WAR MEMORIALS IN THE PARISH OF NORTHOP
The villages of Northop, Northop Hall and Sychdyn (Soughton)
The villages of Northop, Northop Hall and Sychdyn (Soughton)
Name Herbert Taylor Rock
Regiment 45th Australian Infantry
Service Rank and Number Lance Corporal 4623
Military Cemetery/Memorial Villers- Bretonneux Memorial (This is an Australian National Memorial)
Ref No. of Grave or Memorial
Country of Cemetery/Memorial France
Medals Awarded Date and Circumstances of Death Killed on the Somme on 31st August 1916. He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, The British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Biographical Details Known
Herbert was the second child of William Edwin and Lois Jane Rock. (She had been Lois Jane Perry before her marriage). The 1891 census tells us that William Edwin was a gamekeeper/domestic servant at Swinfen Hall, Lichfield in Staffordshire. They had five children Ethel 6yrs, Herbert 4yrs, Cecil and Gladys were 2 and May was 5 months.
Herbert had been born in 1886 in Sherbourne in Dorset but the other children had been born variously in Warwickshire and Staffordshire.
By 1893, the family had moved to 10, Cook Lane, Doveridge, Derby and there it grew considerably. By 1901 another five children had come along (Jessie. Annie, William, Violet and Edith). William Edwin was again listed as a gamekeeper. We know from his army records that Herbert attended Derby County School but he had left home by 1901 and was working as a 14 year old house servant in the home of Mr Francis Clarke, a solicitor who lived with his family in a house called 'Beechcroft' which was in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
The next few years are a bit of a mystery. We know that Herbert emigrated to Australia when he was 21 years old (about 1907).
The rest of Herbert's story comes from his Australian army records.
He enlisted in a town called Cootamunda which is in New South Wales. He was by then aged 28years and 10 months. His occupation was listed as a carpenter and he was unmarried. He named his father, William Edwin Rock who now lived at the Tenant Farm, Soughton, Mold, North Wales as his next of kin.
His army records include his attestation paper on which he swore and signed an oath of loyalty to the army. His medical Examination Certificate lists all the diseases and ailments he didn't have. He is described as 5 ft 10 inches tall with a 36 inch chest, fair complexion, grey eyes with light brown hair. His religion was Cof E. Herbert consented to be inoculated against smallpox and enteric fever. The medical officer considered him fit for service.
On 15th January 1916 Herbert embarked on 'RMS Osterley' at Sydney and set sail for Egypt where he was initially based at Zeitoun which is a district of Cairo and was where the Australian military had a training camp. On the 6th March he was moved to serve in Tel el Kebir. Three months later he left Egypt on the 'Kinfaint Castle' which sailed from Alexandria and landed in Marseilles on the 8th June 1916. Herbert had arrived in France and within a very short time he was in the north fighting in the Battle of the Somme.
He was promoted 'in the field' to Lance Corporal 0n the 30th July 1916 and about three weeks later became a temporary Corporal because 1604 Corporal Butler was sick. Nine days later Herbert was 'Killed in Action'.
Regiment 45th Australian Infantry
Service Rank and Number Lance Corporal 4623
Military Cemetery/Memorial Villers- Bretonneux Memorial (This is an Australian National Memorial)
Ref No. of Grave or Memorial
Country of Cemetery/Memorial France
Medals Awarded Date and Circumstances of Death Killed on the Somme on 31st August 1916. He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, The British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Biographical Details Known
Herbert was the second child of William Edwin and Lois Jane Rock. (She had been Lois Jane Perry before her marriage). The 1891 census tells us that William Edwin was a gamekeeper/domestic servant at Swinfen Hall, Lichfield in Staffordshire. They had five children Ethel 6yrs, Herbert 4yrs, Cecil and Gladys were 2 and May was 5 months.
Herbert had been born in 1886 in Sherbourne in Dorset but the other children had been born variously in Warwickshire and Staffordshire.
