Leonard Walter Womack

A Private with the 2nd Battalion, Leonard died on 16th of September 1917.

Leonard was born at Lowestoft on 28 March 1892, a son of William George and Honor Womack. He was baptised at Saint Margaret’s Church, Lowestoft, on 29 April 1892, and his family lived at 32 Crown Street. In 1901 his family lived at 81 Seago Street. By 1911 Leonard’s mother had died, his father remarried, and the family lived at 6 Kent Road and Leonard worked as a sawyer for a timber merchant. Leonard’s sister, Mrs. Abia Ethel Mulberry, lived at 98 Beeches Road.

Leonard enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft. He joined the Middlesex Regiment, service number G/8154. Leonard arrived in France on 8 June 1915 to join the 2nd Battalion. In 1916 Leonard suffered from shell-shock, and his name appears in the War Office Daily List dated 18 December 1916. 

By September 1917 Leonard was attached to A/23 Trench Mortar Battery, but note that medal rolls state that he was a permanent staff member of the Trench Mortar Battery. No war diary for his unit has been traced, but the 23rd Infantry Brigade war diary shows that on 16 September the Trench Morta Battery were firing on positions at Laundry. Throughout the day the Brigade’s position were subject to enemy artillery fire and the trench mortars were particularly active during the enemy bombardment at 10 a.m. There are no specific details of what happened to Leonard, other than the fact he was killed in action.  

The following account appeared in the Lowestoft Journal, 27 October 1917, page 3:

PRIVATE LEONARD WOMACK

Mr. and Mrs. Womack, 6 Kent Road, Lowestoft, have received information that their son, Private Womack, 2nd Middlesex Light Infantry (sic), has been killed in action in France. Private Womack, who joined up soon after the war broke out, saw a good deal of service in France. His death will be regretted by a wide circle of friends, and much sympathy will go out to the bereaved parents.