Herbert Vincent RAWNSLEY

16/1133, Private. b. 1893, Clayton d. Sat. 1st July 1916 (aged 23).

A further Pals casualty, Herbert went over the top on the 1st like so many other men and was never seen again.

Herbert was born in 1893, the son of William and Emma Rawnsley. Emma passed away when Herbert was two. In the 1901 census Herbert is shown, aged 8 living with his father william and sisters living at 21 Oak St. Clayton. By the time the 1911 census Herbert lived at home on Nursery Road until the time of his enlistment and had been employed at Laycock & Sons, Wood Merchants on Sunbridge Road as a Junior Clerk.

In his free time Herbert was the Assistant Secretary of the Parish Church Mutual Improvement Society, the organisation to which Alfred Briggs also belonged.

After news of his death reached Clayton, Herbert’s parents tried to find out details of his fate by getting a ‘high ranking church official’ to make discreet enquiries about their son. Unfortunately, no news was ever forthcoming.

In his time in the Pals Herbert belonged to No.5 Platoon, ‘B’ Company of the Pals and appears on their group photo taken in late 1914 outside the town hall just after enlistment.

These two photos are of 2nd Bradford Pals at Bowling Camp. I’m not sure if Herbert is in these photo’s but it gives an idea of the soldiers and the conditions.

Herbert is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial, Thiepval, Somme, France.