Name
Leonard William Scott
1881
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
12/10/1918
36
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
140901
Machine Gun Corps
21st Battalion
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
MONT HUON MILITARY CEMETERY, LE TREPORT
VIII.K.10A
France
Headstone Inscription
BY DEEDS OF VALOUR HE HAS REACHED THE LAND OF REST.
UK & Other Memorials
Hatfield Town Memorial, Hatfield In Memoriam Book, Hatfield Hyde Village Memorial, St Mary Magdalene, Church Memorial, Hatfield Hyde, Welwyn Garden City Gardens & Memorial, The Mill Green names appear on the Hatfield Hyde & Mill Green Memorial, Not on the Bishops Hatfield memorials, Kings Cross War Memorial for Railwaymen (GNR)
Pre War
Leonard William Scott (known as William) was born in 1881 in Hatfield, Herts, the son of James Scott a Railway Signalman (Working for the G.N.R. Company) and Annie Scott, of Mill Green, Hatfield, Herts. He was one of six children and was baptised on 26 June 1881 in Hatfield, Herts.
1891 Census: Records Leonard aged 10, at school, living with his parents, brothers Frederick 17, Ernest 14, Vincent 7 and sister Edith 12, at Waterside Cottage, Mill Green, Hatfield, Herts. His father was working as a railway signalman.
1901 Census: Records him as William aged 19, working as a Railway Clerk, visiting Mr & Mrs Mathews at 31 Station Road, Enfield Chase, Middlesex.
1911 Census: Records him as single, (using the name William) and working as a Railway Porter in Wakefield, Yorkshire. He was boarding with Mrs Naylor at 68 Piccadilly, Wakefield, Yorkshire. His enlistment suggests that he remained in that area at least until then.
Officially recorded as born in Hatfield and was living there when he enlisted in Wakefield.
Wartime Service
Leonard enlisted in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in September 1914, initially with the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry with the S/N 17339, He was then transferred to the Machine Gun Corps with the S/N 140901. He landed in France on 11 September 1915.
Leonard died of wounds (believed gassed) on 12 October 1918, at No 16, General Hospital, Le Treport, France and is buried at Mont Huon Military Cemetery, La Treport, France.
The Bishop’s Hatfield Parish Magazine of October 1914, in the third list of men mobilised from Hatfield, recorded: “Scott, Leonard W. Mill Green – K.O.T.L.I.” and in November 1918: “At Mill Green, Mr and Mrs Scott mourn the death of their son Lance-Corporal Leonard Scott, M.G.C. who has died after a fine service of three years in France. A peculiar pathos attaches to his death, as after being severely gassed, news came through that he was doing well and hopes were entertained of his recovery; heart failure supervened and he passed away in his sleep, deeply regretted by all who knew him.”
Additional Information
His father, Mr J Scott, of Mill Green, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, received a war gratuity of £19 and pay owing of £18 8s 7d. He also ordered the personal headstone inscription: "BY DEEDS OF VALOUR HE HAS REACHED THE LAND OF REST".
He is also commemorated on the family headstone in St Luke’s Churchyard, with the inscription:
also Leonard William, son, died in France October 1918 aged 37 years
Hatfield Parish Council Souvenir Committee Ledger: Mrs Scott (Mother) of Waterside Cottages, Mill Green received an “In Memoriam and Roll of Honour Album”. Gassed, Etrecourt, Somme, died, Le Treport 12/10/18.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne, Brenda Palmer
Brenda Palmer, Stuart Osborne, Christine & Derek Martindale, Hatfield Local History Society (www.hatfieldhistory.uk)
