Herbert William Hare Marshall - Lest We Forget

Herbert William Hare Marshall was born August 19, 1889 or 1890 at Moussarie, India. His exact date of birth cannot be confirmed. He was the son of Colonel H.B. Marshall of the Punjab Army, and of Charlotte Trotter Marshall, both born in England. By 1914 Colonel Marshall was deceased and Mrs. Marshall, Herbert, and his sister Charlotte Bird Marshall, were living in Revelstoke where Herbert worked as a bank clerk with the Imperial Bank. They were living in a residence on Mackenzie Avenue. Herbert was a friend of Erland Hadow, a land surveyor with a business in Revelstoke. Erland married Mr. Marshall’s sister Charlotte on December 26, 1914. He too perished in the war.

Herbert Marshall signed his enlistment papers on November 9, 1914 at Vancouver. His regimental number was 117036. He was 24 or 25 years old, single, 5’ 8” tall with black hair and brown eyes. His religious affiliation was Anglican. In April 1915 he joined the 15th Alberta Horse. He was promoted to lieutenant in September of 1915. Later in England he was discharged from the Canadian Expeditionary Force and transferred to the British Army, where he was given a commission in the 17th West Yorkshires, and saw active service with them in France.  In July 1916, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. In July of 1915, Herbert’s mother and his sister, Mrs. Hadow, arrived in England. They had booked passage on the Lusitania but fortunately had canceled their booking. On that voyage the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine.

The local newspaper of February 17, 1917 carried an engagement announcement of Herbert William Hare Marshall, Royal Flying Corps, only son of the late Col. Herbert B. Marshall and Mrs. Marshall of Revelstoke, B.C., to Evelyn Margaret, fourth daughter of the late Mr. John Orr-Ewing and Mrs. Orr-Ewing of Weston-super-Mare. They were married on May 12, 1917.

Herbert William Hare Marshall died on August 26, 1917 in a flying accident in Lincolnshire, England. He was 27 or 28 years old. At the time of his death he was a Lieutenant with the Royal Flying Corps Air Force. He is buried at Weston-super-Mare Cemetery, Somerset, England. His name is inscribed on the Courthouse and Cenotaph plaques as well as the Chancel Screen at St. Peter’s Anglican Church and the Honor Roll of the YMCA.

Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. Hadow (Herbert’s sister) returned to Revelstoke for a short time and then moved to Oak Bay on Vancouver Island.

During the campaign to erect a Cenotaph in Revelstoke after the war, Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. Hadow declined to contribute stating that there were many disabled men and orphaned children that needed the money raised. They did however end their letter expressing best wishes to the ladies of the Women’s Auxiliary to the Great War Veterans Association, many of whom were probably friends of theirs.