On this day in 1917, Herbert Henry Kentsbeer (1881-1917) died of wounds sustained in action in the Third Battle of Ypres in the Great War.
Herbert, a private in the 7th Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, died on October 15, 1917, aged 36.
The battle – also known as the Battle of Passchendaele – took place between July and November 1917.
Fought in a sea of mud, it claimed almost 600,000 Allied and German casualties.
Herbert was buried at the Fins New British Cemetery at Sourel-le-Grand in Picardy, France. His grave includes the words: ‘Rest in Peace’.
A recipient of the Territorial Force War Medal, he is also remembered on Topsham and Exmouth War Memorials.
Paul Roberts
NOTES
Herbert’s brother Cecil Charles Kentsbeer (1893-1917) was killed on the Western Front on April 11, 1917 while serving as a corporal in the 1st Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment.
Born in 1881 in Topsham, Herbert married Evelyn Mabel Letten (1883-) in 1913. She married Frank Crofts (1877-1929) in 1922.
Herbert’s brother Alfred Frank Baker Kentsbeer (1891-1920) married Eliza Snell (1889-1979) at the Church of the Holy Cross in Crediton on August 3, 1914 – the day before Britain declared war on Germany. Eliza was the daughter of John Snell (1852-1926) and Emma Gillard (1854-1932). John was the son of John Snell (1822-1865) and Sarah Pridham (1826-1898). John was the son of Robert Snell (1790-1854) and Ann Adams (1799-1824), Robert was the son of Robert Snell (1754-1838) and Sarah Roberts (1760-1837). Sarah was the daughter of William Roberts (1738-), my great-great-great-great-great grandfather.
