Corden, Herbert Stennet

Hull Pals Memorial Post. Private, HERBERT STENNETT CORDEN 10/459. Born 20th April 1897, the eldest son of Stennett William Corden and Florence Corden of 86, Park Grove and 4, Swan Crescent, Chapman Street, Hull. Herbert was educated at Choir School in the city and was a Commercial Clerk by trade, but he was caught up in the fervour of September 1914 and queued in those ‘long uneven lines’ to enlist with the fledgling battalion. Like so many other boys he lied on his form giving his age as ‘19 years and 1 month’ when he was just short of 17-and-a-half and therefore underage. There were so many who gave their age as 17 and with a wink were told to walk round the block and come back when they were 19. He trained with the Pals at Hornsea, Beverley, York and Ripon throughout 1915 before shipping for Egypt that December and then to France the following March. Herbert was a seasoned soldier by the time of his death, already a veteran of the Somme and Oppy Wood he was killed in action, at Lys, on 18th April 1918, just two days before his 21st birthday. He is listed as having been ‘buried where he fell (unmarked)’ which is such a haunting phrase that I can’t help but shiver typing it. Where that essentially leads is to the Ploegsteert Memorial to the missing where his name is commemorated because ‘where he fell’ was never discovered. To make matters worse for his parents he was their only son having lost Herbert’s brother Tom when he was just 1 year old. His baby sister, Flora Morris Corden also died in 1901, the same year as baby Tom. Burying 2 babies in one year! What tragic times these people endured.
His details are recorded in the De Ruvigny Roll of Honour, Volume 4, page 37.