This man is a candidate for addition to Keighley's Supplementary Volume under the proposal to add further names in 2024, the centenary of the original roll of honour.
Click here to go to the Main page
Supported by the National Lottery's Heritage Fund, our project intends to submit about 120 names for peer review to add them to the book which is kept at Keighley Library. The unveiling of the book with it's new names is planned for November 2024, 100 years after the unveiling of the original war memorial.

Private. Royal Army Medical Corps Service No: 131674

Early life:

Herbert was born in 1898 with his birth registered in Keighley. His parents were James Bailey and Amelia Bailey née Brigg and James was a dress goods designer. In 1901 they were living on Keighley Road in Cowling.
Herbert began attending Keighley Boys Grammar School in 1907 at the age of nine. In the 1911 census he was twelve and living at 55, Skipton Road in Silsden with his parents and his younger brothers Frank William aged eight and Clifford James aged three. He left Keighley Boys Grammar School in 1912 aged thirteen and was working for Messrs. Hill, Benson and Bailey of Silsden, textile
manufacturers whilst continuing his education studying textile design at the Keighley Trade School. Aged 18, he completed his City and Guilds qualification in 1917, winning a first prize of a bronze medal in woollen and worsted weaving.

War service:

Herbert joined the Army on 2nd March 1916 and was deemed enlisted for General Service. His medical details were: height, 5 feet 4 inches; weight, 129 pounds and he had a maximum chest size of 38 inches. Over a year later on 12th June 1917, he was called up to Halifax and on 13th June he was posted to the 87th Reserve Training battalion at Hornsea. He was transferred to the 298 Reserve Labour Company at Strensall near York on 5th August 1917.
He was also at Catterick near York for further training and then on 24th August, to the Royal Army Medical Corps at Blackpool for Field Ambulance Training.
On 14th November 1917 he was admitted to Kirkham Military Hospital at Kirkham near Preston with influenza and he was discharged on 19th December.
In January 1918 Herbert was posted to Aylesbury for hospital training. He contracted a cold, then influenza and pneumonia. On 17th February he was admitted to the Military Isolation Hospital at Tring in Bedfordshire where sadly, he died aged 19 years of age on 6th March, with Scarlet Fever and Pneumonia. Herbert was buried on 7th March at Silsden Non-Conformist Burial Ground, grave no. 510. He had served for 268 days.

Herbert is remembered on the Cowling WW1 Memorial, the Silsden war Memorial and was also remembered in the Keighlian Magazine WW1 Roll of Honour, for Keighley Boys Grammar School. He did not receive any medals as he did not serve overseas.

Obituary from the Keighlian Nov. 1918:

HERBERT HEATON BAILEY.
Private. Royal Army Medical Corps.
Herbert H. Bailey was at the School from 1907 to 1912. On leaving School, he took the profession of his father, that of textile manufacturer, and entered the firm of Messrs. Hill, Benson & Bailey, of Silsden, in which firm his father is a partner. Herbert Bailey continued his education in the Textile Department of the Technical School. His father was formerly the head-master of that Department, and at the present time is giving great assistance to the School as acting head-master during the period of the war. While there, Herbert Bailey was remarkably successful in his studies, being a most painstaking and enthusiastic worker. At the City and Guilds of London Institute Examination in Woollen and Worsted Weaving in May, 1917, he gained the First Prize and was successful in winning the Bronze Medal.
He joined the Army on June 16th, 1917, and at first was posted to the 87th Reserve Training Battalion, at Hornsea. After further training at Catterick Bridge and York, he was transferred to the R.A.M.C. and sent to Blackpool for field ambulance training. During the bad weather of the early part of last winter, he contracted a severe cold, and was in hospital suffering from influenza and a slight attack of pneumonia.
In January of the present year, he was transferred to Aylesbury for hospital training. After working for some time at the Military Hospital, he acted as orderly in the isolation ward of a neighbouring hospital. While there, he contracted scarlet fever, and after being removed to hospital, he had another attack of pneumonia in addition to the fever. His condition became worse, and his parents were only able to get to the hospital a short time before he passed away. He was unconscious when they arrived. He was interred at Silsden on March 7th.
Herbert Bailey was not a strong, robust young man, yet in spite of his difficult surroundings while in the Army he nobly strove to do his duty, and in doing so, laid down his life in the endeavour to give assistance to those in need of help. His parents have received many letters from his soldier friends and patients under his care, and all alike speak of his good work, and testify to his influence for good in their lives.
He was well known as a quiet, unassuming young man, and a most devoted voluntary worker in any good cause. His fine, manly character and sympathetic disposition had gained him a wide circle of friends, both at Silsden and Keighley, and their appreciation was very greatly in evidence at the funeral service.
The School is proud to record such self-sacrifice on the part of its Old Boys, and we tender our most sincere sympathy to the parents and friends in their loss.

Post war:

After his death Herbert's remaining Army pay of £6 12s 8d was paid to his father on 22nd July 1918 and a war gratuity payment of £9 10s on 1st December 1919. In addition to this, his 10th June 1918 probate record shows that he left £298 15s 6d to his father James.
In the 1921 census his parents and two brothers were living at Rosebud Cottage, Keighley Road in Cowling. James and Amelia were still resident there in the 1939 Register.
James died in 1946 aged 74 and Amelia died aged 76 on 7th June 1947. She left £18,739 12s 1d to her son Frank William Bailey.

Source information:

England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
1901 Census
1911 Census
British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919
Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923
1921 Census
1939 Register
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007