Herbert (Bert) Ernest Carter

Memorial: Kingswood - Holy Trinity Church

Regiment: Devonshire Regiment

Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private 31819

Parents: William Benjamin and Harriet Jane Carter

Home address: 35 London Street, Kingswood, Bristol

Date of birth: 1898

Place of birth: Bedminster, Bristol

Date of death: 24/04/1918

Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site but Commemorated at Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France and Kingswood Holy Trinity Memorial and Kingswood Methodist Memorial and Kingswood High Street Boys School Memorial

Age: 19

Further information:

Herbert was born in Bedminster, one of two brothers and the youngest son of a Great Western Railway policeman. His older brother Frederick was a bootmaker and also died in the service of his country exactly one month before Herbert. Both boys attended Kingswood Boys School and Herbert would have been called up on his 18th birthday at the end of 1916.

Herbert served with the 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, he joined his regiment in France where they fought in various actions on the Western Front including The German Retreat to The Hindenburg Line and The First Battles of The Somme. He died on the first day of The Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux (24 to 27 April 1918) during the German Spring Offensive to the east of Amiens. The battle was the first occasion on which tanks fought against each other and was the biggest and most successful tank action of the German army in the First World War. It took place during a period of crisis for the allies in March and April of 1918 when the Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields. Herbert's body was never identified and the memorial where he is remembered commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

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

This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/