Born on 10th August 1881 at Kentish Town, son of William James (Solicitors Clerk) and Edith Jane Noel. 1891: With his family at “Sunny Side” Grove Hill, South Woodford. He and his two brothers were pupils at Bancroft’s School. 1901: A Bank Clerk with Glyn Mills Currie Co. dealing with stocks, still living with his family at “Briarwood” Grove Hill, South Woodford. On 6th November 1909 at Lewins Road Meeting House Bristol he married Lilian Kate Underhill, and they had a little girl named Marjorie. 1911: Still a Bankers Clerk, living with his new family at 42 Woodcote Road, Wanstead. He was “a member of the church and church committee”, being a Superintendent of the Sunday School at West Ham Lane.
He enlisted under the Derby Scheme at Stratford on 9th December 1915, and was notified to join the Artists Rifles for training on 13th January 1917, arrived in France on 20th March 1917, and joined 1 Artists Rifles on 1st April 1917. In due course this Battalion became attached to 63 (Royal Naval) Division. In 10-17 the Division was sent to the Front at Ypres. On 28th October 1917 they left Reigersburgh to take up front line positions for a planned attack, however, following wet weather the ground was so bad that what was to be their start point was instead made into the objective. They were preparing to attack Passchendaele Ridge. The next 30 hours saw many casualties from German shell fire, and when they advanced during the early hours of 30th October 1917, they stumbled forward into a mud swamp. At once machine guns began causing casualties among the attackers, while those in reserve remained under shell fire. Progress was extremely slow. Wounded men were in danger of drowning in the mud, which quickly made weapons unusable.
With the attackers under pressure and clearly running out of momentum (as much as could be generated under such atrocious conditions), a line was formed on the Allied side of the Padebeck. The Battalion, 500 strong at the start had taken about 350 casualties over that distance, including Henry Noel. It is no surprise to learn that he was not recovered from the field of battle.
His widow moved to Bristol where her mother was living, and that is where his medals were sent after the war, C/O Mrs Underhill.
He is remembered on the Wanstead War Memorial.
X/R: Private Edmund Douglas Noel (Brother)
Research by Adrian Lee, Local Historian
Sources:
Ancestry.com
For more information on this individual please see The Old Bancroftian website.