HUBAND Horace

Horace Huband was born in 1889 in Worcester, the son of Allen Valentine and Mary Jane Huband (nee Hallett) who had married in 1881. Horace attended St Martin’s School and on 29th January 1900 he was among a group of children who were awarded a prize for making 411 attendances at school over the previous year. In 1901 the family resided in Albert Cottage in Mayfield Road and Allen worked as a stationary engine driver. Allen Huband died aged 52 in Worcester in 1906; Mary Jane remained living in Mayfield Road where she appears on the 1911 census as widow working as a general grocer on her own account at home. Horace aged 21 is employed as a jeweller’s assistant. He enlisted as a bombardier in the Royal Field Artillery and he died of wounds in the military hospital at Rouen on 2nd May 1917.

The following information has been researched by Geoff Hill:
1901 Census
Albert Cottage, Mayfield Road
Horace Huband, aged 11
At the same address: Allen Valentine (father), mother, 3 brothers and 1 sister.

Horace Huband enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in April 1908, Service No.344. His home address was given as 29 Mayfield Road, Worcester. He renewed his attestation in January 1912, and annually thereafter. He was promoted to Bombardier in 1915 and sent to France in May 1916.

The 306th Brigade Royal Field Artillery was part of the Territorial Force (TF) 2nd Line. It was a component of the 61st Division from its formation in February 1915 until November 1918. In 1917 the 61st Division was engaged in the German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line. It was one of the Divisions employed in the cautious pursuit of the enemy, when in March 1917, the Germans carried out a deep withdrawal from the area of the Somme to formidable pre-prepared positions that the British called the Hindenburg Line. On 17th March, it captured Chaulnes and Bapaume. It is likely that Hubert Huband would have been wounded on 29th April 1917 during this action and taken to the military hospital in Rouen, where died of wounds on 2nd May 1917.

During the First World War, British and Empire camps and hospitals were stationed on the southern outskirts of Rouen. A base supply depot and the 3rd Echelon of General Headquarters were also established in the city. Almost all of the hospitals at Rouen remained there for practically the whole of the war. They included eight general, five stationary, one British Red Cross and one labour hospital, and No. 2 Convalescent Depot. A number of the dead from these hospitals were buried in other cemeteries, but the great majority were taken to the city cemetery of St. Sever. In September 1916, it was found necessary to begin an extension, where the last burial took place in April 1920.