Herbert
Charles Kendall
(My Great Grandfather)
| Herbert
Charles Kendall in Heath & Reach, 1915. |
|
|
| His
children from left to right; Hilda Georgina, Herbert George,
Annie Elizabeth |
Herbert
Charles Kendall
Private
4400, later 200570, 5th and 7th battalions, Bedfordshire Regiment
11th
December 1883 to 23rd March 1918
Herbert
Charles Kendall was born on 11th December 1883 at 10 School Lane,
Kettering, Northamptonshire. Herbert's family were:
George
Thomas Clarke Kendall (Herbert's father) - Born
in Orton, Northamptonshire to Charlotte Dorcas Kendall, later
Pinnock, who passed away on the 3rd February 1899. George started
his working life as a farm labourer in Orton, near Rothwell before
worked as a 'Shoe Presser' and later a 'Bussman Shoe trader'.
By 1901 he was the owner of The Woolpack Inn, 4 Horse Market,
Kettering (now called Henry's). He moved to 56 Russell
Street in Kettering - fifty yards from the Stonemasons Herbert
worked at - where he remained until his death on the 28th January
1927. George was 71 (the same age his wife was when she passed)
and is buried in the Kettering cemetery, next to his mother and
eldest son.
Martha Annie Kendall (Herbert's
mother) - Formerly Roughton. Born Kettering, who's father
was Samuel Roughton - a prominent local musician, whos statue
can still be seen in Kettering today. Martha died Saturday
19th March 1932 aged 71, and was buried with her husband the day
before the 14th anniversary of their second son's death in France.
Harry
Norton Kendall. (Herbert's brother) - Born 1882, the
eldest Kendall boy! He lived at 56 Russell Street in Kettering
from sometime after the war until his death in 1945. He was buried
alongside Charlotte (his Grandmother) and next to his parents,
30 years to the day that Herbert was operated on in Egypt following
his wound on Gallipoli and Harry's descendants lived in the same
house until recently. His widow, Eleanor Ellen Kendall lived until
December 1971, when she was buried with him, aged 89.
John
(Jack) Roughton Kendall (Herbert's brother) - Born 1884.
The third son, he married Georgina Brewer from Hertfordshire and
worked as an Engineer before, during (at Rolls Royce) and after
the war. Their son, Maurice Kendall became one of the most prominent
Statisticians of his time, writing 'Kendall's advanced theory
of Statistics' amongst many other titles, which was revised many
times and is still used as a core text even today. In 1974 he
was knighted and six years later recieved the Peace Medal for
his work on the world fertility survey.
Ernest
George Kendall (Herbert's brother) - Born 25th April
1887 in Kettering, Ernest worked as a barber in his early working
life until he went to America in June 1909. He returned to
England and married Mabel Helen Driver in Kettering late in 1910.
The couple lived in King's Norton, Birmingham initially, where
they had John Roughton Kendall (named after Ernest's brother)
in 1911 and Ivan Kendall in 1913. Ernest returned to America in
1914 and his family followed in August 1915. In June 1917 Ernest
enlisted into the American Army who had joined the war but did
not serve abroad. They lived in Newburgh, New York, where Ernest
worked for the Underwood Typewriter Company. By 1930 they owned
their home and Ernest was a Commercial Traveller for the same
firm. In WW2 Ernest was again drafted, at which time he lived
in New Jersey and the couple probably passed away in 1970, in
Florida, although i have not confirmed that detail so far.
William
(Will) Thomas Kendall (Herbert's brother) - Born 1900.
Wiliam was conscripted into the army in April 1917, served as
Private G/25909 with the 10th Queens Regiment and survived the
war. He was demobilised in January 1919 and returned to civilian
life. By 1932 he was married to Lou and lived in Sutton but I
have not traced him beyond there.
By
1901 Herbert was a 'Stone Cutter', later a 'Stonemason' and eventually
a 'Stonemason Journeyman' who worked for Cox's Stonemasons (who
are still on St. Peters Avenue inKettering) and enjoyed performing
light opera, notably Gilbert and Sullivan.
Something
(probably his work) took him to Bedfordshire and on 11th September
1909, Herbert married Ellen Elizabeth Hack from
Heath (now called Heath and Reach) in the Heath Parish Church,
where he is standing in front of with three of his children in
the top picture. During their marriage they had four children:
Annie
Elizabeth Kendall (my Grandmother), born 3rd March 1910
at Lanes End, Heath and Reach, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.
Died 19th February 1981 at Rothschild Road, Linslade, Leighton
Buzzard, Bedfordshire, Aged 70. She is the eldest child,
on the right, on the photo above.
