Lewis Arthur How was born in Hemel Hempstead in the summer of 1887 and baptised on 9th October 1891 at St Paul’s Church on Queen Street. He was the youngest child born to Henry How and Eliza Brandon who had eight children together who were: William, Franklin, Walter Ernest, Herbert Edward, Christopher, Frederick, Annie Florence and Lewis Arthur. Lewis’ father Henry died in 1915 aged sixty-nine. When Lewis left school in 1900, he went to work as a ‘Telegraph Boy’ in the Post Office. At this time the How family lived on Crescent Road, Hemel Hempstead and George Squires lived just three doors away. George was also killed in the Great War and he died only three months before Lewis. His biography also appears on this site.

Shortly afterwards, Lewis changed jobs when he went to work for Peek’s Laundry and as ‘Laundryman’. His job would appear to have been that of ‘Carman’, which involved collecting dirty laundry and delivering back when it had been cleaned. This was the job he was still doing when he was called up for service. Lewis met Ellen Elizabeth Stapleton who worked as a ‘Tobacconist’ in Hemel Hempstead and the two became sweethearts. They were married in St Paul’s Church in early 1907 and soon afterwards moved into 49 South Hill Road, close to Heath Lane Cemetery in Hemel Hempstead.

By the 1911 Census they are recorded at home with a small child named rather grandly, Leonard Jackson Horatio Stainton who is described as a ‘Nurse Child’ and was aged eleven months. Leonard’s mother Amelia Gertrude Stainton had died in December 1910 and his father Edward Wise Stainton was living and working in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) as a ‘Tea Planter’.

One of Leonard’s parents may have been related to either Lewis or Ellen, or possibly just a friend, because it seems they had taken the child in following his mother’s death. It is not known what became of Leonard’s father but Lewis and Ellen raised him as their own. They presented him with a sister Nancy in February 1917 just before Lewis departed for France and in 1939 the two were living with their Aunt Annie Stapleton on Cotterells. Following Lewis’ death, Ellen married again in 1920 to Albert Edward Hobbs, a Hemel Hempsteadian, who was sixteen years her junior. They had one child together Olive.

Lewis was called up under the Military Service Act and he went to Watford to attest in December 1916 where he enlisted in the Army and was posted to the Essex Regiment. When he was sent overseas he was posted to another regiment, the 12th (East Anglian) Battalion Suffolks.

It is not known when he went to France but it was unlikely to have been before May or June 1917. Following his arrival though he was assigned as a "Servant" to 2nd Lieutenant F. W. Nadat. This position is more commonly referred to as a "Batman" or "Orderly" and carried with it a number of duties which included: acting as a runner to convey orders from the officer to subordinates; maintaining the officer's uniform and personal equipment as a valet; driving the officer's vehicle, sometimes under combat conditions; acting as the officer's bodyguard in combat; digging the officer's foxhole in combat, giving the officer time to direct his unit; any other miscellaneous tasks the officer does not have time or inclination to carry out themselves. It was not unusual for a "Batman" to become a valet or domestic servant for his officer after the war finished. Aside form these duties, Lewis spent time in the trenches and in training until November and the next major allied operation around Cambrai.

The offensive started on the 20th November but it was the third day before Lewis went into action when the 12th Suffolks attacked with the objective Bourlon Village. The assault was launched at 3pm, but soon encountered heavy machine gun fire from the German positions and the attack stalled. For the next four hours the attackers worked to gain the upper hand, but ultimately had to withdraw to their original positions due to stiff enemy resistance. Inevitably the action came at the cost of casualties and the Battalion War Diary recorded the toll at the end of the month. In all 141 men were killed, missing or wounded and unfortunately Lewis was amongst this number.

He died on Saturday, 24th November 1917.

His death was announced in the Hemel Gazette on the 8th December 1917 and in the following week’s edition a letter, sent to his wife by his Platoon Officer, was published in full. The letter begins by referring to the “…misery and suffering…” of Lewis, which is most probably a comment on the conditions of war suffered by all men, rather than some personal issues that Lewis was experiencing. 2nd Lieutenant Nadat clearly describes the relationship between the officer class and the other ranks, particularly the master/servant hierarchy.  However, we can see that he had respect and affection for Lewis and feels real loss. At the distance of time, the last lines may appear somewhat trite to our modern sensibilities, however they are of the time and it is worth remembering how often he and other officers had to write to families with words of comfort and sympathy after a soldiers death.

He was commemorated on the War Memorial Plaque in St. John the Evangelist Church, Boxmoor.

Lewis is Remembered with Honour on the Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, Nord, France, Panel 4.

He was 30 years old when he died.

Lewis was eligible for the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal