LIEUTENANT HERBERT KING
ARMY ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT
6TH OCTOBER 1917 AGE 41
BURIED: BRANDHOEK NEW MILITARY CEMETERY NO. 3, BELGIUM
This inscription is concerned with identity and status. Herbert King was just one of the over 12,000 lieutenants who died serving in the armies of the British Empire during the First World War - of whom 91 were Lieutenant Kings. But this Lieutenant King had a masters degree in Science and was a Fellow of both the Royal Institute of Chemistry (F.I.C.) and the Chemical Society (F.C.S.). This is how his brother-in-law, his sister's husband, chose to identify him on his headstone. It's formal, correct and proud - this isn't just anyone lying here.
King was also 41 and since his medal card shows that he was not eligible for the 1914-15 Star he can't have joined up until 1916, probably as the result of the introduction in January 1916 of conscription for men between the ages of 18 and 41. The son of a tailor in Scarborough, King was teaching science in Leeds when the war broke out. He served with the Royal Army Ordnance Department, responsible for the supply and repair of military equipment, and died of wounds at a Casualty Clearing Station at Brandhoek on 6 October 1917.