Name
Arthur Lennard (poss Leonard Arthur) Barrett
1892
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/10/1917
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
Leicestershire Regiment
1st/2nd Bn., attached 8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 50 to 51.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Sawbridgeworth Town Memorial, Great St Mary’s Church Memorial, Sawbridgeworth, Bishop's Stortford Town Memorial, United Reformed Church Memorial, Bishop's Stortford
Pre War
Arthur was born in 1892, in Bexley, Kent, and was the son of Arthur P and Catherine M Barrett and baptised there on the 12th June 1892. The 1901 census records Arthur, aged 8, living with his parents, brother Frederick and 2 sisters, at 2 Park Hill Village, Bexley, Kent.
By the 1911 census Arthur was known by his middle name Lennard. He was still living with his parents, brother and 2 sisters, but now at The Drive, London Road, Sawbridgeworth, Herts. His occupation is given as a foreign meat importer and his father was a ‘Hop Merchant’.
From November 1914 until 1916, a unit of the Leicestershire Regiment was stationed in the town. They must have made an impression, because Arthur joined this regiment when the call came for volunteers.
Wartime Service
Arthur enlisted with the 14th (County of London) Battalion (London Scottish). His record card shows him with the Service Numbers Private 1804 and Serjeant 510127.
He served with his Battalion in France from 15th September 1914 to 15th December 1916.
He received his commission on the 25th April 1917 and into the regular Battalions of the Leicestershire Regiment, but was attached to the 8th Battalion. This was a ‘Kitchener’ Service Battalion and they landed in France on 29 July 1915. In 1916, the Battalion was involved in fighting during the Somme offensive.
In 1917, the Battalion took part in the Battle for Polygon Wood which raged from 26 September until 3 October. This was part of the wider Passchendaele (3rd Ypres) offensive. There were officially 1,215 British killed during this battle.
Arthur died on the 1st October 1917 and that day began quietly, with an absence of shelling, but it did not continue. At 5.30am a heavy bombardment began and an SOS was sent out by the 9th Battalion. This was an awful situation and since the British were being attacked, not attacking, it would have been extremely difficult for them to turn the situation round to their advantage, or even just to avoid defeat. They tried, but almost inevitably the enemy gained an advantage. Between 7am and 10.30am the Germans were constantly making attempts to progress forward from the front line. The war diary records that the enemy were seen at Joist Farm and at 3.20pm the British attempted to move the enemy away from the farm. Although it was a “determined effort” the enemy came up from behind and the British attack failed. Heavy barraging continued. Lennard died and his body was never found, or at least never identified
Additional Information
CWGC records confirm Lennard as the son of Arthur P and Catherine M Barrett and that around the time of his death they lived at The Drive, Sawbridgeworth, Herts. and that his brother Frederick Alan Barrett also fell. His brother Frederick died in Mesopotamia and is Commemorated on the Basra Memorial, Iraq. His father received a war gratuity of £18 10s and pay owing of £57 12s 7d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, Stuart Osborne, Dave Harvey - Leventhorpe School, Douglas Coe
