Name
William Henry Allen
1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
06/10/1918
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
265788
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
'D' Coy,
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CROSS ROADS CEMETERY, FONTAINE-AU-BOIS
Landrecies Com. Cem. Mem. 13.
France
Headstone Inscription
TILL WE MEET AGAIN
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted Town Memorial, Plaque in St Peter’s Church, Berkhamsted
Pre War
William Henry Allen was born in Berkhamsted, Herts in 1895, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Allen and baptised on 29 May 1895 in Great Berkhamsted. He was one of nine children although three had died by 1911.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 2 Bridge Street, Great Berkhamsted, where his father was working as a market gardener. His father died in early 1911 and on the 1911 Census he was living with his widowed mother and four siblings at 2 Bridge Street, Great Berkhamsted, Herts and working as a bottle labeller at a brewery.
Wartime Service
He enlisted at the age of 19 in Hertford on 9 September 1914 and was initially posted to the 1st Hertfordshire Regiment (Reg. No. 3015), being sent to France on 23 January 1915. He was later transferred to the Bedfordshire Regiment (Reg. No. 265788).
He was appointed Lance Corporal on 25 November 1916 but deprived of his stripe and forfeited 6 days pay on 3 January 1918 because of unauthorised absence from 22 to 27 December 1917 (see below).
During his military career he suffered a gunshot wound to the right hand. He also suffered from mustard gas poisoning in October 1917 being sent to hospital in England. Upon recovery, he returned to the Front, leaving Dover for Calais on 15 April 1918 and joined the 2nd Battalion in the field 24 May 1918.
At the beginning of July 1918 he was reported wounded and missing. It was later confirmed that he had been taken as a prisoner of war on 2 July 1918. He died in the prisoner of war camp from influenza and cardiac weakness.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £23 10s and pay owing of £34 9s 3d. Pension cards exist but give no indication if any pension was paid. She ordered his headstone inscription while living at 2 Bridge St, Berkhamsted, Herts. which read: "TILL WE MEET AGAIN".
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jo Bayley,
