Herbert Wombwell

 LEVERSTOCK GREEN WAR MEMORIAL 1914 - 1918

HERBERT WOMBWELL

Herbert Wombwell was born at the start of 1899 to Eli and Elizabeth in the Village of Thriplow, Cambridgeshire. His brother Walter was just a year older and Sister Bertha was four years older and step brother Henry Briggs from Elizabeth’s first marriage was aged 13 on the 1901 census and employed as an agricultural labourer. Eli was from the village of Langley in Essex and employed as an agricultural labourer. Elizabeth was born in Baxworth Cambridgeshire. After Herbert followed Florence, Albert, Lewis and Eleanor.

Herbert’s family moved to Leverstock Green when his father became the Foreman at High Wood Hall Farm about 1909 with the two older boys working on the farm and Herbert finishing his school years in the village school.

After Herbert's Enlistment at Watford and initial basic training he was was assigned to the Machine Gun Corps around February 1918 with the number 133310. As his service papers were destroyed in the Second World War not much can be known of Herbert's service life. A depot and training centre was established at Belton Park in Grantham, Lincolnshire, and a base depot at Camiers in France.

Herbert was posted to the 51st Machine Gun battalion of the 51st Highland Division. The division went into action at 8a.m. on the 20th July and Herbert was seriously wounded and transferred back to a base hospital where he died of his wounds the following day.

Herbert died of his wounds on 21st July 1918 and is buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, Pas de Calais.

 Grave XVII, B, 6.  

He is also named on the memorials of Sawston village, Leverstock Green village, the village school, Hemel Hempstead and the Baptist chapel in Marlow’s

 Herbert's brother, Walter served in the Royal Garrison Artillery during the war and his cousin Sidney was in the Royal Navy Division. The Navy had too many sailors so an infantry division was created from the extra men.  

Herbert’s parents were living at Rectory Farm, Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire when the Commonwealth War Graves Commission collected family details during the early 1920s.

Well Farm cottages during the early 1920s lived Arthur Wombwell born in Langley Essex and his two sons Sidney George and Leonard both born in Thriplow. These are Herbert’s Uncle and cousins. Sidney served in the Royal Navy Division during the war and was gassed.

In its short history the MGC gained an enviable record for heroism as a front line fighting force, seeing action in all the main theatres of war. Indeed, in the latter part of the war, as tactics changed to defense in depth, it commonly served well in advance of the front line. It had a less enviable record for its casualty rate. Some 170,500 officers and men served in the MGC with 62,049 becoming casualties, including 12,498 killed.

Shortly after the formation of the Machine Gun Corps in October 1915, the Maxim guns were replaced by the Vickers, which became a standard gun for the next five decades. The Vickers machine gun is fired from a tripod, and is cooled by water held in a jacket against the barrel. The gun weighed 28.5 pounds, the water another 10. The tripod weighed 20 pounds. Bullets are assembled into a canvas belt, which held 250 rounds, which would last 30 seconds at the maximum rate of fire of 500 rounds per minute. Two men were required to carry the equipment, and two the ammunition. A machine gun detachment also had two spare men.