Hubert William Ward

A Corporal with 9th Bn. Hubert died on 22nd of December 1915 at the age of 32. 

Hubert was born at Blundeston in 1883, a son of Thomas and Martha Anne Ward. He was baptised at Saint Mary's Church, Blundeston, on 1 April 1883. In 1891 his family lived at High Street, Blundeston and by 1901 his family were living at The Street, Blundeston, and Hubert worked as a bricklayer's labourer. In 1911 they still lived at The Street, Blundeston, and Hubert worked as a bricklayer. Later his parents lived at 17 Brickfields Cottages, Somerleyton.

Hubert volunteered and joined the Army. He enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment at Lowestoft. He joined the 9th Battalion and must have been a very capable solider because within a year he had been promoted to Sergeant. Hubert arrived in France with the 9th Battalion on 31 August 1915. 

We do not know exactly when Hubert was wounded, but it was possibly on the 19th or 20th of December 1915, when the Battalion were in trenches at St. Jean, and had to defend these trenches while Germans made a gas-attack with a heavy bombardment. Hubert died from wounds at No 10 Casualty Clearing Station.

A note in the Thetford and Watton Times of December 23 1916, page 3, reads:

In loving memory of Corporal Hubert W. Ward, of Blundeston, 9th Suffolks, who died of wounds at Ypres, Belgium, December 22nd 1915.
"He fought against might, he fought for the right,
And died for the country he loved.
We think of him always with love and pride.
He was one of the brave, who for England died."
From his sorrowing fiancee.