Name
Montague Matthews
6 February 1892
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
25/11/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
55257
Welsh Regiment
17th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CAMBRAI MEMORIAL, LOUVERVAL
Panel 7.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley
Pre War
Montague Matthews was born in Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead on 6 February 1892, the son of Harry and Selina Matthews, and baptised at Hemel Hempstead on 11 March 1892 in St Mary's Church, Hemel Hempstead. He was one of seven children, although his sister Kate died in 1891 aged 9. His mother had previously been married to Charles Hall who died in 1879, so Montague had four half siblings from that marriage. His mother died in 1895 aged 42 and his father remarried in 1901 to widow Sarah Faulder who had a daughter named Lizzie.
By the 1901 Census the family had moved to Russell Place, Boxmoor, adjacent to Boxmoor Baptist Chapel, where his father was working as a gardener (not domestic) and had moved again by 1911 to 35 Hope Cottage, Cotterells Road, Hemel Hempstead where his father was a jobbing gardener and Montague was working in the printing section of the local paper mill. Montague worked at John Dickinson & Co. as a printer and it was there that he met his wife Daisy May Hicks who worked as an Envelope Maker. They married in late 1912 in Hemel Hempstead and lived in nearby Apsley. They had two boys, Percy and George, but sadly Percy died soon after birth.
Wartime Service
Montague was called up in December 1916 and enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment in Hemel Hempstead. When he was sent overseas he went to the Infantry Base Depot near Boulogne-sur-Mer, later being transferring to the 16th Battalion, Welsh Regiment. He was transferred again to the 17th Battalion, Welsh Regiment and sent to the Front where he was involved in raiding parties and training but saw serious action in late November during the attack at Bourlon Wood near Cambrai.
The attack started on the morning of 23 November and although there was initial success, casualties were high as there was heavy machine gun fire, however, the Germans having been driven from the wood, turned their artillery around and fired on to the wood, wiping out a third of the 17th Battalion, Welsh Regiment.
William was one of 66 men from the 17th Battalion, who were killed on 25 November 1917 and who are named on the Cambrai Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £3 10s and pay owing of £5 17s 2d. She also received a pension of 13s 9d a week for herself and her children.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com.
