209420 Pte. Henry Francis Pinder British Army 13th Battalion Essex Regiment from:37 Lincoln St., Leytonstone (d.21st July 1916) I've heard that the Great War was so painful to so many, that often they just never spoke of it again. In my family, this meant that 3 generations down the line, we have no knowledge of Henry Francis Pinder (1889-1916).
Recently, family history searches showed us Henry's existence, his service, and his sacrifice. He was the 3rd Henry Pinder, and the only son of that generation. I thought that was sad, the line ending. Then, from the Leytonstone War Memorial came the information that Henry was married. He married Laura Annie Stadwell in 1912. Their son, Henry W was born in 1914, and died in January 1915. So it really was the end of four generations of Henry Pinders. Laura Annie lived until 1969, and her daughter (born Oct 1915) died in 1976.
Henry Francis Pinder is remembered on the Arras war memorial in France. He has no known grave. His war medal card shows he was in the Machine Gun Corps. His date of death is listed as 21 July 1916 on official records, but on records by the Arras memorial as 31 July 1916. The time difference is important, as it would help estimate the location of his death. It could be either at High Wood, or Delville Wood, in either case they took heavy casualties. After reading about the Battle of the Somme, which started on 1st July, this would mean Henry Francis survived the worst of those battles and must have been witness to incomprehensible horror.
Henry Francis had 3 sisters. The youngest, Ellen (aka Nellie)Pinder (Turner)was my greatgrandmother. She was 23 years old when her brother died in 1916, a mother of two small girls, and alone, her own husband was away during WW1 (but survived).
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