Herbert Leslie Barker
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Herbert Leslie was the second son of Charles Mayer and Ruth Fanny Barker (née Stevenson).His father Charles Mayer Barker was born in Derby on 16 December 1857 and his mother Ruth Fanny Stevenson was born in Radford in 1858 (reg. J/F/M). They were married at Nottingham All Saints on 17 August 1882 and had five children who were all born in Nottingham; Margaret Frances b. 26 June 1883 bap. Carrington St John 26 September1883; Alan Mayer b. 1885 bap. Nottingham All Saints 11 October 1885; Lilian Amy (also Amy Lilian) b. 20 August 1886; Herbert Leslie b. 1888 (O/N/D) and Olive b. 23 April 1891.At the time Margaret was baptised in 1883 the family was living at 5 Sherbooke Road, and in 1885 when Alan was baptised at 11 Arno Avenue.However, by 1891 Charles (33) a gas and rent collector, Ruth (33) and three of their four children, Margaret (7), Alan (6) and Herbert (2) were registered at 372 Alfreton Road, Radford. Also in the household on the night of the census was Ruth's mother, Thirza Stevenson (64 b. Derby) married. Their daughter Lilian (4) was recorded in the home of Wiliam and Mary Ann Berry in West Bridgford, Nottingham. Their youngest child, Olive, was born later that year.By 1901 Charles and Ruth and their five children were living at 15 North Road, West Bridgford. Margaret and Alan were working as clerks, while the other three children were still at school.The family was still at 15 North Road but only Ruth and two of her daughters Amy and Olive who were both typists, Margaret with a motor works and Olive with an insurance company, were in the home on the night of the census. Charles, now a manager with an insurance company, and his son Herbert, an insurance company inspector, were boarders at Chesterfield House, Hydro, Matlock. Margaret had married Charles John German, a railway clerk, in 1905 and they were living in Lincoln with their two children Maurice Alan (4) and Eric Stanley (1), both born in Sheffield. It is likely that Alan had already emigrated probably seven years' previously when there is a record of an AM Barker (19) sailing on the SS Parisian out of Liverpool to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 3 March 1904, although he later lived in America.Charles and Ruth were living at 'Braeside', Woodlands Drive, Mapperley Park, when Herbert was killed in 1918. However, they had moved to 35 Wollaton Hall Drive, Wollaton, by the time of Ruth's death on 5 January 1937. Charles was still living at the same address when the England & Wales Register was compiled in 1939. Also in the household was his widowed daughter Margaret and her daughter Olive (b. 11 February 1919), a typist for an ARP secretary.Charles and his daughter Margaret later moved to 'St Clare' Dial Hill Road, Clevedon, Somerset, where Margaret died on 9 August 1943. Her executor was her brother-in-law, Percy Garnet Tinsley. Charles died at the same address three years later on 15 August 1946. Of Herbert's siblings:Margaret Frances' husband, Charles John German died in 1932 after which she probably lived with her parents and latterly her widowed father.Alan Mayer was probably recorded on the 1930 USA Los Angeles California register in 1930. He has not yet been traced after this date.Lilian Amy married Percy Garnet Tinsley in 1914 at Carrington St John (A/M/J Nottingham) and they had at least one child, Joyce Hattie (b. 24 May 1916). They lived at 41 Elton Road, Bishopton, Bristol. Percy, occupation traveller, attested on 5 December 1915 aged 30 years 5 months. He transferred to the Army Reserve the following day before being mobilised on 25 September 1916 in the Royal Garrison Artillery (Gunner). He served abroad where he suffered gunshot wounds to the left arm and knee and was in hospital from 9 October 1917 to 26 March 1918. Percy was discharged, physically unfit for service, on 28 March 1918 and issued a Silver Badge (402281) on 18 April. They have not yet been traced on the 1939 Register, but Percy died in 1960 (J/A/S Weston-super-Mare) and Lilian on 10 February 1880. The probate record gave her address as Old Farm Avenue, Sidcup.Olive married Walter R Du Sautoy (b. 2 August 1886) in 1914. In 1939 Olive and Walter, an insurance agent, were living on Moore Road, Woodthorpe (Carlton UDC) with their son Herbert R (b. 24 August 1920) a surveyor's clerk. The records of two other members of the household remain closed. Olive died in 1964.
12th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment)Herbert Leslie Barker attested in the Territorial Force (four years' service in the UK) on 22 March 1910 and enllsisted in the 7th Bn Sherwood Foresters (1220 Private). He was 21 years 5 months old and had been previously rejected as unfit for the Territorial Force. He attended the three annual camps between 1910 and 1912 and re-engaged for one year on 21 March 1914. Although not recorded on the surviving service documents, he must have volunteered for service out of the UK as after serving in the UK until 27 February 1915 (4 years 343 days service) he was in France from 28 February 1915 until 23 March 1916 (1 year 25 days). He then returned to the UK on 24 March and was discharged on 3 April 1916 'on termination of engagement' after 6 years 13 days (63426 Private). However, Herbert probably served continuously in the Sherwood Foresters but on a different service engagement and was promoted second lieutenant in 1917. According to a report of in the local paperin 1918 had also been wounded in July 1917.Herbert was reported missing on 22 March 1918 and later presumed killed Villecholes on that date. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, France (Panel 52 to 54).He qualified for the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.CWGC - Pozieres Memorial (extract): The memorial 'relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial 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 ... The memorial encloses Pozieres British Cemetery.'
Nottingham Evening Post, 2 April 1918: ‘The Roll of Honour. Another Batch of Local Officers … Killed. Lieut. HL Barker, of Mapperley Park, Nottingham, has received an official notification that his son, Sec.-Lieut. HL Barker, of the Sherwood Foresters is missing. He went abroad in February 1915 and received a commission last year, being wounded in July last year.' (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)Probate: Barker Herbert Leslie of Braeside Woodland-drive Mapperley Park Nottingham second-lieutenant HM Army died on or since 22 March 1918 at Villecholes France Administration Nottingham 18 February to Charles Mayer Barker insurance company manager, Effects £344 11s. 11d.Nottingham Evening Post, ‘Deaths’, 6&7 January 1937: ‘Barker. On January 5th, at 35 Wollaton Hall-drive, Ruth Fanny, the sweet and honoured wife of CM Barker. Cremation Friday noon.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
