Name
Vernon Alan Lawrence
1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/03/1919
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
14301
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
D Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
APSLEY END (ST. MARY) CHURCHYARD
Near North Hedge.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary's Church Memorial, Apsley End,
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
Not on the Hertford memorials
Pre War
Vernon Alan Lawrence (known as Alan) was born in 1894 in Hertford, the youngest child of William and Ada Lawrence and one of five children.
On the 1901 Census the family were living in 1 Story Street, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Printers Compositor. By 1911 they had moved to 59 Weymouth Street, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead at which time Alan was an apprentice in the Engineering Department at the Paper Mill, having worked there since he left school in 1907.
He later left Apsley Mills to work as a Chauffeur for Percy Christopherson, the Headmaster of Lockers Park School, a job which would have included the maintenance and repair of the car he was employed to drive.
(His mother died in 1922 and his father in 1937. Sadly only one of their five children survived their parents. His sister Nanette died in 1890 aged two, brother Wilfred died in 1910 aged 26, brother Eustace in 1912, aged 24 and Vernon (Alan) in the war. Only his sister Josephine survived, but died in 1964 having never married).
Wartime Service
With the support of his employer, Mr Christopherson, he enlisted in September 1914 in the hope he could be used as motor driver at the Front. He joined the Bedfordshire Regiment and was posted to Aldershot for basic training, being sent to France on 26th July 1915 with the 7th Battalion.
He was wounded on 26 April 1916 during a raid on German trenches and was mentioned in despatches for bravery and devotion to duty. Following treatment and recuperation he was returned to duty.
The following July he was wounded again but again recovered.
His entry in the National Roll of the Great War states that "During his service on the Western Front he fought in several important battles, including those at Hill 60, Givenchy, Passchendaele, Arras and the Somme."
In 1918 he was wounded at Cambrai and taken prisoner on 23 March, suffering from severe wounds in both legs. He was treated at the prisoner of war camp and remained there until he was repatriated with 538 other prisoners, mostly stretcher cases, and returned to England on 24 October 1918. He was admitted to the 2nd London General Hospital, Chelsea and had several operations on his legs, but due to his weakened state he did not recover and died on 3 March 1919, age 24.
He is buried in St Mary's Churchyard, Apsley End.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £26 10s and pay owing of £21 4s.
N.B. His sister Miss J M Lawrence of 61 Beaconsfield Road, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead, Herts was given as the contact name on CWGC.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, wwwdacorumheritage.org.uk, wwwhemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.,com
