Name
Jesse Herbert Dagley
1899
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
16/05/1918
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
56950
Lancashire Fusiliers
15th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CABARET-ROUGE BRITISH CEMETERY, SOUCHEZ
VIII. O. 12.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley End
Pre War
Jesse Herbert Dagley was born in 1899 in Greenwich, London, the son of Herbert and Elizabeth Dagley and one of three children.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 7A Armada Street, Deptford, London where his father was working as a factory stoker, possibly in the nearby Deptford power station.
His mother died in 1905 and on the 1911 Census, Jesse and his two sisters Connie and Lily were living with their grandparents, Henry and Anna Dagley at 8 Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead. where his grandfather was working as a Jobbing Gardener and Jesse and his siblings were at school. When he left school in 1912 he started work at John Dickinson & Co, paper manufacturers, at Apsley Mills and remained working there until enlistment.
Although he enlisted in Watford, Herts, he was said to be living at Hampstead, Middlesex, on enlistment according to the list of Soldiers Who Died in the Great War. However, this may be a misreading of Hempstead (Hemel Hempstead).
Wartime Service
When he reached the age of 19 he enlisted in Watford in 1917 and served with the 15th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers. It is likely that he arrived in France in April 1918 as the war diaries state that is when the Battalion received 441 OR reinforcements (other ranks), along with 7 officers.
The Battalion were in trenches near Arras and the war diaries record an attack by the enemy on 16th May 1918. It is probable that Jesse was wounded during this attack and died later the same day. He is buried at Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, north of Arras, France.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £4 6s 2d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk., www.hemelheroes.com.
