Born in 1898, Albert Henry Herring was the son of Hattie Herring and Frank Herring, a schoolmaster. In 1911 they lived at 40 Sackville Gardens, Ilford, Essex. Albert attended the Coopers Company School in Bow from 1912 to 1914. After leaving, he became a commercial clerk and during the war went on to be a pilot in the 25th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps.
During the first two months of 1918, the Squadron did less bombing and made an increasing number of photographic reconnaissance. By March bombing was more frequent and the Squadron attacked stations and enemy aerodromes. Unfortunately, Albert Herring’s aircraft was shot down and he died of his wounds in a German Military Hospital on 29th May 1918.
Albert was given a full military funeral by the Germans who occupied the area around Aulnoye Cemetery, France.
Albert’s older brother, Reginald, had already been killed in a poison gas attack whilst fighting with the Canadian Infantry in France, April 1915.
Some information / extracts have been reproduced with kind permission of Karen Pack from her book ‘Coopers’ Boys & Coborn Girls: Their Part in the Great War’ © Karen Pack, 2015
Sources:
Ancestry.com
ICHS school records and magazines
Commonwealth War Graves Commission