Name
Leonard Breed
1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
10/07/1916
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
14501
Bedfordshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LONDON CEMETERY AND EXTENSION, LONGUEVAL
11.G.31.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley
Pre War
Leonard Breed was born in Hemel Hempstead in 1890, the son of Edwin and Elizabeth Breed and one of five children, although one died in infancy.
On the 1891 Census, the family were living at 18 Albion Terrace, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Farm Labourer. His mother was said to be working as a Marine Store Sorter (probably working for William Timms on Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead, who was a licensed broker who bought and sold used cordage, bunting, rags, timber, metal and other waste materials). They remained in Albion Terrace in 1901 but moved to No. 9 and his father then worked as a Coal Carter.
Leonard was educated at Bury Mill End School and in May 1898 received a prize for 423 days unbroken attendance at school. He left school in 1903, aged 13, and began work at John Dickinson & Co, Apsley Mills.
His mother died in 1909 and on the 1911 Census he was living with his widowed father and sisters Rose and Florence at 7 Albion Terrace, at which time Leonard was working as an Embosser at the Paper Factory at Apsley Mills.
His father married Annie King in 1925 in Hemel Hempstead and later lived at 12 Edmonds Place, Hemel Hempstead.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hertford at the end of August 1914 and was posted to the 6th (Service) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. He was sent to Aldershot for basic training and from there to Salisbury Plain.
On 11 August 1915 he was sent to France and joined the Battalion near Armentieres, later moving to Bienvillers-sur-Bois.
In July 1916 the Battalion came under sustained German shelling whilst in trenches near Contalmaison, which lasted for five days, and resulted in 191 casualties. Leonard was o killed in action by a shell at the Somme on 10 July 1916, age 26 and is buried at London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval, France.
Additional Information
His father Edwin received a war gratuity of £8 10s and pay owing of £8 8s 8d. A memorial service was held at Marlowes Baptist Church on 29 October 1916 for Leonard Breed and seven other members of the congregation who had been killed.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk., www.hemelheroes.com.,. www.hemelatwar.org.
