HINGLEY, Leonard

Leonard Hingley lived with his mother, Ada, at 2 Hare and Hounds Cottages, Hasbury, Halesowen. He enlisted in the Worcesters and was sent to the 1st Battalion. This battalion had been in France since November 1914 and had been through the Artois battles of 1915. In 1916 it was in reserve for the first day of the Somme on the 1st July. On the 3rd it entered the trenches to meet the expected German counter-attacks and to advance on the village of Contalmaison. The German attack was stubborn and the Worcesters tried again on the 7th, storming up the trench towards the village. German resistance was too strong but neighbouring troops on the flank completed the success. Private Leonard Hingley was seriously wounded and taken to a Field Ambulance where he died on the 7th July. He was 20 years of age and is buried in Mericourt l'Abbé Cemetery (II C 7) and commemorated on the Halesowen Memorial.