Herbert Winfield Private 30335 - 4th Bn. North Stafford Regiment Died of wounds on Sunday 5th May 1918 age 20 Buried at Etaples Military Cemetery Herbert Winfield was born 1898 at Norton Canes, south of Cannock Chase to Joseph Winfield, a shepherd aged about 48 from Saredon and Sarah, nee Lawrance, from Tipton, about 52. The couple had eight children in all, of whom seven survived. Herbert was the youngest. The 1901 census has the family in Penkridge with Joseph working as a shepherd. Living at home were five sons, aged from 12 to 3 (Herbert), born at Calf Heath, Hatherton and Norton Canes. By 1911 the family had moved to Cowley, where Joseph worked as a farm labourer as did two of the sons. Unmarried daughter Edith had returned home. Herbert aged 13 was at school In   1916,   Herbert   was   working   as   a   cowman,   aged   18   and   now   over   6’   in   height   when   he enlisted   in   the   North   Staffs   (Prince   of   Wales’s)   Regiment,   in   Lichfield.   He   seems   to   have served in the 1 st /6 th  and 4 th  Battalions. Herbert Winfield is one of those whose service records are available on the internet. These include his enrolment form, medical records such as his height and girth; details of injuries and service, medals, names, ages and addresses of his parents and siblings, the return of his property, and a letter about a war savings certificate for £1 11s 0d. He died of the effects of gas poisoning on 5th May 1918 at No. 26 General Hospital, France. He was awarded  the Victory and British medals. Buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, LXVIII. A. 2 “Son of Joseph and Sarah Winfield, of Cowley, Gnosall, Staffs.”

Etaples Military Cemetery Historical Information During the First World War, the area around Etaples was the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals. It was remote from attack, except from aircraft, and accessible by railway from both the northern or the southern battlefields. In 1917, 100,000 troops were camped among the sand dunes and the hospitals, which included eleven general, one stationary, four Red Cross hospitals and a convalescent depot, could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick. In September 1919, ten months after the Armistice, three hospitals and the Q.M.A.A.C. convalescent depot remained. The cemetery contains 10,771 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, the earliest dating from May 1915. 35 of these burials are unidentified. Hospitals were again stationed at Etaples during the Second World War and the cemetery was used for burials from January 1940 until the evacuation at the end of May 1940. After the war, a number of graves were brought into the cemetery from other French burial grounds. Of the 119 Second World War burials, 38 are unidentified. Etaples Military Cemetery also contains 662 Non Commonwealth burials, mainly German, including 6 unidentifed. There are also now 5 Non World War service burials here. The cemetery, the largest Commission cemetery in France