Name
Bertie Amos Howlett
1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
19/04/1916
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
17121
Bedfordshire Regiment
8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 31 and 33.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Radlett Town Memorial, Christchurch Memorial, Radlett, Not on the Borehamwood memorials, We are not aware of any memorial in Potters Crouch
Pre War
Bertie Amos Howlett was born in 1889 in Potters Crouch (nr Chiswell Green), Hertfordshire, the son of John and Martha Howlett.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at No. 2 Theobald Street, Radlett, where his father was working as an agricultural labourer and Bertie (Bertram) aged 14 was working as a milk boy. He remained with his parents in 1911 and was working as an agricultural labourer, Their address is given as Organ Hall Cottages, Theobald Street, Borehamwood, Herts. (N.B. Bertie may have been working at Organ Hall Farm, Theobald Street) His parents later lived at Ivy Cottage, Radlett and Cobden Hill, Radlett, Herts.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in St Albans and served with the 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment.
On 15 April 1916 at Ypres, Bertie would have been in the trenches of Yser Canal Bank. On the night of 19/20 April, after two hours of heavy bombardment, the German infantry attacked with bomb and bayonet and gained a footing in the British front line trenches. The Bedfords resisted but sustained heavy casualties and lost ground. Bertie was one of several who were reported missing, presumed dead. His name is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £7 and pay owing of £4 3s 6d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild
