| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Herbert was born in beverley in1897 the son of John and Ann Squires, of Beverley. John and Ann were both born in Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, where they married in 1871. The family lived in Eastgate and Herbert attended Minster Boys’ School until Mar 1911, when aged 13, he was employed as a butcher’s errand boy. His father John, died in 1912.
Herbert served in the 54 Co. Machine Gun Corps. He enlisted in the East Yorkshire Regiment and was later transferred into the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry branch). At the outbreak of war, each infantry battalion and cavalry regiment contained a machine gun section of just two guns. A year of warfare proved that, to be fully effective, machine guns must be used in larger units and crewed by specially trained men. The Machine Gun Corps was formed in Oct 1915 with Infantry, Cavalry and Motor branches, followed in 1916 by the Heavy Branch. The Infantry Branch was by far the largest and was formed initially by the transfer of battalion machine gun sections to the MGC. Aged 19, Herbert was killed in action on 18 Feb 1917. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals, and he is buried in, and Remembered with Honour at the Regina Trench Cemetery, Grandcourt in France. He is also listed on the Hengate Memorial in Beverle.y
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |