Henry Hillier Hale

Memorial: Frampton Cotterell - St. Peter’s Church

Regiment: Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

Medals: 1914 Star and Clasp, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Able Seaman (Service No. Bristol 2/1348)

Parents: John Herbert and Emily Florence Hale

Marital status: Single

Pre-war occupation: Engineer

Date of birth: 1894

Date of death: 1977

Further information:

Henry Hale survived the war. He was a member of the Royal Naval Division that landed in Belgium in August 1914, but the German advance forced a large number to cross into the Netherlands, a neutral country. Those that crossed were interned for the duration of the war. This and the fact that his family moved out of Frampton Cotterell toward the end of the war possibly led to the conclusion that he had not survived.

Henry was called up in August 1914 and joined Collingwood Battalion Royal Navel Division in Belgium at the end of the month. He was interred in the Netherlands on 8/10/1914. His address on call up was 14 Maurice Road, St Andrews Park, Bristol. He was granted leave in 1916 and 1918 (an agreement with the Netherlands allowed internees to come home for a month but were required to return) During the 1918 leave Henry was admitted to Croydon Hospital with appendicitis and never returned to the Netherlands.

Henry’s home address during the war was noted as The Chestnuts, Frampton Cotterell, but by February 1920 it was Burlingame, 33 Cotham Road, Bristol.

On the 1911 Census, the family lived at 18 Leopold Road, St Andrews, Bristol, and then Henry was an apprentice Engineer.

Henry is remembered on the Frampton Cotterell War Memorial and the Chipping Sodbury and District War Memorial Hospital board, now at Yate and District Heritage Centre, under Frampton Cotterell.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Findmypast (Soldiers Died during the Great War, 1901 & 1911 Census etc), Volunteer Researcher John Davis.