Name
Herbert Cecil Reed
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
14/06/1917
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Rifleman
41334
Royal Irish Rifles
10th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DRANOUTRE MILITARY CEMETERY
I. J. 48.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
3rd Son Of James & Elizabeth Reed Sawbridgeworth, Herts. England
UK & Other Memorials
Sawbridgeworth Town Memorial, Great St Mary’s Church Memorial, Sawbridgeworth
Pre War
Herbert was the son of James and Elizabeth Reed, of 19 London Road., Sawbridgeworth, Herts., born in December 1890 and was baptised in January the next year.
In the 1911 census, Herbert was still living with his parents in London Road, and was recorded as a ‘House Painter’.
He was born and a resident of Sawbridgeworth, Herts, when he enlisted in Warley, Essex.
Wartime Service
Herbert was formerly 32201 in the Essex Regiment before being transferred to the 10th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 1916. Which may have been because the Irish had taken heavy casualties in the Somme offensive.
Herbert’s date of death is given as 14 June 1917. This was the closing phase of the Battle of Messines. At Messines on 7 June 1917, the British exploded 19 mines under the German line. At 0310 that morning, nearly a million pounds of high explosive were detonated, the shock wave being felt in London. With overwhelming artillery support the British easily gained their objectives with minimal loss. However, there then followed a week of attrition after which the British losses for the battle rose to a total of 28,000 men killed, wounded or missing, one of whom was Herbert. He died of his wounds at No.34 Field Ambulance on 14 June 1917.
Herbert Reed is buried at Dranoutre Military Cemetery, Belgium. He was aged 27.
Additional Information
His headstone reads “3rd son of James & Elizabeth Reed” as requested by his father. The cousin of Charles John Reed of the Hertfordshire Regiment who died on 28 June 1916.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Paul Johnson, Douglas Coe
