Herbert E Walter Bodkin, 100151, 226th Field Company, Royal Engineers

Died October 10th, 1916 on the Somme.

Herbert, we are not related and you died 37 years before I was born. So why am I writing this about you?

You are remembered in my Somme 100 box, put together by The Royal British Legion, to commemorate the soldiers who died fighting on the Somme in 1916.

It was a birthday present given to me by dear friends Sandra and Alan Dickinson. They gave it me knowing I would be curious and would want to know more about you.

Your story is far from complete but this is what I now know about you, where you came from and your family.

From my research, I believe you were born in January 1890 in Plaistow, Essex. The 1891 census shows you lived at Manor Road, West Ham in Essex together with your father Herbert and mother Emily and three older sisters Emily, Daisy and Mary. It looks like your father and mother married in quarter 2 in 1883 in West Ham.

Ten years later the 1901 census records get a little confusing but it looks like your family circumstances changed when your mother died in quarter 4 1900.

By 1911 the census describes you as a carpenter living at 22 Havelock Road, Wimbledon, Surrey.

You joined the Royal Engineers on June 1st, 1915 at the age of 25 years and 5 months. According to the army records you were still a carpenter, stood 5ft 6.5 inches tall, weighed 113.5 lbs, had a chest size of 32 inches and had a dark completion.

In quarter 4 1915 you married Mabel Victoria Marshall in Wandsworth and lived at 24 Balham Grove, Balham, London.

On Tuesday October 10th, 1916 you died in action on the Somme and are now remembered with honour at Mailly-Maillet Communal Cemetery Extension in France.

Rest in Peace Herbert E Bodkin you are remembered.

Michael Taylor