Name
Lawrence James Gentle
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
12/11/1918
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sapper
WR/179700
Royal Engineers
234th Light Railway Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DELSAUX FARM CEMETERY, BEUGNY
III. A. 18.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hatfield Town Memorial, Hatfield In Memoriam Book
Pre War
Son of William Peter and Emily Gentle, of North Rd., Hatfield, Herts.
1901 Census: Laurence, age 2, is the only son of William and Emily. The family are living at Chapman’s Yard, Hatfield. William was a railway stoker.
1911 Census: Laurence, age 12, has moved with his family to Bull Stag Green, Hatfield. There was now another son, Alfred William age 2. Father, William was now a railway engine driver.
Wartime Service
Served in the Royal Engineers, 234th Light Railway Coy. But from his medal card, Lawrence served in 3 regiments of the Royal Engineers his service No’s 524511, T3087, WR/179700.
The Bishop’s Hatfield Parish Magazine of October 1915, in the fourteenth list of men mobilised from Hatfield, recorded: “Gentle, Lawrence - North Road - Royal Engineers.” then in December 1918: “In the same way the death of Sapper Lawrence Gentle R.E., who died of pneumonia in France, brings grief into a home where he was much loved, and casts a veil of sorrow upon his family at a time of much public rejoicing. He was aged only 20, and enlisted at the age of 16. Can any life have been fuller, and more patriotic than that of this Hatfield boy?”
Awarded the Victory Medal, British War Medal.
Additional Information
Hatfield Parish Council Souvenir Committee Ledger: Mrs W.P. Gentle (Mother) of Bull Stag Green, Hatfield received a Silver Matchbox.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Christine & Derek Martindale, Hatfield Local History Society (www.hatfieldhistory.uk)
