Â鶹Éç

Family Trees  permalink

The sad life of Herbert Henry Harbord Field

• Message 1. 

  Posted by Daydreamer (U14669593) on Thursday, 8th December 2011

  I am sorry to hear of the closure of the Â鶹Éç History Forum. Before we all go our separate ways, I would like to close off a life history that was the subject of extensive correspondence at the beginning of this year. This correspondence included some useful clues which I have successfully followed up. It is a sad story, but may be of interest to the contributors to the earlier posting.
  
  A year ago, what I knew about my Grandfather Herbert Henry Harbord Field was limited to knowing of his birth on 24 Sept 1886 to Robert George Field and his wife Florence Mary Harbord at Birkenhead. From census data I knew of his life up to about 1911, but from then on it was a mystery. There was talk of him emigrating to Australia in the 1920s but I could find no evidence of that.
  
  I knew the address of his parents in 1918 in Tranmere. Birkenhead Reference Library told me that HHHF was on the list of absentee voters and that he was Private No 18459 with the 12th Service Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment. (The Absentee Voters List is a useful means of finding out if someone was in military service) This information was confirmed by his Medal Roll Index Card found on Ancestry. He joined on 6 Sept 1915 and was demobbed on 31 May 1919. No details of his actual service but the Regiment Served in France and Northern Greece.
  
  On 20 March 1922 he was admitted to the Sanatorium Ward of the Birkenhead Union Workhouse where he was certified insane. Presumably suffering from Shell Shock, although his hospital records do not specifically state that.
  From 31 March 1922 to 10 June 1925 he was at the Deva Mental Hospital Chester. (As a close relative I have been given copies of his detailed medical records at the various hospitals which amazingly are held by Public Record Offices.)
  He was then transferred to Storthes Hall Huddersfield. This was a Ministry of Pensions hospital reserved for ex Army personnel.
  On the closure of Storthes Hall, he was transferred on 14 June 1931 to the Old Manor Hospital Salisbury, another Ministry of Pensions Hospital. He spent the rest of his days here, dying on 7 April 1940 of pneumonia.
  He was buried on 12 April 1940 in plot no 271 Section 6 of the Devizes Road Cemetery, Salisbury. I have visited this well maintained cemetery & found the unmarked grave.
  
  HHHF RIP
  
  Lynn

  Link to this forum: The sad life of Herbert Henry Harbord Field

  Report message1

• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by clematised (U3233879) on Thursday, 8th December 2011

  Well Done Lynn
  
  You finally settled the ghost and hopefully come to terms with the past in retreiving all the information and also visiting the last resting place of your grandfather, and hopefully found some contacts too along the way.
  
  We may meet up on another board somewhere at another time
  
  Edna

  Link to this forum: The sad life of Herbert Henry Harbord Field

  Report message2

• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by VoirreyM (U6681243) on Friday, 9th December 2011

  Thankyou for getting back to tell us your sad tale before it was too
  
  late to catch up with us.There were many, many thousands of suffering
  
  souls like this tragic case. indeed today we have many disturbed
  
  British soldiers coming back from active service. Their diagnosis Post
  
  traumatic shock is a kinder label than that used for the unfortunates of
  
  WW1.

  Link to this forum: The sad life of Herbert Henry Harbord Field

  Report message3

• Message 4

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by caveman1944 (U11305692) on Monday, 12th December 2011

  Congrats Viewer on your efforts.
  i note, on looking up12th Service Battalion that the date you give as enlistment is the date the battalion arrived at Boulogne where it stayed only until November when it moved on to Salonica. ( look up Cheshire Regiment )
  
  I am reminded of a brother of Florence Mary who appeared in the 1881 census as Richard Harbord, aged 18 and a seaman. I could find nothing on him there after, but recollect someone on here saying he was in an asylum.
  Another lost soul.
  Any asylum seekers on here ?

  Link to this forum: The sad life of Herbert Henry Harbord Field

  Report message4

• Message 5

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by clematised (U3233879) on Monday, 12th December 2011

  Hello John
  
  You do know we are closing down for good on the 22nd December
  
  You can send Viewer a message on FTF
  
  Edna

  Link to this forum: The sad life of Herbert Henry Harbord Field

  Report message5

• Message 6

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by VoirreyM (U6681243) on Monday, 12th December 2011

  If anyone wishes to study the experiences of the wounded soldiers in
  the Great War in the field hospitals,ambulance trains & military hospitals &
  Lunatic Asylums in Britain I can suggest you read these books.
  
  Tommy [1914 -1918] by Richard Holmes // Forgotten Lunatics of the Great
  War by Peter Barham. // & Forgotten Voices of the Great War by Max
  Arthur.
  
  i read these accounts for family history reasons ---painful tales & experiences & had much more understanding & wished my Mum & her
  siblings could have known how common shell shock was --not just
  something their father and they suffered.

  Link to this forum: The sad life of Herbert Henry Harbord Field

  Report message6

• Message 7

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by Daydreamer (U14669593) on Tuesday, 13th December 2011

  Congrats Viewer on your efforts.
  i note, on looking up12th Service Battalion that the date you give as enlistment is the date the battalion arrived at Boulogne where it stayed only until November when it moved on to Salonica. ( look up Cheshire Regiment )
  
  I am reminded of a brother of Florence Mary who appeared in the 1881 census as Richard Harbord, aged 18 and a seaman. I could find nothing on him there after, but recollect someone on here saying he was in an asylum.
  Another lost soul.
  Any asylum seekers on here ?  During my search for the life history of HHH Field, I came across the Richard Harbord mentioned by Caveman.
  He appears in the 1891 Census as a Patient born abt 1863 at "The Cheshire County Lunatic Asylum" Chester, later known as the Deva Hospital.
  
  His death is recorded at the GRO June 1891 Chester 8a 331.
  
  Another member of the extended family with a sad end.
  
  Lynn

  Link to this forum: The sad life of Herbert Henry Harbord Field

  Report message7

• Message 8

  , in reply to message 7.

  Posted by caveman1944 (U11305692) on Tuesday, 13th December 2011

  Thank you Lynn.
  John

  Link to this forum: The sad life of Herbert Henry Harbord Field

  Report message8

Back to top