Name
Lindsey Thomas Courtney
20 March 1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/07/1916
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
5649
East Surrey Regiment
8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 6 B and 6 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Hitchin memorials
Pre War
Lindsey (probably Lindsay) was born on 20 March 1896 in Hitchin (birth registered early in 1897) and christened on 16 February 1897 in Holy Savior Church, Hitchin, Herts. His parents were William Edward and Edith Maud Courtney (née Alen) who married in 1896,
Edith was born in Essex, probably Leytonstone, Essex or nearby. Lindsay was brin in Hitchin and another, Edward Reuben, was baptised on 29 March 1899 in All Hallows, Southwark: Copperfield Street, Southwark. At that time his father was a beer retailer.
In 1901 the family were living at 20 Hamilton Road, West Ham, Essex. Present were both parents: William (35) and Edith(a) (25), with William living off his own means. Their children were: Lindsay (4) and Reuben (2). He may have been ill as he appears to have died there in 1903.
As a widow Edith married John Bridges on 9 June 1906 in St Mary’s Church, Stratford Bow: Stratford Bow, Poplar, Tower Hamlets. Her father was recorded as Matthew Alen and his as also John Bridges
By 1911 the family were living at 41 Goodall Road, Leyton, Leytonstone. Present was stepfather John (51) and Edith (35), their children John Robert (3) and Doris Maria (1) and Edith’s sons Lindsay Thomas Courtney, who at 14 was an apprentice to a smith, and Rueben Edward Courtney (12). The census recorded they had been married for 4 years with two children, all living and that John was working as a porter for the Great Eastern Railway.
A third party source suggests that Lindsay joined the Great Eastern Railway in January 1911, working there until he enlisted in September 1914.
Officially he was recorded as born in Hitchin, Herts. and was living in Leytonstone, Essex, when he enlisted in Leyton, Essex.
Edith, his mother, died in 1957.
Wartime Service
Lindsay enlisted in September 1914 and served with the 8th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment and disembarked in France on 27 July 1915
The third party source, quoting the Great Eastern Railway Magazine, suggests that Lindsay went over the top on the first day of the Battle of Somme and was part of the famous "Football Charge" and that he was killed by a German sniper on the same day – any corroboration of this, perhaps the magazine or newspaper reports etc. would be gratefully received. It also suggests that Lindsay and his brother were orphans, however we know this is not the case.
Additional Information
After his death £3 15s 3d pay owing was authorised to go to his mother, Edith Maud Bridges, on 4 April 1917. Later, a war gratuity of £8 was authorised to be paid to her on 7 October 1919.
His pension cards record Edith Bridges as his mother and as his dependant, living at 4 Clarence Road, Leytonstone, Essex. She was awarded a pension of 5s a week from 21 August 1017.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild
