My great uncle Herbert Healy was born in Swinton, Manchester in November 1886. He was the third of four children born to John and Sarah Ellen Healy.  At the time of his birth Herbert's father was a coal miner having come to Lancashire from Ireland.  By 1896 the family were living at the Britannia Inn at Irlams o'th Height, Pendlebury where his father was the licensee. 

Herbert worked for the Post Office as a letter sorter and by the time he enlisted in 1914 he had worked his way up to be a telegraphist at the main post office in central Manchester. He was an active member of his church, St Mary's in Swinton.

These are the few details of my great uncle's life that I know. They tells us little of what the man was like or of his hopes and aspirations. They are ordinary, everyday facts about him that were similar to the lives of so many who served in the Great War. Yet these people were real, unique human beings each as special as the next. 

Who knows what Herbert Healy may have gone on to become had circumstances been different.  He chose to serve in times of war and he paid the ultimate price as did so many others of his generation.

The service of Herbert Healy and all those ordinary but very special people like him should be remembered with pride.

 

John Holloway