Barnett H W Captain 13th London Regiment
CAPTAIN HERBERT WALTER BARNETT, 13th Battalion, London Regiment, was the son of Maurice H. Barnett, and was born in 1879. Educated at University College School, he joined the Stock Exchange at the age of twenty, and five years later became a member. For some years he was a junior partner in the firm of Bensinger and Co.
He was given a commission in 1907 in the 4th Middlesex Volunteer Rifle Corps, which, on the formation of the Territorial Force, was converted into the 13th (Kensington) Battalion, London Regiment. He was promoted Captain in 1912. From the time of joining the Regiment he devoted himself with the greatest keenness to the promotion of its well-being and efficiency and in so doing became a most efficient and popular officer.
His Battalion went to France in November 1914 and he took part in its activities through those critical months in which little was left of the Old Army, and the New Armies were not yet in being. He was killed at the head of his men in the attack on Aubers Ridge of 9 May 1915, an historic engagement in which his battalion played a notable part.
“He died,” wrote his Major, “leading his men in the true British way, and under the most exacting conditions that any troops could be called on to face.” And his Colonel wrote: “His memory will remain with us as a keen and capable English gentleman, always ready to do his share.”
The work of the Kensingtons on that day was described by General Sir Henry Rawlinson, then commanding the 4th Army Corps, as “a feat of arms surpassed by no battalion in this great war.”
Source : The Stock Exchange War Memorial 1914-1918
Barnett H W Captain 13th London Regiment
Source : The Illustrated London News 29th May 1915