Service number: 12436 | Rank: Private | Regiment: Norfolk Regiment
Killed in action, August 12, 1916, in Flanders. Aged 22.
Remembered at THIEPVAL MEMORIAL, Somme, France.
Son of Herbert and Ellen Tilney, 51 London Road, Brandon.
Born in Brandon, enlisted at Norwich.
WHAT I KNOW ABOUT HERBERT …
At the start of war in 1914 Brandon-born Herbert went to Norwich with other Brandon lads and enlisted into ‘Kitchener’s Army’. On 30th may 1915 he went across to France, and Herbert’s service record has since been lost, so there is no knowing what happened to him leading up to his death. What is known is that his parents, Herbert and Ellen of 51 London Road, received confusing reports of his welfare during August 1916. They initially received notification that he had been wounded, but the extent of his wounds were not stated, and two weeks later he was instead re-classified as “missing from his regiment”. It was likely that he had been killed in the fighting and initial reports of him being wounded were possibly a case of mistaken identity. In June of the following year he had still not been accounted for and so the War Office officially logged him as being “killed in action.” It is known that Herbert’s unit came under heavy artillery fire during the evening of 11th July and seven men were killed, thirty-four were wounded and two listed as missing.
Herbert was the only son born to his parents, although they did have daughters. He died aged 22.