THE FORGOTTEN FALLEN
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LEONARD HALSEY Private T/242918 7th Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
Killed in Action aged 30 23rd March 1918
No Known Grave but commemorated on a panel at Pozieres Memorial, Albert, Somme, France
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Leonard Halsey was born in early 1888 and although his name was misspelled with two l's, it was registered in Aylesbury. The 1891 census shows him to be the fourth son of five boys and one girl of Harry, an agricultural labourer born in Cublington and Mary Halsey from Great Brickhill. Leonard is shown as being born in Aston Abbotts where they were then living between the Post Office and the Teacher’s House. In 1901 the family was still there, and the father’s job was now described as a Shepherd. By 1911 Leonard was living and working as a Farm Labourer for Thomas Pargeter and family, a farmer at Upper Burston. At the beginning of 1917, Leonard married Vera Bertha Ming the daughter of Thomas and Annie Ming and sister of younger brother Herbert William Ming who died in 1915 of whom more later. At the time of his death, his wife Vera was living at ‘Myncott’ in Weedon - maybe Ming Cottage. His daughter Phylis Vera Halsey was buried on 15th May 1918 when less than a year old. Her father would have known that his wife was expecting a child but may never have known of her birth or death.
The Pozieres Memorial is on the north-west side, about 6 kilometres north east of Albert on the road to Bapaume. On the road frontage is an open arcade terminated by small buildings and broken in the middle by an entrance building and gates. Along the sides and back, stone tablets are fixed in the stone rubble walls. They list the names under their Regiments of those with no known grave. The Cross of Sacrifice and Stone of Remembrance stand on a platform at the far end of the main path of the Cemetery.
The number of Men and Officers commemorated number 14,600; of these 13,000 fell in the sixteen days of the German offensive. However, there are thousands of such graves within the burial area of the site. It is probable that Leonard lies in one of these unmarked graves. His name is listed on the panel of the Queen's Regiment and the poem below, by an unknown author, was found together with a cross on the platform of the panel.
THAT SPECIAL PLACE
Take my hand and come with me
To a special place across the sea
A sacred place in hallowed ground
A place where love and sorrows found
It’s not a church you’ll understand
Just a part of home in another land.
A place where gravestones stand arrayed
Like a phantom army on parade
Stand close to me and patience keep
And soon you’ll see a brave man weep
He cries for his comrade beneath the stones
And I tell you friend, he’s not alone.
Scenes like this are commonplace
In our special meeting place
So, as you stroll down memory lane
Think of us who must remain
And now it’s time to say adieu
But remember friend, we died for you.
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GO TO Forgotten Fallen list for more biographies of the men commemorated on the Weedon War Memorial.
