Name
Francis William Gomm
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
1st/6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not appliable
Biography
The men and women of Hertfordshire who served throughout
two world wars, and who lost their lives during their service are buried, and
commemorated, in military and civilian cemeteries across the globe. One such
burial can be found in Norfolk, a county in which the impact of war would be
reflected upon the lives of both a father and son.
At the end of August 1918, the 1st/6th Battalion, Black
Watch (Royal Highlanders), part of the 51st (Highland) Division, were involved
in an action between the eastern outskirts of Fampoux and the village of
Gavrelle, in an effort to recapture trenches lost to the German spring
offensive of March 1918. Among the attacking troops was Private Francis William
Gomm, a former chemical labourer, whose home was in Berkhampsted,
Hertfordshire. He had been conscripted in July 1916 but had not been mobilised
until June 1917, initially joining the 103rd Training Battalion. Prior to
leaving for France, he had married his sweetheart, Louisa Doll, in the autumn
of 1917. With his training completed, he was posted to the Royal Highlanders,
arriving on the Western Front in April 1918. On the 15th June 1918, as Francis
stood guard in the trenches near Ecurie, he became a father to his only son
Denis Francis Reginald Gomm.
As the Battalion entered the front line positions an
artillery shell exploded close to Private Gomm, causing deafness to his left
ear for which he was evacuated to the rear. Eventually, on the 2nd September
1918, he was transferred to the UK where he was treated for his condition at
the Norfolk War Hospital near Norwich, Norfolk. His injury was sufficient
enough to cause him to be discharged from the Army, and he returned to civilian
life where he took up his old job and settled with his wife and child at 111
Gossoms End, Berkhamsted.
Life for the Francis and Louisa appears to have been like
so many others between the wars, earning a living, raising their child, and
making every effort to avoid the crushing effects of the great depression. By
1939, they were still living at the same address and their son had left his job
as a telegraphist with the Post Office and entered service with the Royal Navy.
Like so many other service personnel throughout the war
years, Denis met a young lady, a Telephonist, Patricia Dorothy Georgina Saw,
who had been born in Uxbridge, Middlesex, but whose family had moved to Lickey
End, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. The couple married in Berkhamsted in the
Autumn of 1940 and it is uncertain how much time they spent together before
Denis returned to his base at the former Royal Naval Hospital in Great
Yarmouth, known as HMS Watchful, a Naval information centre and administrative
quarters.
There are no records currently available to provide
precise details on the life of the couple, or if the war had any impact upon
their relationship but on the 28th April 1942 Denis Francis Reginald Gomm died
at HMS Watchful as the consequence of an Intracranial Haemorrhage and
laceration of the brain caused by a bullet from a service revolver. The local
coroner recorded an open verdict on his death and Denis was buried in Old
Caister Cemetery, Norfolk, on the 2nd May 1942, not far from where his father
had been treated for his injuries in the Great War. Patricia Gomm was now a war
widow at the age of 23. But this is not the end of the story.
A little over a year later, on the 16th September 1943,
Home Guard officer, Lieutenant Leslie John Henry Harrison, aged 22, of 37,
Greenmeadow Road, Selly Oak, attended a Home Guard supper at Marlbrook,
Worcestershire. At the end of the evening, somewhat worse for wear, instead of
returning to his barracks at Rednal, he opted to drive an Army lorry and give a
lift to two American officers and two female civilians, one of whom was
Patricia Gomm. Near the King of Diamonds Club, Marlbrook, there was a collision
between the truck and a car, driven by Oliver Rose, a 44 year-old, from Ward
End Road, Birmingham, a Corporation gas inspector, who was driving home a party
who had been entertaining troops at Worcester. The two vehicles collided and
the truck overturned, killing Patricia Gomm.
Although the front axle of the car was broken, none of
the occupants were injured. Both drivers claimed they had kept to the proper
side of the road, and Harrison said he saw no lights on the car, and only
noticed its dim outline 12 to 15 feet away. Rose stated he was driving on
sidelights because it was a bright moonlight night. The chairman (Dr. F. W. J.
Coaker) said the Bench could only conclude Harrison was not keeping a good
look-out and he was fined £5, with £ll 12s. costs, and his licence was
suspended for a month. No mention was made of Patricia’s death.
For an unknown reason, Patricia was not buried until 15
January 1944, when she was laid to rest, alongside her husband, in the Caister
Old Cemetery, Norfolk, she was 24 years old.
Remember Them.
Acknowledgments
Paul Johnson
