Name
Leonard Bass
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
08/02/1917
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
36243
Princess Charlotte of Wales’ (Royal Berkshire) Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CONTAY BRITISH CEMETERY, CONTAY
VII. D. 21.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Sawbridgeworth memorials, Not listed on the Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, Sheering War Memorial Cross
Pre War
Leonard was the son of Charles and Martha Bass, of Sawbridgeworth, Herts. born in 1897.
In the 1911 census Leonard Bass was a ‘Gardener’ and lived at Hatfield Broad Oak, later moving to Sheering, Mill Lane.
Wartime Service
Formerly 6114 in the Hertfordshire Regiment.
In January 1916 he was conscripted into the Army, serving with the 6th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. This was a ‘Kitchener’ Service Battalion, and at the beginning of 1917 was a part of the 18th Division, taking part in ‘Operations on the Ancre’. These ‘Operations’ were basically an extension of the 1916 Somme offensive, and were carried out in atrocious conditions. On the 7 February 1917, the 18th Division was involved in an attack South of Grandcourt to capture a feature called ‘Folly Trench’. Leonard’s death is recorded on the 8 February 1917. However, there was no major action by his unit that day. He actually died of wounds received on the 7 February, where he was wounded in the left leg, which then had to be amputated.
Leonard Bass is buried in Contay British Cemetery, France. He is named on the Sheering War Memorial Cross. He was aged 19.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Douglas Coe
