On this day in 1917, Henry Herman Boundy (1882-1917) was killed in action in Salonika in the Great War.
A private in the 7th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment, Henry was 34 when he lost his life on April 24, 1917 – fighting against Bulgarian forces in the Battle of Doiran.
British forces fired more than 100,000 shells in a four-day attack on Bulgarian positions before infantrymen charged enemy lines on the night of April 24/25.
Henry’s battalion took part in an assault on Bulgarian 2nd Brigade defences, suffering heavy casualties in fierce counter-attacks.
An artillery duel continued until May 9, 1917, by which time 12,000 British soldiers were killed, wounded or captured.
Henry, one of more than 8,000 British soldiers who died in Salonika between October 1915 and November 1918, is remembered on the Doiran Memorial, which is situated in the north of Greece, close to the Macedonia border.
The Royal Berkshire Regiment raised 16 battalions during the Great War and lost 7,140 officers and men between 1914 and 1918.
Paul Roberts
NOTES
Henry was a nephew of George Kingdom (1862-1952), who married Lucy Roberts (1868-1945) on April 11, 1889 in Cruwys Morchard. Lucy was the eldest daughter of John Roberts (1829-1919), my great-great grandfather who had 30 grandsons serving in the Great War.
Born in 1882 in Heavitree, near Exeter, Henry was the son of Daniel Mase Boundy (1854- 1936) and Mary Kingdom (1851-1939), George’s older sister. He married Emily Bastin (1884-1967) in 1910. In 1911, they lived at 66, Beauly Road, Southville, Bristol, with Henry working as a grocer’s shop assistant.
Picture below
Doiran Memorial on which Henry is remembered. Public domain image, created on January 1, 2012. Uploaded to Wikimapia (photo 2859152) in 2012. Author Donausender. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Doiran_Memorial_(cropped).jpg
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