Henry Alfred Styles
"He did not seem right in the head"
This name is on the St Mark's War Memorial, Kennington Oval, London SE11
(Henry Alfred Styles)
(Styles, Henry Alfred)
Service no L/12453
Private, Middlesex Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Died age about 25 on 18 May 1916
Remembered at Aveluy Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France and at St Mark's Church, London SE11 and on the lost St Mark's War Shrine
Henry's 2 younger brothers, William Daniel Styles and Sydney Styles, are also on the memorial (and on the War Shrine). They both died in the battle of the Somme, on 20 March 1916, while serving in the Grenadier Guards, 1st Battalion.
Census information for the Styles family
De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914-1918STYLES, HENRY ALFRED, Private, No 12453, 1st (57th Foot) attd. 2nd (77th Foot) Battn. The Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regt.), s. of (-) Styles, by his wife (-) (38, St Mark's Road, Camberwell New Road, London S.E.); and brother to Private S. Styles and Private W. D. Styles (q.v.); b. Polmont Junction, co Stirling, in 1891; educ. Fulham and Chelsea, London, S.W.; enlisted; served in Malta, also with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 1914, and was killed in action in May, 1916; unm
British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1918
Even now, nearly 100 years after it happened, the shock of Henry Alfred Styles's death has not diminished. There it is - a handwritten note in the records:
"Killed. Self-inflicted. GSW Head."
Styles's service history (the online record of his Army career in the British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920 database) is 58 images. An unusual size. Anything between 3 or 28 is more usual. Many, of course, were destroyed by enemy action in the Second World War - if fire didn't get them, water from the hoses did. Henry Alfred Styles's story, now in the public domain but only visible if you trawl through the 58 images - survived. He, of course, did not.
In civilian life Styles was an "outdoor porter" but he dropped this on 21 May 1909 at the age of 18 and joined the Middlesex Regiment (he was already in the special reserve). With the Army he travelled the world. From Mill Hill, he went to Guernsey (5 May 1909), Allahabad (1 October 1910), Dum Dum (20 July 1011), Darjeeling (2 April 1912) and Malta (23 December 1913). Unfortunately, he was dogged by illness: malaria in Dum Dum, "colic" in Darjeeling and "severe constipation" of unknown cause in Malta.
Although he was a seasoned soldier, it seems that Styles had, from time to time, problems with authority. It started soon after he joined:
1 September 1909: Alderney. Styles was found to be "deficient of Regimental necessaries" and was punished with 10 days C.B. (confined to barracks).
22 July 1913: Alderney. "Not complying with an order." Another 10 days C.B.
4 April 1914: Malta. "Late falling in on the 5.30a.m. Parade." 3 days C.B.
15 May 1914: Malta: "Using obscene and threatening language to an N.C.O. Breaking out of detention aabout 8.45p.m. and remaining absent till reporting himself to the St Andrews Barracks about 11.25p.m." For this the punishment was 168 hours detention.