Name
Eric Curruthers Leigh
1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/07/1916
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2615
Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment)
19th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
SERRE ROAD CEMETERY No.1
II. B. 15.
France
Headstone Inscription
HE SLEEPS AND DWELLS IN THE LAND OF PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
Knebworth Village Memorial, Knebworth (Old), St Martin's Church Memorial, Knebworth (New), St Martin's Church Framed Memorial Knebworth (New), The British Legion -Knebworth & District Branch ROH, St Martin Church, Knebworth (New), St Mary & St Thomas Church Memorial, Knebworth Park, Diocese - Book of Remembrance, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans, Diocese of St Albans - ROH, St Albans Cathedral, St Alban
Pre War
Eric Carruthers Leigh was born in 1896 in Peterborough, Northants, the son of George & Kathleen Leigh (nee Gibson) and one of three children. He was baptised on 26 December 1895 in Peterborough.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 4 Narrrow Street, Peterborough with his widowed grandfather and father who were boot dealers. By 1911 they had moved 'Trellis, 2 Oundle Road, Peterborough, where his mother was the head of the household, said she was married and working as a boarding house keeper. Eric, then aged 15 was a clerk working for architects & surveyors. His father was not listed with them. His brother George Roy Leigh had emigrated to Canada, having left on the Empress of Britain on 10 February 1911 for St John, New Brunswick.
On his enlistment form Eric did not state that his father was deceased, but said he had no father. (No death records have been found). He was living at 85 Maryon Road, Charlton, S E London at the time of enlistment.
His mother and sister Kathleen later moved to “Thorpleigh”, Stockens Green, Knebworth.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in London on 6 August 1915 and joined the Middlesex Regiment, serving with the 16th Battalion in France from 14 April 1916 when he arrived in Boulogne, having sailed from Folkestone, Kent.
He was initially declared as missing in action and death was assumed on 1 July 1916, but at the end of the war his body was located and reburied in Serrie Road No. 1 Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £1 18s 3d. A pension card exists with his mother as dependant and living at Knebworth but do not show if a pension was paid.
Although some records including CWGC, spell the middle name of Curruthers with a 'u', Eric's middle name at birth registration and baptism was spelt with an 'a', i.e. Carruthers. It was also spelt with an 'a' on the enlistment form, which Eric signed (as Eric Carrruthers Leigh).
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Paul Johnson
