Brant, Henry 1914

Henry Brant. Died 25 October 1914
Henry was the son of Ellen and Francis and was born about 1884, one of 9 children. the family lived at Rose Gardens in 1901, Wokingham and Francis was working as a carpenter.

By 1911 Francis had died and Henry and Lydia lived at home with their mother. Henry was a bricklayer/labourer.

In 1913 Henry married Ada Bolton from Shinfield and it was whilst Ada was expecting their first child that Henry was killed whilst serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment (number 7424) near Zonnebeke, Flanders on 25th October 1914. His name is commemorated on the Menin Gate,Ypres. His brother William was also to die for the 1st Battalion in 1917.

Here is a description of the action written at the time by a Corporal Wickens:

“Oct 25th Remain in trenches all day. Shells bursting very near worse position we have ever experienced, being within 4 yards of the main road, with houses quite close, & a school just in the rear of us on the other side of the road, all these more or less already reduced to ruins by shell fire, marvellous escape soon after dusk, just leaving the trenches to reform the Coy & form up on the road, when a large shell burst not 2 yards away, nearly filling the trench I had occupied, taking away all the head cover, & blew 3 or 4 yards of the hedge away, the force of the explosion knocking 6 of us over temporaly (sic) stunning & covering us with earth. Our Coy Officer who was standing the other side of the hedge not 2 yards from me being killed instantly, though we did not know until next morning, part of the shell weighing 8 or 10 lbs being scarcely a yard away from us, we tumbled into the trenches again & remained in them all night, rain fell during the night but managed to keep dry with Coat & Waterproof Sheet”.

An un-named private reported:

“I remember seeing two of my chums dragging a wounded man who had both his legs blown off, to a ditch. They had no sooner arrived there than both were killed on the spot”.

Henry and Ada’s daughter was born in 1915 and baptised Frances Zonnebeke, after the place where her father died. Her son Bill Smith is a well-known Wokingham resident. Ada remarried in 1916 to Arthur De Meyer and had another three children.

BRANT, HENRY

Rank: Private
Service No: 7424
Date of Death: 25/10/1914
Age: 31
Regiment/Service: Royal Berkshire Regiment 1st Bn.
Panel Reference Panel 45.
Memorial YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Additional Information: Husband of Ada Brant, of 20, Mount Pleasant, Wokingham.

20 Mount Pleasant, Wokingham, Berkshire

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