Hilda
Georgina Kendall, born 9th October 1911 at No. 2 Clifton
Villas, Cromwell Road, Cold Ash, Newbury, Berkshire. Hilda survived
a childhood attack of Meningitus and can be seen on the left in
the photo above.
Herbert
George Kendall, born 20th December 1913 in Heath and
Reach and died 22nd December 2003 outside the Leighton Buzzard
library in Bedfordshire, aged 90. George as he was known,
is the baby in the pram in the photo above
Evelyn
Kendall, born 13th December 1915 (the same birthdate
as my daughters) and died 26th October 1975, aged 59
|
|
Herbert's
service in the Great War.
Herbert
enlisted into the army very early in September 1914, aged almost
31. He went to the newly opened Recruiting Office in Leighton
Buzzard and was initially put into the 5th (Reserve) Battalion
of The Bedfordshire Regiment because he was just overage. Soon
after Herbert was moved into the 1st/5th battalion, where would
see 3 years of service.
The Battalion started its training in Romford, but
were stationed at Bury St Edmunds from September 1914
until Easter Monday 1915, after which they marched to
Norwich. Following a brief stay there, they marched to St
Albans for their final training, and it was whilst stationed here
that they conducted their 'Farewell to the County' march
in July 1915, before being sent oversees. They sailed from
Devonport on Monday 26th July 1915, and Herbert's Medal Index
Card shows he entered the war on Tuesday 10th August 1915, landing
on the Island of Mudros, the British entry point to the Gallipoli
peninsula.
Herbert served in Gallipoli in the
Machine Gun Section of the 1st/5th
Bedfordshire Battalion, 162nd Brigade, 54th Division
from September 1914 until wounded in October 1915. The Battalion
acquitted themselves with noted gallantry and lost almost
50% of their number in their attack
along the Kiretch Tepe Ridge 15th August 1915 but
were involved in no other major offensive actions in Gallipoli.
From 29th September to 2nd December,
the Battalion were moved to the North ANZAC Sector to hold the
line opposite Sandbag Ridge and Hill 60. During October 1915 scenes
of the bloodiest hand to hand fighting were recorded during
repeated night raids on a Turkish outpost in No-Mans Land called
'Bulgar Bluff'. The position fell and was retaken repeatedly over
the weeks, during which time Herbert was wounded. Battalion strength
in the War Diary
was recorded as 256 on 31st October, having lost over 800
soldiers since landing in August.
On 30th October 1915, Herbert was operated
on in No. 5 Canadian Stationary Hospital, Cavalry Barracks,
Arbassia (Alexandria, Egypt) by Lt-Col. Etherington and
returned to his Battalion some months later, after convalescing.
1916 was an uneventful
year, spent mostly in rebuilding the shattered Battalion
and defending the desert outposts around the Suez Canal. 1917
saw the campaign hot up again and Herbert got through the first
two battles at Gaza but was wounded again during the Umbrella
Hill raids in
July, which aggravated his original wound. He was returned
to Blighty to recover.
When fit for active service again in
January 1918, Herbert was transferred into the Lewis Gun section
of the 7th Battalion,
The Bedfordshire Regiment of the 54th Brigade, 18th (Eastern)
Division in France. He spent a brief period in the dreaded, uncomfortable
Houlthulst Forest sector, north of Ypres before being moved
from the northern most sector of the line to the southern most
sector, as a result of the British army taking over a new part
of the Western Front from their French allies.
The 7th
Battalion were involved in the heavy fighting during
the opening phases of "Operation
Michael", and held the Crozat Canal in the area south
of St Quentin, between Mennessis and Jussy. The 54th Brigade were
ordered to fall back onto a ridge east of Faillouel, which they
held between 1pm and 4pm. On receiving further withdrawal orders, they
were caught in the village by the rampant German forces that had
already broken through around Jussy to their north and taken the
village, all but destroying the 11th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers
in the process. By the end of 23rd March, the Brigade could muster
less than 450 men from its initial strength of 2,500, but fought
on.
Herbert
Charles Kendall falls in action 23rd March 1918
After
enduring 3 and a half years of war in 6 different countries, Herbert
was eventually killed in action Saturday 23rd March 1918, around
Faillouel as the Bedford's stubbornly fought their way out of
German encirclement during the desperate British defence against
the onslaught of "Operation
Michael". A full narrative
of the battle including maps and photographs of the battlefield
today can be seen here.
Herbert
was 34 years old, and left a wife and 4 children behind. His Service
Papers were destroyed during the Blitz of WW2 and he is one of
many
thousands of soldiers who has no known grave. He is commemorated
on Panels 28 & 29 of the Poziers
Memorial to the Missing of the Fifth Army,
the Kettering War Memorial, and is remembered by his Great Grandson
every day.
