NIBLETT, Leonard

Leonard Niblett was born at Hampton near Evesham and his parents still lived there after 1918. It seems likely that he had lived in Oldswinford and worked in Birmingham. He enlisted in the Warwicks and joined the 1/6th (Territorial) Battalion in the 48th Division. They had been engaged in the front line since April 1915 and had suffered heavily on the Somme in 1916. By the following Summer they were preparing for the great conflict of Third Ypres. On the 16th August the 48th Division entered the front line in the battle of Langemarck, north east of Ypres, for an attack across the Steenbeek. On that day the attack failed because of the German concrete block-houses and fortified farms, which defied even the heavy artillery. However, with the help of tanks the Warwicks were at last successful in taking the fortress-like Maison du Hibou on the 20th August. The next attack was an attempt to take the Langemarck-St. Julien Road on the 27th August. The weather was once more atrocious and a downpour lasted all day. This time the attackers failed to breach the concrete defences of the blockhouses. Private Leonard Niblett was seriously wounded and sent to a field hospital at Dozinghem. His injuries were so serious that he died the next day. He is buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery (IV H 4) and commemorated on the Stourbridge and Oldswinford church Memorials.