Herbert Henry Towle

Herbert Henry was the second son of Herbert Towle and his wife Sarah Ann (née Minkley). His father was born in Colston Bassett, Nottinghamshire, in 1872, the son of Thomas and Ann Towle. His mother was born in Nottingham in 1871, the daughter of Joseph and Mary Ann Minkley. Herbert and Sarah Ann were married at Plungar parish church, Leicestershire, where both were living, in June 1892 and had six children: Mabel Elizabeth b. Plungar 1892 and Edward b. 1894 bap. Tithby Holy Trinity 1894, Herbert Henry b. 1896 bap. Holy Trinity June 1897, Cyril b, 1899 bap. Holy Trinity 1899, Horace b. 1902 (reg. 1903 J/F/M) and Albert William b. 1905 who were all born in Cropwell Butler. In 1901 Herbert, a labourer, his wife and their three children, Mabel (8), Edward (6) and Herbert (4), were living in Village Street, Cropwell Butler. Also in the household was a boarder, John Thomas Marston (16), a blacksmith. By 1911 Herbert, a waggoner on a farm, Sarah and five of their six children - Mabel a teacher, Herbert a farm boy, Cyril (11), Horace (8) and Albert (5) - were living at Fern Cottage, Tithby. The eldest son, Edward, was a horseman on a farm ('The Ferns', Tithby), living with the farmer, Mary Newton, a widow, whose daughter and two sons were also employed on the farm. The later CWGC record gave Herbert's parents' address as Cropwell Butler. Herbert snr. died in September 1926; the probate record gave his address as Cropwell Butler. However, in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled, his widow Sarah was living at Harvey Villas, Radcliffe on Trent, Nottinghamshire, with her unmarried daughter Mabel, an elementary school teacher. Her four surviving sons were married and still living in the local area. Sarah may have died in 1947.

In 1911 he was a farm boy.

Cropwell Butler. Enlisted Newark.

13th (Service) Bn The King's (Liverpool) Regiment was raised in Seaforth in September 1914, part of Kitchener's Third New Army. The battalion served with the BEF France from September 1915 and from April 1916 was part of 9th Brigade, 3rd Division. In the early part of 1917, the year of Herbert's death, the battalion took part in the Battles of the Scarpe (April-May) and Arleux (April), then in engagements during the Third Battle of Ypres in the autumn of that year. Herbert Henry was killed in action on 13 June 1917. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France (Bay 3). CWGC - History of the Arras Memorial (extract). The Memorial is in the Faubourg-d'Amiens Cemetery, Arras. 'The Memorial commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave.' (www.cwgc.org)

CWGC: 'Son of Herbert and Sarah Ann Towle, of Cropwell Butler, Nottingham.' Registers of Soldiers' Effects: his mother Sarah Ann Towle was his sole legatee. WW1 Pension Ledgers Index Cards: named his mother, Sarah Ann Towle.