Name
Roger Cain
1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
16/02/1915
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
8896
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BOULOGNE EASTERN CEMETERY
III. C. 52.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Kimpton Village War Memorial, St Peter & St Paul Church, Memorial, Kimpton
Pre War
Roger Cain was born in 1890 in Kimpton, Herts, the son of William Henry Cain (1845 – 1927) an Agricultural Labourer and Horsekeeper on a Farm and Charlotte Cain (nee Hill) (1851 – 1921). He was one of thirteen children one died in infancy, William (b 1873), Charles (B 1876), Herbert (B 1877), Thomas (B 1879), Mary (B 1882), Emma (B 1884), Arthur (B 1886), George (B 1887), Roger (B 1890), Annie (B 1891), Nathan (B 1893) and Daisy (B 1895). He was baptised on 18 May 1890, in the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul, Kimpton, Herts.
The 1891 Census records Roger aged 1, living with his parents and 8 siblings in Church Lane, Kimpton. The family remained in Church Lane, Kimpton on the 1901 Census and lists Roger aged 12, with his parents and five siblings.
Roger enlisted in the army, at Luton, Beds and was posted to the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment with the Regimental number 8896, sometime between May 1906 and January 1907. On the 1911 Census, Roger aged 22, was serving as a Private with 'B' Company 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment at Prospect Barracks in Bermuda.
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of war Roger was a career soldier, serving with Bedfordshire Regiment and stationed at Mullingar, Ireland. The Battalion was mobilised for war leaving Mullingar by train in the early hours for Belfast on 14 August 1914. They embarked at Belfast aboard the SS “Oronsay” about 2pm and sailed for Le Havre, France arriving the night of 15 August 1914, and disembarking on the morning of the 16th, seeing action on the Western Front.
Roger died on 16 February 1915, from wounds received in action, and is buried in the CWGC Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Grave Ref: III. C. 52. He was the first Kimptonian to lay down his life for his Country.
Additional Information
His younger brother Private 16524 Nathan Cain of the 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment was killed in action on 15th November 1915, he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing in France.
His father received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £8 17s 0d. His parents received a Dependent pension of 10 shillings a week for Roger and his brother Nathan.
It is not known when or how his three medals were lost but in December 2020, a local resident of Kimpton, was digging in his garden and unearthed two of his medals the British War and Victory Medal. The finder of the medals did a bit of research and returned them to the Cain family who are still living in the Village.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne, Brenda Palmer
Adrian Pitts, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk
