Name
Herbert Henry Morgan
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/06/1918
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
33202
Royal Field Artillery
'A' Battery, 177th Brigade
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
AIRE COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Plot III, Row B, Grave 28.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour, Wesleyan (Bushey & Oxhey Methodist) Church Memorial, Oxhey, Bushey Baptist Church, Stanmore War Memorial, Middlesex
Pre War
Born in Bushey in 1885, Herbert Henry Morgan was the only son of Robert Henry and Matilda Sarah (nee Dukes) Morgan. His parents were married on 9 October 1884 at St Andrew’s, Watford. Matilda died in 1925 in Bushey, Herts, aged 59, and was buried 7 May at St James’, Bushey. Robert died in 1955 in Oxhey, Herts, aged 93, and was buried on 7 September, also at St James.
At the 1891 Census, Herbert was six years old and living with his parents and sister, Lilian, at 24 Villiers Road in Watford. His father was employed as a railway clerk. Robert, Matilda and Lilian are 28, 25 and 1 years old respectively, and their birthplaces are given as Kentish Town in London, Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire and Bushey in Hertfordshire.
At the 1901 Census, Herbert had moved out of the family home and was boarding at the Gristwood household at 195 High Street, Watford. Harry Gristwood had a bakery business and Herbert was employed as a baker’s assistant.
Herbert married Daisy Element, of Tylers Farm, Bushey, on 4 July 1908 at the Bushey and South Watford Baptist Chapel in Chalk Hill, Bushey.
At the 1911 Census, Herbert and Daisy were living at The Croft Cottage, Old Church Lane in Stanmore, Middlesex with two children, Cyril and Dorothy. They were aged 2 and 1 years respectively. Herbert was now working as a Vanman for a Railway Company. The birthplace for Daisy is given as Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire and those for Cyril and Dorothy are Luton in Bedfordshire and Stanmore in Middlesex respectively.
Wartime Service
Herbert enlisted in Woolwich, London and served as Gunner 33202 in the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery. He served on the Western front and died on 11 June 1918of wounds received in action. He was entitled to the Victory, British War and 1914 Star medals, his qualifying date being 23 August 1914.
There is an article about, and a Death announcement for Herbert in the West Herts and Watford Observer dated 22 June 1918, and an In Memoriam in the issue dated 14 June 1919.
Herbert’s pension record card names his widow, Daisy, as his dependant and gives her address as 1 Kerley Cottages, Church Road in Stanmore. It gives her date of birth as 11 March 1884 and that for the two children, Cyril Herbert and Irene Dorothy, as 14 January 1909 and 5 March 1911 respectively. The family is awarded a pension of 25s/5d with effect from 23 December 1918.
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
