Name
Herbert George Drake
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
19/04/1916
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
14887
Bedfordshire Regiment
8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 31 and 33.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Gilston Village Memorial
Pre War
Herbert was born in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire in
1892, one of six children born to George and Eliza Drake. In 1911, he was
living with his parents and younger brother William at Pye Corner, Gilston and
working as a Farm Labourer.
Wartime Service
Herbert joined the 8th Battalion of the Bedfordshire
Regiment and arrived in France on the 29/12/1915. On 16/04/16 the 8/Beds
relived the 10/Rifle Brigade in trenches north of Ypres. On the 19/04/16, 2
Other Ranks were wounded during the day, then on the night of the 19/20 after a
2-hour heavy bombardment the Germans attacked and gained a footing in the
British trenches, the 8/Beds were relived on the 20th having suffered 201 casualties,
including 2 Officers and 32 OR’s Killed and 97 OR’s missing believed killed,
Herbert may have been one of these.
Additional Information
Herbert’s younger brother William was killed in The Great War and is also commemorated on the Gilston War Memorial.
Acknowledgments
Iain Duncan
Jonty Wild, Iain Duncan, Anthony Hodgkins
