Name
James Henley
1893
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/06/1916
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
4533
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
GORRE BRITISH AND INDIAN CEMETERY
I. A. 19.
France
Headstone Inscription
THY WILL BE DONE
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley,
Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
James Percy Henley was born in 1893 in Aston Clinton, Bucks, the son of Thomas and Emma Henley and one of nine children.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 27 Henry Street, Tring, Herts where his father was working as a Coachman Domestic for the Rothschild family at Tring Park Mansion where he also worked as a casual gardener. James' brother John also worked there as a gardener.
In about 1906 the family moved to Boxmoor nr. Hemel Hempstead and on the 1911 Census they were living at 35 Puller Road, at which time James was working as a card maker at the factory of John Dickinson & Co, Apsley Mills. Three of his sisters were also working as envelope makers at the factory.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hertford in January 1915 and joined the Hertfordshire Regiment, and was sent for basic training. He was sent to France on 10 July 1915 where he joined 2nd Company, 1st Battalion at Montmorency Barracks, Bethune on 14 July. His first action was at the Battle of Loos in September 1915.
In June 1916 the battalion was at Givenchy-les-la-Basse in trenches when he was killed, aged 22, on 17 June by a shell which burst among a group of men eating lunch during an otherwise quiet spell. He and one other man were killed instantaneously and three others were wounded.
He is buried in Gorre British and Indian Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His mother, Mrs E Henley, 35 Nuller [Puller] Rd, Boxmoor, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "THY WILL BE DONE".
His mother received a war gratuity of £6 and a pension of 5 shillings a week. His father received his pay owing of £3 6s 4d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com., www.hemelatwar.org., www.dacorumheritage.org.uk.
