Name
Nimrod Oakins
1891
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/05/1915
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
14464
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LE TOURET MEMORIAL
Panel 10 and 11.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
St Mary's Church Memorial, Apsley End
Pre War
Nimrod Oakins was born in 1890 in Studham, near Dunstable, the son of George and Lucy Oakins and one of six children, although two had died before the 1911 Census.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 9 Two Waters Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead. where his father was working as a Builders Labourer. He was educated at Apsley Boys' School and left on 30 September 1904, aged thirteen, when he started work at Kent's Brush Works in Apsley. The family had moved to Mill Street, Apsley End, Hemel Hempstead by 1911 and Nimrod was working as a Brush Maker.
In 1912 he enlisted into the regular Army. His enlistment papers reveal that he was 6ft tall, with fair hair and blue eyes. He joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as Gunner Oakins and arrived in Plymouth on 28 November 1912. However, just over a month later, on 6 January 1913, he was discharged after paying £10 to buy himself out of the Army. He then went to seek his fortune in America and travelled on the SS Ivernia from Liverpool to Boston, USA on 13 March 1912 and arrived in Boston, Mass. on 25 March. It is not known what he did in America but by 1914 he had returned to England and was working at Hill End Asylum, Colney Heath, St Albans which is where he remained until the outbreak of war.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hemel Hempstead in August 1914, joining the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment and was sent for basic training at Harwich. He arrived in France on 2 February 1915 and joined the Regiment at Fleurbaix near Armentieres.
Nimrod saw his first action at the Battle of Neuve Chappelle on 10 March, after which he was promoted to Lance Corporal. He was declared missing, believed killed in action on 17 May 1915, aged 24, during the Battle of Festubert, however, official confirmation of his death was not received until January 1916
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £4 1s 5d but an application for a pension was refused.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com.
