 2235. His number suggests he joined between January 1913 and January 1914 as a territorial soldier. He would have been at the annual camp in August 1914 when war broke out and was mobilised for action. The 1st Battalion were sent to France on 5 November 1914, arriving on the 'City of Chester' at Le Havre the following day (medal index card gives 6 November 1914 as date of entry).
When the Territorial Force was renumbered in 1917 he was given the Reg. No. 265353 and was at some time was in 4 Company of the Hertfordshire Regiment.
He was killed in action on 24 November 1917 but has no known grave and is remembered on Panel 153 of the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing in Belgium.
(N.B. although the CWGC website listing suggests he was serving with the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, and attached to the Hertfordshire Regiment, original documents indicate that he is listed as a Private in the Hertfordshire Regiment on the Tyne Cot Memorial. It is unlikely that he was killed while serving with the Bedfords as their 1st Battalion had started on a route march on their way from the Ypres area to Italy. In the case of the Hertfordshires, they had been fighting in the Battle of Polygon Wood in the Ypres Salient. Although there was no major engagement round about the date of his death, steady attrition continued into the winter.)
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £15 and pay owing of £9 12s 7d. She also received a pension of 8 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Adrian Pitts, David C Baines, Jonty Wild, armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk/Hertsregt,