During
his service Herbert earned 3 Campaign Medals; the 1915 Star, Victory
Medal and British War Medal, although they were returned when
issued, so were never received by his family. The only momento
of Herbert that has survived - apart from the photograph - is
an Army Issue Field Compass (see below) that found its way to
Herbert's Great Grandson (Steve Fuller) in 2005 - 90 years almost
to the week after Herbert himself found it amongst the debris
on a battlefield
in Gallipoli.
May
you and your comrades rest in peace sir, in the knowledge that
you are remembered for your gallantry and sacrifice.
|
Desperately
seeking Private Herbert Charles Kendall
When
I started to research my Great Grandfather it saddened me that
no 'physical evidence' of him had survived, other than a solitary
photograph. His medals are somewhere unknown to any of
our family and I am conscious of the fact that his correspondance
of the time probably hasn’t survived someone’s
'New Year Clearout' over the decades.
As
you can imagine, I found myself “wishing” for some
tangible evidence of his life – a letter, medal, seeing
him listed in a “Platoon Roll Book” - anything would
have done! I even found myself looking at Stone Mason’s
work from the period, wandering if he was involved in some way!
Wherever I looked, nothing came to light, so eventually I conceded,
stopped looking and started to focus on compiling as detailed
a story as I could possibly manage. 46 pages (and a fair few
late nights) later, I had done all I can to uncover what I can
about the man – or so I thought!
Although
he is never far from my thoughts, certain dates of every year
I find myself spending solitary time thinking about him and
what he would have been going through so many years ago on that
date. Any like minded WW1 researcher or “buff”
will say the same if you ask them! My personal dates are:
A
few weeks after the 90th anniversary of Herbert's
first battle - on the 25th September 2005 and completely
out of the blue - I received an email form a man called
Lee who claimed to have something that belonged to my Great
Grandfather. My heart skipped a beat!
It
turned out that he had undertaken research for a lady who
wanted to find out about her ancestor in the Great War and
she had given him a few WW1 items in gratitude for his help.
Amongst those items was a Compass from the war.
He
had spent the best part of a year trying to locate a relative
of the man who had found it on a battlefield in Gallipoli
and written his name on its case. 90 years on, the writing
was still legible and the Compass and case still in superb
condition.
The
original owner was Lt A.F. Harding, who I just so happened
to have included a quotation from in my battle write up on
the Kiretch
Tepe Sirt action of 15th August 1915. Lt Harding,
it seems, served in the 11th London’s, lost the compass
in the action and it was picked up by a Private the following
day – 16th August 1915. On its case was inscribed:
'Found
by Pte H.C.Kendall 4400 M.G.S. 1st/5th Beds Regt on One Tree
Hill Gallipoli Peninsula August 16th 1915'
 |
Well, you could have knocked
me down with a feather! When
I read the email I was completely gob-smacked but couldn't stop
smiling!
That
Wednesday Lee and myself met up at the National Archives in
London and he gave me this most treasured of possessions!
Two six foot plus men fawning over a 90 year old compass with
tears in their eyes must have looked rather bizarre to onlookers!
And there we sat chatting about it, Herbert Kendall, Lt Harding
and various other subjects until research called us back to
the archives.
What
can I say about this man (Lee) that hasn’t already been
said by my friends and acquaintances? What a terrific man
and a friend for life!
How
the compass made it back to Blighty in one piece and ended
up in a barn in Oxfordshire 90 years later we can only guess
for the moment, but there seem to be family connections between
its original owner and the family who's barn it lurked in
for years, with the only other link between Herbert and them
being Machine Guns as all three served in Machine gun sections
or Corps. Whatever route it took, I can only say I’m
very pleased it made its way back!
Lt
Alan Francis Harding
As
for the original owner - Lt
A.F. Harding - he was wounded in the leg the day Herbert
picked his compassup, so I presume he dropped it when wounded,
although i have no evidence to support that, other than the
coincidence of the date. Lieutenant harding survived the war
and led an extremely full life, becoming a decorated Officer
in the Machine Gun Corps. By 1918 he was Lt-Colonel with a
Military Cross to his credit and died 'Field Marshall The
Lord Harding of Petherton' no less, according
to p131 of Richard Holmes’s book 'Tommy'. Having
served alongside my Great Grandfather on Gallipoli and in
France in the first war, he served alongside my Grandfather
too, in the British Eighth Army who fought in North Africa
and Italy in the second war of 1939-45! Although unlikely
that he knew either of my ancestors as they would have moved
in very different circles, the odds of them all being
in the places they were when they were must be quite slim!
Although
it does not appear to have slowed your career down, I hope
you weren't told off for losing the Compass Mr Harding. However,
I'm grateful that you did Sir! Thank you!
|
|
