Name
Joseph Ambrose
1 July 1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/11/1917
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
266763
Hertfordshire Regiment
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 153.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, We are not aware of any memorial in Piccotts End
Pre War
Joseph Ambrose was born on 1 July 1890 in Piccotts End, Hemel Hempstead, the son of John and Eliza Ambrose, and baptised on 8 August 1890 . He was one of ten children.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 46 Piccotts End where his father was working as a general labourer. By 1901 they had moved to 64 Piccotts End, although his father was not at home on Census night.
Upon leaving school, he worked at John Dickinson & Co at Apsley Mills and on the 1911 Census he was living with his family at 64 Piccotts End and his occupation was given as Die Stamping.
He married Katie Spurr on 12 August 1911 at Christchurch Reformed Episcopal church, Hemel Hempstead. She also lived in Piccotts End and he would have known her since childhood. They then lived at 50 Queen Street, Hemel Hempstead and had three children, Ivy (1912), Doris (1914) and Kitty (1916). Sadly Katie died in November 1916 shortly after Kitty was born and the three children then lived with their paternal grandparents.
Wartime Service
Joe left Dickinsons to enlist on 16 June 1915 at Hemel Hempstead and joined the Hertfordshire Regiment (initially under reg. no. 5271). After basic training he was sent to France on 14 March 1916 and joined the 1st Battalion in the field on 22 April near Festubert. He saw action in the trenches and fought in the Battle of Ancre Heights in October and the Battle of Ancre in November.
When he received the news that his wife had died he was granted 10 days home leave and left for England on 28 November. His leave in Hemel Hempstead was extended to 18 December and he was then 'retained on home service' and eventually returned to France on 14 June 1917.
He re-joined the Battalion near Ypres on 11 August and fought at the Battles of Langemarck, Menin Road, Polygon Wood and Passchendaele. At the start of November the Battalion War Diary recorded that they had been subject to gas shelling and Joe died from gas poisoning on 1 November.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £10 and pay owing of £7 11s 5d. She also received (as guardian of his children) a pension of 30 shillings a week (10 shillings per child). His brother (Reginald) Walter died in the war, three months before Joseph and his brother Frank was killed in World War II, being one of 1418 crewman on HMS Hood which was sunk by the Bismarck on 24 May 1941. His cousin William Ambrose was also killed in France a few months before. Brothers Horace and Arthur both served and survived.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com.
