Name
William Edward Barber
1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/04/1918
29
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
40312
Northamptonshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
POZIERES MEMORIAL
Panel 54 to 56.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor
Pre War
William Edward Barber was born on 29 June 1889 in Bermondsey/Newington, Surrey, the son of William and Florence Barber and baptised on 21 July 1889 at St Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, Surrey. He was eldest of four children and at the time of his birth they were then living at 15 Brook Street and his father was a tinplate worker. They had moved to 20 Aylesbury Street, Newington, Surrey by 1891.
His father died in 1897 and his mother remarried to George Garner, a widower, in Hemel Hempstead in 1898. His stepfather had five children, four of whom were older than him. On the 1901 Census the family were living at Cowper Road, Hemel Hempstead where his stepfather was working as a Gardener Domestic and three of his stepsiblings were working at the Paper Mill.
William was educated at Boxmoor School from April 1899 and left school in May 1901, although only aged 11, due to undisclosed illness, but he recovered sufficiently to start work with a local fishmonger.
He married Emily Alice King on 26 December 1910 at St Paul's Church, Chipperfield, Herts, and they had four children, Frederick Joan, Sydney and Alexander. Sadly Alexander died when only a few months old in 1917.
On enlistment they were living at 220 London Road, Boxmoor, Herts and he was working as a Fishmonger.
Wartime Service
He enlisted on 26 February 1917 at Watford and initially joined the Suffolk Regiment under reg. no. 45181, and was sent to France on 18 May 1917. Once there he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment on 10 June 1917 as part of a draft of 60 men.
He took part in the Battle of Pilckem Ridge on 31 July 1917, when there were more 30,000 casualties in four days of fighting and the torrential rain turned the battlefield into a quagmire. This was followed by the Battle of Langemarck with similar weather conditions.
In 1918 the Battalion moved to the Somme and William was granted two weeks' home leave on 1 March, returning to see his wife and family in Hemel Hempstead.
He was appointed unpaid Lance Corporal on 8 April 1918, but was reported as wounded and missing in action later in the month when the Battalion were in a wood at Bois de Blangy, where they were shelled heavily, resulting in many casualties. Later on the same day they moved on to Villers-Bretonneux where they again came under heavy fire, resulting in more casualties.
William was confirmed to have been killed in action on 24 April 1918. He has no known grave and is among 28 men from the Northamptonshire Regiment who died that day and whose names are commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £6 and pay owing of £2 1s 3d. She also received a pension of 30 shillings a week for herself and her children. Probate was granted to his widow on 27 May 1919 in London with effects of £295 14s 7d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelatwar, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk., www.hemelheroes.com
