PRIVATE HAROLD ST CLAIR HENSTRIDGE
AUSTRALIAN MACHINE GUN CORPS
20TH SEPTEMBER 1917 AGE 30
BURIED: HOOGE CRATER CEMETERY, BELGIUM
Henstridge's three children, Kevin, Betty and Bobbie, were aged 6, 5 and 2 at the time of their father's death. Interestingly, because
his whole service file has been digitised, we can see that subsequently his widow, Violet, received a fortnightly pension of £2, Kevin 20 shillings, Betty 15 shillings and Bobbie 10 shillings.
Henstridge, who described himself at his attestation as an advertisement writer, enlisted on 14 August 1915, trained as a machine gunner and served with the 3rd Company Australian Machine Gun Corps in France and Flanders. He was killed by a shell on 20 September 1917, the witnesses in his Red Cross Wounded and Missing file giving slightly contradictory accounts as to exactly what happened. The most lurid describes how they were advancing in open formation at Polygon Wood when a shell came over and hit him:
"It was about midnight ... when it happened ... Henstridge was the only one hit. We looked for him and found pieces of fresh flesh ... I feel sure the shell wiped him out ...".
Others also say that he was blown to pieces but some say that they saw his body and helped to bury him. I've always wondered how much detail the Red Cross passed on to the next-of-kin; who would want to know about finding pieces of their son's or husband's 'fresh flesh'? However, the letter the Red Cross wrote Mrs Henstridge is in this file and I can see that they say nothing about Henstridge being blown to pieces and only mention that he was killed and probably buried near when he died.
Regardless of the conflicting reports, this does appear to have been what happened. In March 1919, Henstridge's body was discovered at map reference J.8.c.5.0. Although there was no cross on the grave, Henstridge did have his identity disc, which meant that he could be buried under a named headstone. The identity disc was despatched to Mrs Henstridge on 9 June 1920.