Name
Reginald Cripps
2 July 1897
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
10/07/1917
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
266124
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st/1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LIJSSENTHOEK MILITARY CEMETERY
XV. B. 1.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
SLEEP ON DEAR ONE
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Reginald Cripps was born on 2 July 1897 in Hemel Hempstead, the son of Adam and Clara Cripps, and baptised in St Mary's Church on 2 March 1906 at the same time as his siblings Sidney and Ivory Hilda. He was one of 6 children.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 38 Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a a foreman in an iron foundry. They remained at the same address in 1911 by which time Reginald was an errand boy for an ironmongers.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hertford in May 1915 and served with the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment, initially under reg. no. 3785. After training, he was sent to France in the summer of 1916.
He joined his Battalion west of Bethune and saw action in the trenches and in October 1916 fought in the Battle of Ancre Heights (part of the Battle of the Somme) and the Battle of Ancre in November.
He was wounded in action in the Hill Top Sector of Canal Bank near Ypres, with a wounds to his chest and arm. He was evacuated to No. 10 Casualty Clearing Station, then situated at Remy Siding, where he died of his wounds on 10 July 1917, aged 20. He is buried at the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium.
Additional Information
His mother, Mrs Clara Cripps, 38 Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead, ordered his headstone inscription: "SLEEP ON DEAR ONE". His mother received a war gratuity of £12 10s and pay owing of £7 8s 11d. She also received a pension of 5 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com, hemelatwar.org., dacorumheritage.org.uk
