Name
Herbert Bushby Cave
20/5/1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
13/11/1916
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
4291
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CONNAUGHT CEMETERY, THIEPVAL
XII. L. 10.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Abbots Langley Village Memorial, Abbots Langley St Lawrence Church, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Biography
Herbert Bushby Cave was the son of Arthur William Cave and Emily Bushby. He was born on 20th May 1895 in Popes Road, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. He was baptised at the Parish Church of St Lawrence in Abbots Langley in 4 August that year. He was the eldest of Arthur and Emily’s five children (two sons, and four daughters) and the family lived at 16 High Street above the shop where Arthur ran the local Fishmongers, Pulterers and Greengrocers.
Herbert’s father Arthur had previously been married to Annie Slade in 1889 and their marriage produced two children Maud and Arthur, both born in Abbots Langley. Unfortunately, Annie died in childbirth in 1893 after having their son Arthur who sadly only lived to the age of five. Their daughter Maud continued to live with her father and his new wife Emily Bushby when he married for the second time in 1894.
On the 1911 Census for Abbots Langley the family were living in the High Street and Herbert aged 15 was a Fishmonger, the same trade as his father and Grandfather. His Grandfather William had been a Fishmonger in nearby Hunton Bridge, so Herbert had followed in the family tradition.
At the start of WW1 in August 1914 Herbert was only 18 years old and on the 14 December of that year he enlisted in to the Army and signed his papers in the county town of Hertford – he joined the 1/1st Battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment which was part of the Territorial Force. He signed his Attestation Papers on 14th December 1914 and became Private No 4291. The 1/1st Hertfordshire Regiment on 26 June 1915 spent the entire war in Flanders and France.
As shown on his Medal Card you can see that Herbert was sent to France on 10th July 1915 nearly a year after the War first started. He embarked from Southampton to join his Battalion in the field and at this time Lieutenant Colonel Croft was in command of the Battalion and they were based near the French town of Bethune.
In fact in the Battalion’s War Diary it states that on 14th July - 1 New Officer and 70 new men joined the Battalion from England - so it was likely that Herbert was one of those 70 men.
When Herbert went to France the Battalion came under the command of the 4th (Guards) Brigade in the 2nd Division, but a month after Herbert arrived in France they were transferred to the 6th Brigade, 2nd Division.
In 1915 the 2nd Division were involved in The Battle of Festubert and The Battle of Loos. During August the Battalion spent a lot of their time in the trenches near Cuinchy and at the end of the month they marched to Montmorency Barracks near Bethune.
So pretty soon after Herbert arrived he would have got a taste of what life was like for a soldier in the trenches in France during WW1 as the Battalion spent plenty of time digging trenches in and around this area.
At the end of September the Battalion was involved in the Battle of Loos. On 27th September the Battalion together with the 1st Kings (Liverpool Regiment) was to attack the enemy lines near Cuinchy, but the assault was cancelled due to the failure of the gas used against the enemy. In fact, an Officer and 25 men from the Battalion were themselves affected by the gas poisoning presumably due to the wind changing direction. On 30th September the Battalion was relieved and marched back to billets east of Bethune.
Most of their time during the next 2-3 months was spent rotating between service in the front-line trenches, followed by time in the reserve trenches in the area east of Bethune. They appeared to be involved in plenty of action but luckily they spent Christmas Day in barracks in Bethune which I am sure was a welcome break from the front line.
In February of 1916 the battalion was moved to the 118th Brigade of the 39th Division and at the end of the month they were moved north by train to Ebblingham. They spent the spring in trenches in and around the area north of Bethune – an area they knew as they had been in the trenches there the previous year.
His Casualty Record noted that he spent ten days at the No 2 London Casualty Clearing Station between 21st March to 31st March 1916, suffering from bronchitis. He re-joined the battalion on 1st April 1916.
July 1916 saw the start of the Battle of the Somme but the 1/1st Hertfordshire Regiment were still in the area around Cuinchy, however during the month of August they starting marching south towards the battlefields of the Somme. By the end of the month they were near Englebelmer just north of Albert.
At the beginning of September the 39th Division attacked the enemy’s trenches north of The Ancre and the 118th Brigade were in reserve. The attack failed and the 118th Brigade took over the original front line. The trenches they were in suffered shelling by the enemy and that night the Germans put over gas shells behind their support lines and gas helmets had to be worn. At the end of October the Battalion took over the Schwaben Dedoubt from the 17th KRRC.
In November the Battalion was involved in the Battle of The Ancre and on 12-13th November the Battalion left their billets and marched in light fighting order to the Schwaben Redoubt where it formed up in assembly positions in four lines. The Schwaben Redoubt was a German Strongpoint near the village of Thiepval which overlooked the River Ancre. It formed part of the German defensive system in the Somme and consisted of machine-gun emplacements, trenches and dug outs. The site of the Redoubt lies between what is now the Thiepval Memorial and the Ulster Tower.
At 5.45am on 13th November just before dawn and in a thick mist the guns opened fire and the Battalion moved forward. Their specific objective was a series of enemy strong-points 200 yards close to the infamous Schwaben Redoubt.
The 1/1st Hertfordshire Regiment had the Cambridgeshires on the left and the East Lancs (19th Division) on the right. Direction was kept and by 7:20 the Battalion had managed to take all its objectives, capturing the whole of the HANSA line and advancing to a depth of 1,600 yards. Over 250 German prisoners were captured and many Germans were killed.
The new line was consolidated and the Battalion held the new position until the night of the 14th/15th November. During this period the Germans made three small raids against the bombing post on the Battalions left, but these were successfully driven back. In all these operations 9 machine guns were captured. The Battalion was relieved on the night of the 14th/15th November by the Kings Own and marched back to huts near Auveluy.
Sadly during this period the Battalion’s casualties were 7 Officers wounded, 20 OR (Other Ranks) Killed, 5 OR Missing and 115 OR wounded. Unfortunately, Herbert Cave was one of the Ordinary Ranks that was killed on 13th November along with 19 other men.
In December 1916 his death was recorded in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine “Herbert Bushby Cave was killed in action in France on November 13th. He was known by everyone, and by all by whom he was known he was loved. He became a member of our Choir as a small boy, and still continued to be up to the time of his death. He was a regular Communicant, and had for a short time been, a "Server". Ready, willing and fond of fun and sport, and yet regular and devout at his worship, he was a fine type of an English youth, and was one of the first to join the Army at the outbreak of War. He leaves a sweet memory and a good example behind. May God, the Consoler of the widow, the orphan and the mourner, grant to the relatives and friends who are left behind, his gracious consolation.”
On 2nd December 1916 the Hertfordshire Advertiser reported
“We regret to record the death of Pte Bert Cave of the Hertfordshire Regiment, killed in action in France. The deceased was only 21 years of age. The news of his death came as a great blow to his parents, who are in business in Abbots Langley, and to whom much sympathy is extended. Pte Cave was previously employed with his father, and was much respected by all who knew him”. This was under the headline "Abbots Langley Mother Dies on Hearing of Son's Death".
After the war Herbert was posthumously awarded medals for serving in the Army in the Great War. Amongst Herbert’s Service Records are the receipts signed by his parents Arthur and Emily Cave to acknowledge receipt of the medals. Firstly in 1919 they signed a receipt for the 1914/15 Star and then in 1921 they signed a receipt for the British War and the Victory Medal awarded to Herbert.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild
Janet Goddard, Mick Huggett, Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org, Jonty Wild
