L/Cpl 53163 Henry Lamb

• Age: 21
• From: Strood, Kent
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• K.I.A Thursday 2nd August 1917
• Commemorated at: Tyne Cot Cemetery
  Panel Ref: LXVI.A.3

Henry Lamb was born in Strood, Kent, the son of George Lamb and Ann (nee Coles).  His father was born in Essex and his mother in Strood.  They had four children: George born in 1887,  Alice in 1889, Benjamin in 1892, and Henry in the March quarter of 1896. 

In 1891 his parents, both 23, are living with son George and daughter Alice at 14 Hone Road Strood. At number 13 is Anne’s widowed mother Mary, 50 and her son George, 25.

After the birth of Henry, their mother Annie died, in 1897.  It is not known what became of their father George. After the death of mother Annie, the three children; George, Alice and Benjamin entered the Strood Union workhouse on 02nd March 1898 (Henry not listed)

By 1901 the children were with their grandmother Mary Coles at 9 Church Path, Strood. George is 14, Alice 11, Benjamin 9, and Harry is 5.

After the 1901 census there are several Strood workhouse records for Mary Coles and her three grandchildren

The 1911 Census shows Henry living with his grandmother at 12 Strood Square, North Street, Strood, Rochester. His grandmother Mary Coles is aged 70, born 1841 was born in Rochester, Kent. Henry is aged 15 and gives his occupation as a newspaper seller. There is a boarder William Humphries aged 44, born 1867 a dockside labourer born in Strood also living at the address.

He enlisted in Chatham, Kent and was formerly 6791, West Kent Regiment. Following a transfer he was serving in the 20th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Lance Corporal No 53163 when he was killed in action on the 2nd August, 1917 aged 21 during the Third Battle of Ypres.

The 20th Battalion diary gives details of the circumstances that the Battalion found themselves in during the early phases of the 3rd Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). Having taken part in the initial fighting of 31st July 1917 there is a general write up in relation to the period 01st -08th August and specifics solely from the 03rd August. As such it is impossible to say exactly how each of the men who fell on 01st or 2nd August met their death.

20^th Battalion Diary 01^st August – 08^th August

The Battalion continued to hold the position taken up on the morning of 31^st July. After the first day the weather was very wet and the going very difficult, but the men’s spirits remained wonderfully good. From time to time there was very heavy enemy shelling and in addition to this machine guns and snipers were very active. The work of communication was extremely difficult and the wires to Companies and to Battalions on our flanks were repeatedly cut and were only kept going by most excellent work by our linesmen, who suffered very heavy casualties as also did the runners. 

Henry now rests at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium.

Tyne Cot Cemetery is located in an area which was known as the Ypres Salient where Commonwealth, French, Belgian and German forces fought almost continuously throughout the First World War.

In 1917, British forces launched the Third Battle of Ypres, which raged from July to November. Forces from the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa fought to push the Germans off the low ridges that dominate the area. On 4 October 1917, during the phase known as the Battle of Passchendaele, the 3rd Australian Division captured a group of German Bunkers on the ridge below the village of Passchendaele.

One of these bunkers was unusually large and was used as an advanced dressing station after its capture. From 6 October 1917 to the end of March 1918, 343 graves were made, on two sides of it, by the 50th (Northumbrian) and 33rd Divisions, and by two Canadian units. The cemetery was in German hands again from 13 April to 28 September, when it was finally recaptured, with Passchendaele, by the Belgian Army.

Tyne Cot Cemetery was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when remains were brought in from the battlefields of Passchendaele and Langemarck, and from a few small burial grounds. 

He was reported killed in the Weekly Casualty List on 18th September 1917

- Lamb 53163 H. L-Cpl(Chatham, Enlt)

SDGW says his residence was Little Totham, Essex before the war.

His grandmother was awarded a pension of 7/6 commencing 19th March 1918.  

His brother Benjamin joined the Royal Navy in 1910 and served throughout the war.

We currently have no further information on Henry Lamb. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.