Name
Herbert Vincent Cain
19 Jan1884
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/05/1916
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
3145
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LE TOURET MILITARY CEMETERY, RICHEBOURG-L'AVOUE
III. F. 33.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hitchin, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin, All Saints Church Memorial, St Paul’s Walden, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, Whitwell Village Memorial
Pre War
Herbert Vincent Cain was born on 19 Jan 1884, in Whitwell, nr St Paul's Walden, Herts, the son of Vincent Cain, and Mary Jane (nee Kent). Herbert was baptised on 2 March 1884 at St Paul's Walden, Herts. He was one of nine children and also had a half-brother George David M Kent (born 1881).
On the 1891 Census the family of Vincent, Mary J, George David Kent, Herbert Vincent, Hilda (born 1886), Susan (born 1888), Laura M (born 1891) were living with his grandparents John and Hester Cain at Whitwell. His father was a farm labourer and Herbert was a scholar. The family consisting of parents, Herbert, Susan, Percy (born 1891), Horace (born 1892), Edith (born 1897) and Laura (born 1901) remained in Whitwell on the 1901 Census. On the 1911 Census Herbert was working as a Cowman on a farm, and was living on High Street Whitwell with his parents, Percy, also a cowman, Horace, farm labourer and Edith.
(N.B. His parents address on CWGC is given as Bootmakers Cottage, Shenley, Barnet, although on pension records they were said to be living at 16 Council Cottages, Horn Hill, Whitwell, nr Welwyn, Herts. Both his parents died in 1928.)
Wartime Service
Herbert enlisted in Hertford as a Territorial Force soldier in the Hertfordshire Regiment as Private 3145. His regimental number suggests that he enlisted between 5 Sep and 4 Nov 1914. After training he went to France on 10 Jul 1915 joining the 1st Battalion which had been serving overseas since Nov 1914. A draft of 1 Officer and 70 Men joined on 14 Jul 1915 while Battalion in Guinchy sector. The Battalion were involved in the Battle of Loos (25 Sep-8 Oct 1915).
The 1st Battalion Hertfordshires joined 118th Brigade in the 39th Division on 29 Feb 1916. According to the Regimental history, in the Spring and Summer of 1916, they were not involved in any important engagements. At the beginning of March, they were at Ebblingham a few miles east of GHQ at St. Omer and for the next few months were rotated into the Trenches of the front Line on the normal routine of trenches, in support, relief duties and to provide working parties where necessary for other units of the Brigade.
The Battalion were in the Trenches in The Festubert subsection on 25 May 1916, Herbert when Herbert was killed on 27 May 1916 during period of trench duty and is buried in Plot III, Row F, Grave 33 in the Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg L'Avoue, Pas de Calais, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £7 10s and pay owing of £3 18s 3d. Although pension cards exist there is no indication of the amount received.
Herbert is mentioned in a very thorough biography for Jack Alfred Willmott by Paul Johnson, which appears in the website’s Archive section at: http://www.hertsatwar.co.uk/archives/hertfordshire-men-women-individuals-stories/jack-alfred-willmott-biography/.
This is an extract from that biography "The Battalion spent most of May 1916 rotating in and out of the front line in the Cuinchy-Festubert area. On the 26th May 1916 they were located at C.2 Subsection at Festubert, having relieved the 13th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment the night before. At 6.00am a group of six German soldiers crawled through the long grass which had grown in front of the British positions. They leapt up and surprised the men who were located in the post named Island 30, killing three of them [L/C Chatfield, Pte Cain, Pte Payne] and wounding Private Harold King, who was evacuated to the Field Ambulance at Bethune. He died the following day from his injuries."
N.B. This description states that three men were killed on the same day but CWGC records show Chatfield and Payne date of death as 26 May and Herbert Cain as 27 May. On original CWGC records they are listed together and it may be a typographical error of the date from 26 to 27 that has separated their deaths.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer, Neil Cooper
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
