VERNHAM, Herbert
No. 24813, Private, Herbert Charles VERNHAM
Aged 31
11th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
Died in Captivity on Friday 11th May 1917
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Born in Exning on 30th November 1885 (Newmarket Q1-1886 3b:553), the son of John Henry and Eliza VERNHAM (née PAMMETER) of Plantation Farm, Short Road, Exning. 1891 census...At 6 Fern Villas, Exning Road, Newmarket were Herbert C [5] born Exning, his father John H [33] Groom born Trimmington, Sussex, his mother Eliza [27], born Swaffham Bulbeck, his brothers William James [7] and George [1] and sister Edith Ann [2] all children born in Exning 1901 census...His father died in 1895 and mother re married to Walter WARE in Newmarket in 1899. In the 1901 census Herbert was in Stamford Street, Newmarket with step father Walter WARE [31] an engine driver born Bradford,Somerset and his mother Eliza, sister Edith, brother George and Thomas [9] born Newmarket, and half brother Fred WARE [1] born Newmarket. 1911 census...The family had moved to North End, Exning, Herbert [25] a farm labourers as were his brothers William[27] and Thomas [19] now recorded as Exning born. Also there were the WARE brothers Fred [11] Walter [9] and John Rowland [5]Walter and Fred were born in Newmarket, John born in Exning as was sister Cardine Beatrice WARE. Walter WARE cannot be identified in the census. |
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CWGC say nothing of his capture, neither does "Find my Past" record his capture and "Soldiers Died" records him as "killed in action". 23rd April 1917 was the start of the second Battle of the Scarpe and the 11th Suffolks were involved in the
3rd attack on Roeux, just east of Arras From Battalion War Diary….23rd April "Battalion told it must be ready to move at 15 minutes notice. At 6 p.m. moved off to a position in the railway cutting on the Blue line. Bivouac under tarpaulins." Allied prisoners were tended to in the Hopital Notre Dame in Tournai. The Allied Extension to Tournai Communal Cemtery contains, amongst others, the concentrated graves from over 60 other cemeteries, many of single individuals who had been buried initially by the Germans. Herbert's entry in "Our Exning Heroes" reads as follows: Vernham, H.C. 11th Suffolk Regiment Herbert Charles Vernham was born at Plantation Farm, on November 30th, 1885. He was wounded and taken prisoner on April 23rd, 1917, and died on May 11th in hospital at Tournai. No news was received of his death until September 12th, when it was ascertained through the Geneva Red Cross Society. He was buried in the cemetery at Tournai, and his grave is marked No.352. He joined up on February 28th, 1916. Previously he had worked at the Cement Works under Mr. Stephenson. The records from the International Red Cross have the German records saying Herbert was captured, wounded, on 23rd April at Roeux. A grenade splinter had fractured his left thigh and he had a head wound. He died in the military hospital in Tournai and was buried there. |
© Pierre Vandervelden www.inmemories.com
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