Name
Colin Barnes Radford
1898
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/07/1917
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
266772
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARTILLERY WOOD CEMETERY
IV. F. 18.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead, John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Colin Barnes Radford was born in Hemel Hempstead in 1898, the son of James and Mary Ann Radford, and one of 12 children, although four died in childhood.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 2 Half Moon Yard, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Horse Collar Maker. They remained living there in 1911 at which time 13 year old Colin was working as an Errand Boy for a Grocer. His father was then a canvas sewer at a tarpaulin works. At the time of enlistment Colin was employed by John Dickinson & Co (paper manufacturers) at Apsley Mills.
His parents later lived at 2 High Street, Hemel Hempstead.
Wartime Service
Colin was sixteen at the outbreak of war and too young to enlist, however he went to Hertford to enlist in 1915 and succeeded in joining the Hertfordshire Regiment when he was only seventeen (initially with reg. no. 5289).
He was sent to Bury St Edmunds for basic training and travelled to France a year later, whilst still under age for serving overseas. He was posted to the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment and joined them in time for the Somme Offensive. He saw action in September 1916 at Thiepval Ridge, followed by Ancre Heights and Ancre.
The following year the Regiment moved to Belgium and were preparing for an attack on Pilckem Ridge in July, which was the opening action of the Third Battle of Ypres. The Battalion suffered heavy casualties on the first day with 459 killed, missing or wounded. Colin was one those who died on 31 July 1917, aged 19 and he is buried in Artillery Wood Cemetery, Belgium, having been 'concentrated' there from another location.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £9 and pay owing of £3 2s 10d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www/hemelheroes.com.
