Name
Albert Harry Reneville
17 September1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
08/01/1916
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
16464
Bedfordshire Regiment
8th Bn.
"C" Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
WIMEREUX COMMUNAL CEMETERY
I. L. 12.
France
Headstone Inscription
WHAT PEACEFUL HOURS WE ONCE ENJOYED HOW SWEET THEIR MEMORY STILL
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor,
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley
Pre War
Albert Harry Reneville was born on 17 September 1887 in Hackney, Middlesex, the son of Oscar and Grace Reneville, and baptised at St Michael and all Angels, Hackney on 9 October 1887. He was one of eleven children, two of whom died in childhood. At the time of Albert's birth the family were living at 12 Helmesley Place and his father's occupation was given as Boot Finisher.
Albert's grandfather was a carpenter from Normandy, France who came to live in London in the 1840s.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 55 Palace Road, Hackney, where his father remained working as a Boot Finisher. Albert and his brother Oscar were working as tooth brush polishers, probably for the Addis company which had a company in East London named Wisdom Toothbrushes and still produces toothbrushes today.
By the 1911 Census Albert was living as a boarder at the home of Samuel and Mary Dayton at 98 Apsley End, Hemel Hempstead, and working as a paper packer (at J Dickinson & Co, Apsley Mills). Whilst there he met Daisy Orchard who worked at Dickinsons as a Machinist in the Envelope Department. They married in 1912 and lived at 1 Russell Place, Boxmoor, opposite Boxmoor Baptist Church. Their daughter Ivy Daisy was born in 1914.
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of war, Albert enlisted in Watford and joined the 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. He was initially sent to Brighton for basic training and later to Woking, Surrey. He was sent to France on 28 August, boarding the troop trains at Chobham Station en route to Dover, Kent. They arrived in Boulogne early on 30 August 1915. He was promoted to Lance Corporal at some point and soon saw action in the Battle of Loos in September and was in trenches north of Ypres when the Germans first used phosgene gas in December, which killed or injured hundreds of men.
At the beginning of January 1916 they experienced very wet and windy weather and soon were subjected to very heavy shelling by the Germans. Albert was wounded during this time and died of his wounds on 8 January 1916 at the Australian Hospital, Wimereux. He is buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, France. .
Additional Information
His widow Daisy received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £2 14s 9d. She also received a pension of 15 shillings a week for herself and her daughter.
Daisy remarried in 1921 to Walter Freeman and they emigrated to Canada in the same year with daughter Ivy.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.bedfordregiment,org,uk., www.hemeheroes.com.
