Name
Lewis James Cole
1883
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/08/1916
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2946
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
MAILLY-MAILLET COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
D. 19.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hitchin, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin, Tewin Village Memorial, St Peter’s Church Muster Roll, Tewin, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Lewis James Cole (sometimes known as James) was born in 1883 in Guilden Morden, Cambridgeshire, the son of David and Elizabeth Cole and one of five children.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Guilden Morden where his father was working as an agricultural labourer. By 1901 they had moved to Grubbs Barn, Tewin where his father was working as a farm labourer/ horsekeeper. Lewis was then a sixteen year old and working as a packer in a beehive factory along with his brother Herbert.
By 1911 Lewis had become a Tin Smith working in a bee appliances factory and living with his parents and brothers Herbert and Robert at Archers Green, Tewin, Herts.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hertford soon after the outbreak of war and served in 4 Company of the Hertfordshire Regiment. His Regimental number was 2946. At the time of his death the 1st Battalion of the Herts was part of the 118th Brigade of the 39th Division of III Corps in the 1st Army.
They were not involved in the early fighting on the Somme, arriving in Grouches on the 24th August 1916 and went to Bus-les-Artois the next day. They bivouacked in a wood close behind Engelbelmer on the 26th August. This is a little over a mile west of Thiepval and was near the front line on the 30th August 1916. Mailly-Maillet is a short distance from Engelbelmer.
Lewis died of wounds on 30 August 1916 and is buried in Row D, Grave 19 in the Mailly-Maillet Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £9 and pay owing of £5 5s 8d. His father received a pension of 6 shillings a week from 15 May 1917.
His brother Robert Cole served with the Royal Engineers but survived the war.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Brenda Palmer, Paul Johnson, Jonty Wild, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk/hertsrgt
