BORN HULL 1886. SON OF WILLIAM HERDSMAN & ANN MARIA THEAKSTONE, OF MENTONE AVENUE, ARUNDLE STREET, HULL. HIS WIFE MARY ELIZABETH LIVED AT 74 SYMONS STREET, HULL (ARMY ADDRESS). MEMBER OF THE HULL GARDENER SOCIETY. HE WORKED FOR THE IDEAL BOILER COMPANY, HULL.
HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. BURIED AT LE TOURET MILITARY CEMETERY, RICHEBOURG-L’AVOUE, PAS DE CALAIS, FRANCE. HIS GRAVE DESCRIPTION, READS, “TO LIVE IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE WE LOVE IS NOT TO DIE”. HIS NAME IS LISTED WITH 46 EMPLOYEES, ON HULL’S IDEAL BOLIER AND RADIATOR COMPANY MEMORIAL, NATIONAL AVENUE, HULL.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE HERBERT THEAKSTONE 11/1279. Born in August 1886, Herbert was the eighth of nine children to William and Ann Theakstone. He married Mary Elizabeth Twidale in 1908 and the couple had two sons, Edward and Kenneth. The family lived at 74 Symons Street, Hull. A Labourer by trade, Herbert enlisted at City Hall on 12th December 1914 joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Trademen’, 2nd Hull Pals. After training throughout 1915, he battalion sailed for Egypt in December and then on to the trenches of France and the Western Front. Herbert was killed in action on 2nd August 1916 during the Somme Campaign and is buried at Le Touret Military Cemetery; he was 30 years old.
