Name
Bertram Potten
1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Marlowes Methodist Church War Memorial, Hemel Hempstead (*1)
Pre War
Bertram Potten was born in 1887 in Great Gaddesden, Herts. the son of William and Elizabeth Potten and one of seven children. He was baptised on 16 October 1887 at Great Gaddesden.
On the 1891 Census the family were living in Great Gaddesden where his father was working as an agricultural labourer. They had moved to 27 Alma Road, Hemel Hempstead in 1901, when his father was working as a Carter at the Iron Foundry and Bertram was an Post Office Boy.
He married Lilian Hemley on 10 May 1913 in Hemel Hempstead and they had two children, Leslie born on 14 June 1914 and Grace born on 12 November 1915. He was working for John Dickinson & Co, Apsley Mills as a Foreman Envelope Maker prior to enlistment.
When he was discharged in 1919 he returned to his home address of 7 Winifred Road, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead.
Bertram died in 1970 in Hemel Hempstead and was living at 33 Stonelea Road.
(Brother to Edwin and William Potten who are also named on the Marlowes Methodist Church Memorial as survivors of the war.)
Wartime Service
Bertram enlisted on 11 December 1915 and served initially with the Queen's Regiment later transferring to the Labour Corps (Reg. No. 473962). He joined 847 Area Employment Company on 15 May 1916 at Sittingbourne, Kent.
He served in France and Belgium with the Infantry and was treated for trench feet in November 1916 when they found he had flat feet. He was treated at the Casualty Clearing Station, Poperinghe and 3rd Australian General Hospital. He was discharged in 1919 due to difficulty when walking.
Additional Information
*1 Marlowes Methodist Church was one of the five churches that merged in 2006 to form Hemel Hempstead Methodist Church. The Marlowes Methodist Church building was built in 1890 and used regularly from then until 2006 and then again as the main Hemel Hempstead Methodist Church building from May 2012 until it finally closed in March 2014. The war memorial was removed from the building before demolition and passed to the local British Legion. The war memorial is unusual in that it names those who returned safely as well as those who died.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
mymethodisthistory.org.uk
