Edward Joseph Wallis HERBERT(S):
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Born Friday 3 September 1886, 20 Aleston Place, Leamington, WAR, ENG12
Died Sunday 25 March 1917, Jebel Hamrin, Mesopotamia IRAQ13
Buried no known grave. Memorial at Basra War Cemetery14
Occupation: Upholsterer, French Polisher and Army Sergeant15
From birth to after 1901, Joseph was living at 20 Alveston Place, off Oxford Street, Leamington Priors, WAR, ENG 1901 Census RG13/2931/194. His first job was as a furniture porter working alongside his father. In his eary 20's Joseph was living at 18 Simmons Street, Blackburn and working as an apprentice Furniture Upholsterer and French Polisher. He is likely to have worked at the nearby furniture business owned by Rebecca Proudlove at 22 Simmons Street.
Joseph married Sarah Wade, a red-haired Liverpudlian nurse, in the summer of 1907. They had a Registry Office wedding in Blackburn suggesting that Joseph did not have a Conformist background. Alternatively it was because they were in a hurry as Sarah was already pregnant. After the wedding Joseph and Sarah moved to 3 Morton Street, Blackburn where their first child, Miriam was born that December. A couple of years later, by which time Joseph had finished his apprenticeship, the family moved to 26 William Henry Street, Blackburn. Sons, Maurice and David were both born at this address in 1909 and 1913.
After the outbreak of the Great War Joseph enlisted (in Blackburn) and became an Infantry Sergeant with the 2/4 Bn. East Lancs. Regiment (Machine Gun Section). (Regtl No 2574). This was a Territorial battalion and becoming a sergeant suggests prior millitary experience such as the Boer War. The Battalion was initially on Home Service but during 1916 Joseph Herberts and his unit were detached to form part of the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), (Rgtl No 37382). Movements during the early part of 1916 are not known but by 20th December 1916 the machine gunners had arrived at the front in Turkish Mesopotamia (now Iraq) as the 133rd Coy. Machine Gun Corps and were attached to the 9th Indian Infantry Brigade, part of the 3rd (Lahore) Indian Division. 1st Corps.
During January and February 1917 the Battle of Kut-al-Amarah was fought under the command of Gen. Sir Stanley Maude to recapture the town of Kut which was lost after a disasterous siege the previous year where following starvation and flooding 10,061 British and Indian troops under Major General Townshend were taken prisoner by the Turks.
On the 9th January 1917 The 9th Brigade were engaged in the attack on Turkish positions on the Tigris right bank at Khudhaira Bend. The fighting was severe and mainly hand to hand and there were heavy losses. Over the next 11 days there were 1639 British casualties in the 3rd Division. Turkish losses were even greater and on the night of 18th/19th January they withdrew across the river to Kut.
By the 25th January the 9th Brigade were temporarily attached to the 3rd Corps positioned to protect the rear and left flank from possible Arab attack from the west while the 3rd Corps crossed the Tigris on pontoons under heavy fire at Dahra Bend upstream of Kut. The Turks abandoned Kut and retreated. The 9th Brigade were able to cross the Tigris on the 10th February. Rejoining the 3rd Division they marched north on the left bank of the Tigris reaching Baghdad on the 17th March. Baghdad had already been evacuated by the Turks less than a week earlier.
To to impede the Turkish retreat from the Russian Caucausus Army in northern Persia and to prevent a breakout west across the Diyala River, Gen. Maude ordered the 3rd Division under Gen. Keary to advance northwest of Baghdad along the left bank of the Diyala River. The 9th Brigade under the command of Gen. Campbell reached Baquba on 19th March, Abu Jisra on 21st March, and Shahraban by 11.00pm 23rd March. By now the Brigade was some 65 miles northeast of Baghdad. From Shahraban they marched on compass bearings in the dark towards the Jebel Hamrin hills. At 4:30am the following morning they reached impassible water filled canals and the whole Brigade sheltered in nearby dry canals where they remained concealed all day while bridging materials were brought forward. By 8.30pm the final stretch of water, the Ruz Canal had been spanned by what was known as "Campbell's Bridge". At 1.15am on the 25th March, the brigade arrived at the lower edge of the foothills and bivouacked. As the sun rose they could see the Jabal Hamrin ahead was a range of conglomerate hills with rounded crests forming a highly defensible intricate mass of broken ridges and ravines rising to about 600 feet. Gen. Keary's estimate of the Turkish strength was about 3,000 rifles and 10 guns. His own strength was 4,600 rifles and 26 guns which should have been sufficient to pin down the Turks and prevent a withdrawal accross the Diyala. (Subsequently it was found that they were in fact facing 12 Turkish infantry battalions of the 1st, 5th, 16th, 18th and 37th Regiments numbering about 5,400 rifles and 24 guns). Support from the Russians to the northwest of the Jabal Hamrin was also failing because of the onset of the Russian Revolution.
At 5:30am on the 25th March the Brigade advanced into the foothills in diamond formation with the 2nd Dorsetshire leading, the 1/1st Ghurka Rifles on the left, the 105th Mahrattas on the right, the 93rd Burmas to the rear and the 133rd Coy. Machine Gun Corp, Pioneers and Brigade HQ in the centre. The Dorsets gained a forward crest line with only slight opposition. Advancing to the next crest about two and a half miles distant they came under heavy fire. At 6:30am Gen. Campbell detached four machine guns to support the 1/1st Ghurkas and four guns to support the Dorsets. Two of the gun crews, including that of Sgt. Herberts, found themselves too far ahead and were killed during a Turkish counter-attack which drove the Dorsets back about 600 yards. A MGC officer, 2/Lt Peden, was also killed attempting to retrieve the guns. By noon it became obvious no progress could be made and a withdrawal was ordered two and a half miles back to the position held on the 24th.
That day, from the 133rd MGC Company, one officer and 34 other ranks had been killed and one officer was missing. Two guns were lost. In the infantry battalions there were a total of 122 killed, 726 wounded and 316 missing. The Jabal Hamrin was eventually occupied on the 31st March after withdrawal of the Turkish forces accross the Diyala River.
Joseph Herberts remains are likely to have been buried locally although there is no known grave. The Basra Memorial, (Panel 41), which is inscribed with his name, was originally sited in the Basra War Cemetery but was moved by presidential decree in 1997 to another location near Basra which was a major battleground during the Gulf War. The Memorial commemorates more than 40,000 British, Indian and West African dead who died in the the operations in Mesopotamia.
Sources:
Moberley F J, Mesopotamian Campaign 1914-1918 vol III
www.firstworldwar.com/battles/jebelhamlin.htm
War Diaries 133rd Coy. MGC, 1/1st Ghurka Rifles, PRO
Scorpio, 1935 First battle of Jabal Hamrin March 25th 1917, Jrnl United Srv Inst India July pp356-67, pub Simla available at The National Army Museum, London
Medal Index Victory and British War MGC/101B27 2552 , Medal Roll WO329/1742 not seen
Joseph Herberts c1916
Joseph Herberts (standing extreme right) c1917
Machine Gun Coy in Mesopotamia
Vickers machine gun training
Gertrude Sarah WADE:
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Alias Gertrude Sarah HERBERT(S) (Saturday 1 June 1907)
Born 1887, Seaforth, Liverpool, LAN, ENG
Died Saturday 21 June 1930, Preston, LAN, ENG
see Wade tree for details
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