Capt Arthur de Bells Adam (MC)
1885 - 1916

CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916

Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916

Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916

Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918

2nd Lieutenant Herbert Thornton Burkinshaw

Age: 35
From: Liverpool
Regiment: LNL attchd 5bn York and Lanc
Died on Friday 20th September 1918
Commemorated at: Vis En Artois Memorial
Panel Ref: Panel 7

Herbert was born in Liverpool on 14th October 1882, the youngest son of John Burkinshaw and his wife Euphrasie (nee Frecaut). John was born in Yardley, Worcestershire, and Euphrasie was French, born in Paris. They married in St. Andrew’s, Liverpool, in 1873, and had nine children: Herbert had older siblings Leonie, Alfred, John, Charles, and Sidney, and younger sisters Beatrice, Ethel, and Vera. Herbert was baptised in St. Andrew’s on 26th November, his parents’ residence given as 10 Copperas Hill and his father’s occupation listed as costumier. His father owned a well-known theatrical costumier business in Colquitt Street in the centre of Liverpool.

The 1891 Census finds the family living at 8/10 Copperas Hill, Liverpool. His father John is the head of the household born in 1829. His mother Euphrasie was born in France in 1852. Herbert is shown as having been born in 1882, is aged 9 and is a scholar. He has 6 siblings in the household, all born in Liverpool: Leonie b.1875 and a Milliners Apprentice, John b.1878 and a scholar, Charles b.1880, Sidney b.1881, Ethel b.1887, Beatrice b.1884. There is also a visitor and a servant recorded on the Census.

The 1901 Census shows the family are living at 30 Colquitt Street, Liverpool. His father is now 72 and his mother 49. Herbert is shown as Hubert and is now 18 and a Theatrical Costumier as is his elder brother John. Also present are his sister Ethel and another sister Vera b. 1896. There are two servants also shown.

The 1911 Census finds the family have moved to 19 Dulcie Street, Toxteth Park, Liverpool. His father is again shown as the head of the household and is now 82 years of age and retired. His mother is shown as having been born in Paris. Herbert is 28 years of age with his birth shown on the Census as 1883, he is described as a Costumier. Also present in the household are his sisters Beatrice and Ethel and a servant. Some time after the census the family moved across the Mersey to New Brighton.

On 18th September 1913 Herbert is found as a passenger, 30 years old, occupation theatrical costumier, on the ‘Arzila’, on a 23-day round-trip voyage from London to Morocco, the Canaries, and Madeira. His father died later that year, on Christmas Day 1913, aged 85.

Herbert enlisted in the 17th Bn, King’s (Liverpool) Regiment as Private 15100. His medal card shows that he shipped to France with his battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on 7th November 1915. He was later transferred to the Military Foot Police Corps with the regimental number 5026, and Commissioned on 30th January 1918, published in the Supplement to the London Gazette on 13th February 1918.

At the time of his death he was serving as Second Lieutenant in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, attached to the 5th Bn York and Lancaster Regiment. His death was presumed to have occurred on or since 20th September 1918.

Herbert’s body was never recovered from the battlefield and he is remembered on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial to the Missing, Pas de Calais.

The Vis en Artois Memorial bears the names of over 9,000 men who fell in the period from 8 August 1918 to the date of the Armistice in the Advance to Victory in Picardy and Artois, between the Somme and Loos, and who have no known grave.

The memorial was designed by J.R. Truelove, with sculpture by Ernest Gillick. It was unveiled by the Rt. Hon. Thomas Shaw on 4 August 1930.

Probate was granted to his older brother John, a costumier, giving Herbert’s address as 9 Dudley Road, New Brighton, and the business address as Colquitt Street, in the amount of £7,754-15s-8d.

His sister Ethel married in December 1916 and was widowed six weeks later when her husband, Engineer Lieutenant Hubert Sewell, was killed on H.M.S. Laurentic, by a mine explosion.

His mother, living at 9 Dudley Road, New Brighton, received Herberts effects of £59-17s and a War Gratuity of £19-10s. Euphrasie died in 1928, aged 76.

Herbert is commemorated on the following memorials -

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall at Panel 15 Left.

Liverpool Institute School

Parish of St, James, New Brighton

Northern Club Roll of Honour, Great Crosby.

We currently have no further information on Herbert Thornton Burkinshaw, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.

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(110 Years this day)
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(108 Years this day)
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