By 1893, the family had moved to 10, Cook Lane, Doveridge, Derby and there it grew considerably. By 1901 another five children had come along (Jessie. Annie, William, Violet and Edith). William Edwin was again listed as a gamekeeper. We know from his army records that Herbert attended Derby County School but he had left home by 1901 and was working as a 14 year old house servant in the home of Mr Francis Clarke, a solicitor who lived with his family in a house called 'Beechcroft' which was in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
The next few years are a bit of a mystery. We know that Herbert emigrated to Australia when he was 21 years old (about 1907).
The rest of Herbert's story comes from his Australian army records.
He enlisted in a town called Cootamunda which is in New South Wales. He was by then aged 28years and 10 months. His occupation was listed as a carpenter and he was unmarried. He named his father, William Edwin Rock who now lived at the Tenant Farm, Soughton, Mold, North Wales as his next of kin.
His army records include his attestation paper on which he swore and signed an oath of loyalty to the army. His medical Examination Certificate lists all the diseases and ailments he didn't have. He is described as 5 ft 10 inches tall with a 36 inch chest, fair complexion, grey eyes with light brown hair. His religion was Cof E. Herbert consented to be inoculated against smallpox and enteric fever. The medical officer considered him fit for service.
On 15th January 1916 Herbert embarked on 'RMS Osterley' at Sydney and set sail for Egypt where he was initially based at Zeitoun which is a district of Cairo and was where the Australian military had a training camp. On the 6th March he was moved to serve in Tel el Kebir. Three months later he left Egypt on the 'Kinfaint Castle' which sailed from Alexandria and landed in Marseilles on the 8th June 1916. Herbert had arrived in France and within a very short time he was in the north fighting in the Battle of the Somme.
He was promoted 'in the field' to Lance Corporal 0n the 30th July 1916 and about three weeks later became a temporary Corporal because 1604 Corporal Butler was sick. Nine days later Herbert was 'Killed in Action'.
The above cable communication from London, we believe was sent to the military authorities in Australia, formally reporting Herbert's death.
Little wonder that this letter had difficulties finding its way to Mr W E Rock, Soughton, Near Mold, North Wales. We don't know what was in it.
Yet again, the army made mistakes with the address and also the name of Herbert's father
Herbert's worldly effects
William Edwin completed this postcard, confirming he had received the package containing his son's possessions.
The details on this page have been gathered from the National Archives census collections UK http://www.ancestry.co.uk
and the Australian National Archives
http://www.naa.gov.au
and the Australian National Archives
http://www.naa.gov.au
Visit to Villers- Bretonneux Memorial on 15th September 2008
Almost every cemetery or memorial that we visited this week had someone working there. In some cases it was grass cutting or tending flower beds in others there was more substantial maintenance work as in this case. As you see from our photograph the large square tower that forms the centrepiece of the Memorial was covered in scaffolding for cleaning and essential maintenance work. This is the Australian National Memorial which commemorates all Australian servicemen who fought in the First World War, those who died and especially those with no known grave. At the foot of the tower, three walls contain the names of 10,770 of these soldiers.
This was the fourth Memorial we saw that week, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens
This was the fourth Memorial we saw that week, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens
The Memorial stands in the grounds of the Villers-Bretonneux Cemetery and this photograph is taken from the memorial looking towards the cemetery. There are 2,141 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 608 are 'Known unto God' ( unidentified). The site overlooks the vast, flat plains of the Somme, now tranquil, rural and agricultural.
Herbert Taylor Rock was named on one of the walls bemeath the Memorial. We found it easily as they are arranged by regiment and rank. We wrote in the Visitors' Book,
'In memory of Herbert Rock, a lad from Sychdyn, Flintshire, N Wales, who went to live in Australia. Hedd Perfaith Hedd'
'In memory of Herbert Rock, a lad from Sychdyn, Flintshire, N Wales, who went to live in Australia. Hedd Perfaith Hedd'