Name
Horace Joseph Kempster
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
876624
Royal Field Artillery
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Horace Kempster was listed in the Absent Voter Records for Abbots Langley in Autumn 1918 and Spring 1919. He was initially identified from the Absent Voter Records and was not recorded elsewhere in the Abbots Langley Parish records. In the Absent Voter Records Horace was listed serving with “B” Battery, Royal Field Artillery, and his address was given at High Barnes, Nash Mills.
Horace Joseph Kempster, or Joseph Horace Kempster as he was named in the Births, Marriages and Deaths Records, was born at Leighton Buzzard in the spring of 1881. In the 1891 Census he and his sister, Annie, lived with their uncle and aunt, John and Louisa Harding, and their son George and their nephew Alfred Newton. The family lived at 2 Canal Bridge, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead. John Harding worked as a Rick Cloth Maker.
By the time of the 1911 Census Horace had married, and was recorded living at the New Cottages, Apsley Mill End. He was employed as a Card Cutter at a Paper Mill.
The Leavesden Parish Records of August 1916 noted that Joseph Kempster had ”joined HM Forces” and at the time was employed as an Attendant at Leavesden Asylum.
It is not known when Horace enlisted, but after serving with the Royal Field Artillery he survived the War and returned to High Barnes, Nash Mills.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
