Alfred Herbert Burtt, known as Henry, was born in early 1886 in Norwich, the first child and only son of Alfred Herbert Burtt and Jane Maria ‘Annie’ Ginger. He had two younger sisters who were Emily and Daisy. His father Alfred was a ‘Commission Agent’ later known as a ‘Commercial Traveller’ and his job meant that the family moved frequently when Henry was young. In the space of ten years he lived in Norwich, then Holloway in North London before moving a short distance to Edmonton where the family lived in 1901.

By this time Henry’s father had settled into a job as a Commercial Clerk in Hays Wharf near Tooley Street in Southwark. Fifteen-year-old Henry had found employment as a ‘Grocer’s Boy’ in Edmonton. Only a year later in 1902 he started work with John Dickinson & Co. Limited, possibly at Old Bailey in London, however, it was this employment that brought him to the Hemel Hempstead area.

In 1911 he was living in Apsley as a boarder with the Garner family and working as an ‘Order Clerk’ in Apsley Mills. Henry had met Gertrude Smith from Abbots Langley while he was at Apsley Mills and on the 29th June 1912, they were married at St Mary’s Church in Apsley End.

Henry worked at John Dickinson for about fourteen years and ten of those were spent in the clerical department. It is clear from his obituary that he was enthusiastically involved in the social and sporting life of the community as well as being an active member of his local church congregation. He was a member of Hemel Hempstead Harriers and the local football club as well as Scoutmaster to the Apsley troop. Indeed, the Hemel Gazette published a brief but cheerful letter he sent to the Apsley Scouts when he was at the Front.

Henry was a member of the church choir at St Mary’s Apsley End where he also conducted a bible class for the Church Lads. He was an active member of the Church of England Men’s Society, an organisation with a strong moral voice in the early years of the 20th century over issues such as opposition to the force feeding of Suffragettes.

Henry enlisted with the 16th (Service) Battalion (Church Lads Brigade) King’s Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC), attesting at Holborn, London in September 1915. The 16th Battalion was raised at Denham in Buckinghamshire in September 1914 by Field-Marshall Lord Grenfell, Commandant of the Church Lads Brigade (CLB). It consisted exclusively of past and present members of the CLB who made perfect recruits as they had been ‘Cadets’ since 1911 and therefore trained in shooting, marching, and used to taking orders.

Henry went to France in early 1916 and by July he was in the second wave of the ‘Big Push’ at the Battle of the Somme. The 16th was ordered to attack High Wood near Delville Wood and early on Sunday, 15th July the assault began, uphill and in the open against a well-entrenched enemy. Tragically many men were mown down by enfilade fire from the Germans and despite repeated attacks it became clear by evening that the attack had failed. Eye-witness accounts state that “It was a horrible, terrible massacre….”. The Battalion incurred over 120 men killed and many more wounded.

Henry was one of the wounded by a shot in his thigh which also detonated five of his own cartridges and inflicted catastrophic damage. He was taken down the line and admitted to No.20 General Hospital, Camiers near Boulogne-sur-Mer.

His wife Gertrude was advised of his wounding and permitted to make the trip to France to see him in hospital. She arrived on the 2nd August and for the next four days Gertrude was at Henry’s bedside and able to converse with him right up until he died. Henry and Gertrude received Holy Communion at about 9pm on Sunday, 6th August 1916 from a Church of England Chaplain and Henry passed away shortly afterwards.

A touching obituary appeared in the Hemel Gazette a week later and attested to the respect local people had for Henry and described his involvement and contribution to the local community and to his church.

Henry is commemorated on the John Dickinson & Co. Limited war memorial and in St Mary’s Church Apsley-End.

Henry is Remembered with Honour in Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France where he is interred in Grave IX.C.17A. The inscription on his headstone, requested by his wife Gertrude, reads: “FOR GOD RIGHT AND LIBERTY”.

He was 30 years old when he died

Henry was entitled to the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.