Name
Herbert Thomas Rodwell (MM)
1892
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/04/1917
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
12912
Bedfordshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Military Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DUISANS BRITISH CEMETERY, ETRUN
III. B. 29.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary's Church Memorial, Apsley End, Family grave, St Mary's Apsley End, John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
Herbert Thomas Rodwell (known as Bert) was born in 1892 in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, the eldest son of Herbert and Minnie Rodwell and one of 12 children, the last, Rose, being born in 1912. He was baptised on 28 October 1892 at St John's Church, Boxmoor. When Bert was born, the family were living in Horsecroft Road, Boxmoor and his father was working as a Steam Engine Fitter at John Dickinson & Co Ltd at Apsley Mills.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at Aston Villa, Weymouth Street, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead, when his father was working as a Steam Engine Fitter at the Paper Mill. They remained in Weymouth Street, living at No. 77 at the time of the1911 Census, and Bert was working as a engineer at Apsley Paper Mill. His father and brother Frederick were also working there (John Dickinson & Co Ltd). He remained working at the paper mill until enlistment in 1914.
Wartime Service
Herbert volunteered in August 1914. and enlisted in Hemel Hempstead, joining the 6th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. He was sent to Aldershot for basic training, followed by more training in Andover and then Salisbury Plain.
The Battalion left Southampton for France on the SS Empress Queen and arrived at Le Havre, France on 30 July 1915.
He saw his first major action in July 1916 at the Battle of Bazentin Ridge, followed by the Battle of Pozieres and the Battle of Ancre, all part of the Somme Offensive.
He received the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in the field in November 1916.
In the spring of 1917 the Battalion moved to Arras in preparation for a major allied offensive which began on 10 April at the First Battle of the Scarpe. He was wounded a few days later but died of his wounds on 17 April 1917, aged 24, probably at the 8th Casualty Clearing Station which was situated at Duisans at the time of his death.
He is buried at Duisans British Cemetery, Etrun, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £12 and pay owing of £10 6s 4d. Brother to Thomas Bernard Rodwell who joined the Australian Imperial Force and died of wounds received in action on 29 July 1916 and is buried at Becourt Military Cemetery, France. His younger brother Frederick died of tuberculosis in Hemel Hempstead on 23 September 1916 aged 20 and is buried in the churchyard of St Mary's Apsley. His father died in 1938 and is also buried in the churchyard of St Mary's, Apsley. Herbert is named on the gravestone as having been killed in action in France. His brother Ernest served as a Wireless Operator in the Royal Navy and survived the war.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com.
