Name
Arthur Kimble
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/04/1915
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
3009
East Surrey Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LE TREPORT MILITARY CEMETERY
Plot 2. Row A. Grave 7.
France
Headstone Inscription
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
UK & Other Memorials
Leavesden Asylum/Hospital War Memorial, Leavesden Abbots Langley Cross, Abbots Langley,
Biography
Arthur was born in1892 (baptised 31 Jul 1892) in Cublington, near Leighton Buzzard to Newman Kimble, a master shoemaker, and Sarah (nee Woolhead). He had six brothers and four sisters. On the 1901 Census Arthur was living in Cublington with his widowed Mother (His father had died late 1900/early 1901). Before the Great War Arthur had worked at the Leavesden Asylum. He was recorded in the Asylum Roll of Honour which was published in the Between October and December 1914. Arthur married Agnes Flowers between October and December 1914. Agnes lived with her family at the Model Cottages (1901) in Troley Bottom, and latterly at Asylum Terrace (1911). In the 1911 Census Agnes was listed working as a Nurse/Housemaid for Henry Somerson, a barrister living at “Hillbank” in Abbots Road. He was recorded in the Asylum Roll of Honour which was published in the Hertfordshire Advertiser on 17th October 1914.
When the Great War broke out Arthur and Agnes were living in Watford, and Arthur enlisted in the town. He enlisted in the East Surrey Regiment as Private 3009. No Service Record could be found for Arthur. He would probably have been posted to 3rd or 4th Battalion for his initial training. His service number would have been issued as a Duration of War recruit as 3009 was issued for a regular recruit about 1890 (there should also have been a prefix which seems not have been recorded). At the time he was employed as a Kitchenman at the Leavesden Asylum, and in the Leavesden Parish Records of October 1914 was shown as “joined HM Forces”. He left for France on 23rd February 1915 to join 2nd Battalion in the Ypres Sector. The War Diary of 2nd Battalion records that for the period 11 - 14 Apr 1915 they were in Front Line trenches at Zonnbeke, Ypres and were the subject of a German bombardment on the 13 Apr. Their casualties were 19 killed and 47 wounded.
In April 1915 the St Lawrence Parish Magazine reported that Arthur had been wounded at the Battle of Neuve Chappelle (which took place between the 10th and 13th March 1915), however 2nd Battalion War Diary records them in the Ypres Area at this time. Sadly Arthur never recovered from his wounds and died at the No 3 General Hospital at Le Treport, a small coastal town some sixteen miles north-east of Dieppe, on 15th April 1915, eleven days after his son, Arthur Ernest was born. His death, noted as “Died of Wounds” was recorded in the Parish Magazine of May 1915.
Additional Information
War Gratuity of £3 and arrears of 3s 9d was paid to his widow. His elder brother William Kimble and younger brother Ernest Kimble also served and survived the War, and together with Arthur were commemorated in the Roll of Honour at St Nicholas Parish Church in Cublington, where Arthur was also listed on the War Memorial. His brother-in-law Aubrey George Flowers (brother of Agnes) had emigrated to Canada before the War, and returned with the Canadian Contingent. He was killed in action on 24th April 1916 serving with the 5th Canadian Infantry (Saskatchewan Regiment) and was commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres. Two other brothers in law, Leonard and Harry Flowers both survived the War.
Arthur never met his son, but is commemorated on his son’s headstone in Abbots Langley (St. Lawrence) Churchyard the inscription reads:
“IN LOVING MIRROR MEMORY OF MY DEAR SON ARTHUR ERNEST KIMBLE WHO FELL ASLEEP JULAI 17TH 1933 AGED 18 YEARS
ALSO HIS FATHER ARTHUR KIMBLE WHO DIED IN FRANCE APRIL 15TH 1915 AGED 23 YEARS UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN”
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
