Name
Joseph Walter Sear
1886
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
20/04/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
13556
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
POPERINGHE OLD MILITARY CEMETERY
II. N. 8.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
Joseph Walter Sear was born in 1886 in Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son and eldest child of William and Elizabeth Sear, and baptised there on 4 May 1889 at St Paul's, Hemel Hempstead. He was one of seventeen children but nine died in childhood.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 39 Queen Street, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a bricklayer. They remained there on the 1901 Census and Joseph was working as a Confectioner's errand boy. His mother was also working as a laundress,
The family had moved to 145 Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead on the 1911 Census and both Joseph and his father were working as labourers.
Wartime Service
Joseph enlisted in Hertford in August 1914 and joined the 1st Bedfordshire Regiment. After basic training he was sent to France on 2 February 1915. The Battalion were in position opposite Hill 60, south of Ypres, by 11 April and ready for the battle which was to begin in a few days.
Following the detonation of mines by the Royal Engineers on 17 April which destroyed the enemy lines, Hill 60 was taken with only 7 British casualties. However, the Germans fought back in an attempt to retake the Hill with intense shelling resulting in more than British 3,000 casualties.
Joseph Sear was one the casualties and was killed in action on 20 April 1915, aged 29. He is buried at Poperinghe Old Cemetery, Belgium.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £5 2s 10d. A war pension was payable but pension cards do not give an indication of the amount paid.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www. hemelheroes.com.
