Pte 30184 Herbert Prescott

In 1891 his parents, with 1-year old Herbert, are living in Rose Cottage, Old Turnpike Road, Lydiate.  His father John, 31, is listed as a farmer’s son, Mary is 28.  They have two visitors, Francis and Elizabeth Simpson. James and Margaret Prescott live a couple of doors away in Oakhill Cottages.

 

The 1901 Census finds the family at 4 Durants Cottages, Maghull. His father is 40, a hay dealer on his own account, his mother is 38, they have four children declared in the household; Herbert 11, Francis, 9, Robert  Mounsey 3 and May 10 months

 

By 1911 the family are still living at Durants Cottages. His father is 50, a hay dealer on his own account, his mother is 48, they have been married for 22 years, and have had 5 children, 4 of whom have survived. Herbert, 21, is a railway clerk, Francis is 19, a shipping clerk, Robert, 13, and May, 10, are at school.  Also in the household are his aunt, Mary Prescott, 34, and a boarder, Alice Sewell, 12 the daughter of neighbours Peter and Sarah Sewell, (possibly relatives).

 

When Herbert enlisted in Liverpool on 21st June 1915 joining the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 30184 he was employed in the offices of the Liverpool Echo.

On 30th April 1915 the 18th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

He crossed to France on 29th December 1915 as part of a reinforcement draft for the 18^th Battalion.

He was killed in action during the attack at Montauban on 01^st July 1916, aged 26.

18^th Battalion Diary

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks.

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter  wrote in the conclusion of his account of the days action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.    

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257.

Herbert now rests at Dantzig Alley British Cemetery, France.

The village of Mametz was carried by the 7th Division on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, after very hard fighting at Dantzig Alley (a German trench) and other points. The cemetery was begun later in the same month and was used by field ambulances and fighting units until the following November. The ground was lost during the great German advance in March 1918 but regained in August, and a few graves were added to the cemetery in August and September 1918. At the Armistice, the cemetery consisted of 183 graves, now in Plot I, but it was then very greatly increased by graves (almost all of 1916) brought in from the battlefields north and east of Mametz and from certain smaller burial grounds.

Dantzig Alley British Cemetery now contains 2,053 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 518 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 17 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 71 casualties buried in other cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

His brother Frank Prescott was fatally wounded on the 1^st July and died in hospital in Etaples on 25^th July 1916.

The story of the two brothers and the anguish of the family captured the attention of the press:

The Ormskirk Advertiser reported on 20th July 1916 - 

Herbert earned his three medals. 

 

His parents received Herbert’s Effects in the amount of £3-11-10d and a War Gratuity of £3-10s, they also received a War Pension for both sons (amount not specified), but after their mother died payment continued to their father for Herbert only (reason unknown).

 

His mother died in 1936, aged 73, and his father in 1938 aged 77.

 

His brother Robert married and had a son he called Herbert.  

 

His sister May married and had a son she called Francis. 

 

Herbert and Frank are remembered on their parents’ headstone in St. Andrew’s Churchyard, Maghull: