Name
Henry Clement Atkins
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
161906
431st Agricultural Company
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Henry Atkins was born in Manor Park, in east London in 1888. He was one of four children born to Arthur and Ada Atkins. The couple had three sons and a daughter, and in 1891 Arthur was employed as a Constable in the Metropolitan Police in West Ham. By 1901 Arthur had been promoted to Sergeant and the family had moved to Kensington. By the time of the 1911 Census the family lived at 24 Breakspeare Road, Abbots Langley, and by this time Arthur had retired from the Police.
In 1901 Henry worked as an Errand Boy in Kensington, and then was recorded as working as a General Labourer at Abbots Langley in the 1911 Census.
His name was first recorded in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour in June 1917, however only the name appeared, and it is not known in which unit he was serving. This situation continued through to the end of the War.
On 29th August 1917 the Parish Magazine noted that Henry’s wife Evelyn Clara Atkins had given birth to a son.
In the Absent Voters Records of Autumn 1918 and Spring 1919 Henry was recorded serving as a Private in the 431st Agricultural Company, and gave his home residence as Bedmond. Around 75,000 men served in the Agricultural Companies, which had been raised with the primary objective of providing labour. Nearly all of the Companies served at Home in England, and often men considered unfit for service, or those returning from wounds and illness were posted to these units.
Henry’s brother, Arthur served with the Royal Munster Fusiliers and survived the War. His cousins Ernest and Leonard Atkins did not. Both were killed in action. Leonard died fighting on the Somme in September 1916, whilst Ernest fell at Passchedaele in December 1917. Other cousins William and Frank both served and survived the War.
Henry Atkins survived the War.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
