Name
Kenneth Bromfield
1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/04/1917
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Serjeant
343
Royal Fusiliers *
10th (County of London) Bn.
'B' Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TILLOY BRITISH CEMETERY, TILLOY-LES-MOFFLAINES
II. H. 18.
France
Headstone Inscription
THE ETERNAL GOD IS THY REFUGE UNDERNEATH ARE THE EVERLASTING ARMS
UK & Other Memorials
Family grave, Langleybury (St Paul) churchyard, Langleybury Village Memorial, Hunton Bridge, (added 2019) Not on the Bushey memorials,
Pre War
Kenneth Bromfield was born in Whitechapel in 1894, the fifth son of Hermon Frank Bromfield and Mary Selina Bromfield and one of seven children, although one died in infancy.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 14 Whitechapel Road (The Old George public house) Mile End, London, where his father was the licensed victualler. By 1911 they had moved to 82 Wellington Road, Islington and his father was the licensed victualler of the Duke of Wellington public house. Kenneth was then working as a surveyor's clerk.
It is believed his father later ran the King’s Head on Essex Road, Islington. Although not commemorated in Bushey, his parents later resided at ‘Heronsgate’, Grange Road, (a house on the corner of Belmont Road), Bushey and 'Miri', Upper Highway, King's Langley, Herts.
Wartime Service
Kenneth enlisted in Whitechapel on 19 August 1914 at the age of 20, joining the 10th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and serving in France from 31 July 1915. He was promoted to Lance Corporal in July 1916, rising to Corporal in January 1917 and Sergeant in March 1917, serving with B Company,
He suffered gunshot wounds to his arm and died of his wounds on 11 April 1917, aged 23 and is buried at Tilloy British Cemetery near Arras, France. (N.B. See additional information below regarding the circumstances of Kenneth's death.)
Additional Information
His father received pay owing of £8 6s 8d and his mother received a war gratuity of £15. The address for correspondence was given as Mrs M S Broomfield, c/o Matthew Arnold Solicitors, 39, High St, Watford. His mother obtained probate of Kenneth's estate in 23 July 1920 with effects of £179 9s 8d. (His father having died on 31 December 1919),
Kenneth is also commemorated on the family grave in Langleybury (St. Paul) Churchyard. His part of the inscription reads: ALSO OF
SERGEANT KENNETH BROMFIELD, 10TH ROYAL FUSILIERS
5TH SON OF ABOVE [Herman Frances Bromfield] WHO DIED OF WOUNDS IN FRANCE APRIL 11TH 1917 AGED 23 YEARS
INTERRED IN TILLOY BRITISH CEMETERY
“THEM ALSO WHICH SLEEP IN JESUS SHALL GOD BRING WITH HIM”
* Believed more correctly, (County of London) Bn. London Regiment (Hackney).
Kenneth Bromfield as Lance Corporal wrote to the mother of Stanley Messenger, who served in B Company, 10th Btn Royal Fusiliers and lived in Angmering, Sussex, in August 1916 when he was killed. There was then an exchange of letters giving her a description of the events leading up to Stanley's death. When one of Mrs Messenger's letter to Kenneth was returned to her marked "Died of Wounds", Mrs Messenger then wrote to Kenneth's mother and her letter describes what she had been able to find out about the circumstances of Kenneth's death.
"82 Wellington Road, Holloway, N7, Aug 16/17
Dear Mrs Messenger, I thank you very much for the letter of sympathy received from you a few days since. Of course I have heard of you from my son, indeed, I have several of your letters that he sent to me to keep for him. His death is a great grief to me, rendered all the more poignant by the fact that we had a month of terrible anxiety before we could learn any news of him, and even now we know very little. His letters stopped suddenly. Three weeks later we heard of a man in the 10th who was home wounded, an acquaintance of another son. We at once went to see him, and he said that Kenneth was shot in the arm on April 11th, sent to the base and he made sure he had reached England. My husband then went to the Record Office at Hounslow, but they had no information at all. A week later my son went to the Casualty Clearing House in Aldwych and was told that he had died in an Ambulance. He got the number of the Ambulance, and wrote to the CO, and got a reply that he "was received in an extremely grave condition suffering from shock, and died very soon". It is all a mystery, as his friends in the 10th say that he was shot in the arm, bound up the wound himself, and they had no idea it was serious. The only survivor of the 7 who joined together from H & C is Mr O H Apted, (my son's great friend) who was wounded the day your boy was killed, and is only just convalescent. I had a great letter from him a few weeks since, he was then at his home Doods Brow, Reigate, Surrey, but I do not know if he is still there. I know that my boy had a great shock that day, losing nearly all his friends, and he has never been the same since. I believe he knew that he would be killed eventually. He had just applied for a Commission. We have two other sons in the HAC [Honourable Artillery Company], both have been on a draft, even had their draft leave, but neither have gone overseas yet. One was gassed in Richmond Park last September, and has been an invalid ever since, the other has been made a Physical Instructor. I believe you have at least one other in the Army. I trust he will be spared to you. With best regards, I remain, yours very sincerely,
M S Blomfield. "
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer, Brenda Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, www.angmeringvillage.co.uk ,
