Name
Henry Vincent (MM)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
25/04/1917
35
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
353290
London Regiment
7th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Military Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CHESTER FARM CEMETERY
III. C. 2.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Bushey memorials,
Not on the Watford memorials
Pre War
Born in Watford in the last quarter of 1881, Henry Vincent was the son of Herbert Alfred and Flora (nee Chamberlin) Vincent. His parents were married in the first quarter of 1881 in the registration district of Pancras.
At the 1891 census, Henry was nine years old and living with his parents and two sisters at ‘Batavia’ Bushey Hall Road, Bushey. Herbert and Flora were 32 and 31 years old respectively and Herbert was working as a foreign silk merchant’s agent. Henry’s siblings were called Ellen Vincent Vincent and Lucy Vincent Vincent and were aged 7 and 1 years respectively. Also present was Flora’s widowed sister, Kate Gertrude Chamberlin, who was 21 years old, and a domestic servant. The birthplaces were given as Camden for Herbert, Pentonville for Flora, Watford for the three children and Wroxham in Norfolk for Flora’s sister. Both Henry and Ellen were at school.
Herbert Albert died at the age of 38 in 1897, the death being registered in Watford. By the time of the 1901 census, Flora had moved to 70 Chaucer Road in Forest Gate, West Ham. Henry and Ellen were still living with Flora, but Lucy was not present. Henry had followed in his father’s footsteps and was working at a silk merchant’s warehouse.
Henry married Florence Amelia Ellis in 1902 in the registration district of West Ham, and by the time of the 1911 census, they were living at ‘Batavia’ in Devonshire Road, Forest Hill. Henry and Florence were 30 and 32 years old respectively and Henry was working as a travelling salesman for a fashion publisher and printer. Also present was Florence’s younger brother, William James Ellis, who was also a travelling salesman. Both Florence and William had been born in Forest Gate.
Officially recorded as born in Watford and was living in Forest Hill when he enlisted in Lewisham.
Wartime Service
Henry Vincent enlisted in Lewisham as Private 353290 in the London Regiment. He served in France and Flanders and was awarded the Military Medal, a decoration awarded to service men below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land.
He was killed in action on 25 April 1917, aged 36, and is remembered with honour at Chester Farm Cemetery in Belgium. The headstone on his grave includes a personal inscription which reads: “SON OF HERBERT AND FLORA VINCENT, BUSHEY HUSBAND OF FLORENCE A VINCENT”. Henry is not commemorated on a Bushey memorial.
The pension card for Henry named Florence as his widow and gave her date of birth as 22 May 1879. She was initially awarded a pension of 13 shillings and 9 pence per week, which was later increased to 37 shillings and 6 pence and then to 50 shillings from 1st May 1918.
The entry for Henry in the Commonwealth War Graves database gives the following additional information: “Son of Herbert A. and flora Vincent, of Bushey, Herts.; husband of Florence Amelia Vincent of 12, Charlotte Street, Brighton."
Additional Information
Henry is also commemorated on the family headstone in Watford Cemetery. His part of the inscription reads:
ALSO OF HENRY. PTE. 1ST 7TH BATT. CTY. OF LDN.
ELDEST SON OF ABOVE (Herbert Alfred Vincent]. AGED 35(*1). GAINED M.M. FOR BRAVERY AND FELL IN ACTION IN BELGIUM. 25TH APRIL 1917,
“HE DIED FOR KING AND COUNTRY.”
*1 CWGC records his age as 36.
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
