211236 Gnr. Herbert George "Bertie" Dolley British Army 48th Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery from:Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire. (d.25th Dec 1915) Bertie Dolley married my maternal grandmother, Emma Cocks, at St Marys Church, Hertingfordbury on 15th April 1909. He was 21 and she 24.He was, I believe, at that time a police constable in Bishops Stortford. They lived at Coles Green.
He was among the first of the BEF to set foot in France in August 1914. Gunner Herbert Dolley 19963 was a member of 48th Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery. The photos of him at the time show him dressed as a cavalryman, when most of his comrades would have been dressed as infantry soldiers, perhaps his being groom to Captain Rupert B. Peters had something to do with that.
He was 29 years old and had four young children, the youngest, my mother just 14 months, when on Christmas Day 1915 he was killed by enemy shelling. It was reported he climbed out of the relative safety of a cellar during the barrage of German artillery shells, to waken two men who were sleeping in a barn. The barn took a direct hit and all three were killed.
A letter was found amongst his belongings, which was sent to the addressee Mrs Leslie of Birch Green Schools, in it he thanked the children for the parcel he had safely received, and said how much he would treasure the card they had sent with it. It had brought back many pleasant memories of the happy hours spent with his school chums, many of whom, he knew had given their lives for the country. Both this letter and the one from Captain Peters which accompanied, it were later published in The Hertingfordbury War Record along with the notification of Herbert's death.
Captain Peters spoke of how much he liked my Grandfather who was his groom and said how deeply saddened he was for my widowed Grandmother and her four little, now fatherless, children.
Gunner Dolley 19963 is buried in Louvencourt Military Cemetery Plot 1, Row C, Grave 24.
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