Herbert Leigh

HERBERT LEIGH

Captain, Herbert Leigh, 7th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment.

Born in 1884 at Macclesfield, son of joiner and cabinet maker, Zebulon Lewis and Kate, (nee, Mellor), Leigh, of, 106, Great King Street, Macclesfield. Herbert was educated at Christ Church and then the Modern School. His siblings were, Lewis, Winifred, Florence, Ida, Lucy, Dora and Richard. The 1911 census lists Herbert as working as an advertising clerk. He was also a keen and active member of Macclesfield Cricket Club and the Boy Scouts.

He was a prominent member of the local Cheshire Regiment (Territorial), and was for some time a Sergeant Major, but he was not serving at the outbreak of the war. Nevertheless he immediately joined the 3rd Battalion Cheshire Regiment as a Private, number 7/2187, and after serving in the ranks as a Non Commission Officer, he was commissioned, 15 1915, as a 2°d Lieutenant. He then was drafted to Egypt which was followed by a posting to Palestine.

In the June of 1918, he was drafted to the Western Front, here the Battalion were engaged in action at GHELEWE, Ypres, Herbert was killed in action, Monday, October 1918, aged 34 years.

Medals: 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Captain, Herbert Leigh is buried at Hooge Crater Cemetery, West Vlaanderen, Belgium.
C.W.G.C. Ref: – XIX. C. 11.

Also refer to

• Macclesfield Troops pre WWI
• Photos from Barnswood archive Macclesfield WW1
• ‘Big Hats, Shorts and Dyb Dyb Dyb’ – a history of Macclesfield and Congleton Scouts by Norman Gosling
• WWI List of Addresses Trevor Druce Macclesfield Reflects