LINDSEY, Horace [of Gonalston]
Gonalston war memorial
St Laurence's church
Medical officer's report on Horace Lindsey's death
Macabrely neat and detailed
Boulogne East Cemetery
Pte., Army Service Corps
Horace Lindsey was born in Melton Mowbray in 1889 so he was 25 when he volunteered in Nottingham in December 1914. Although he appears on the Gonalston war memorial (because his parents still lived there) he was actually living at 63 Woolmer Road in the Meadows area of Nottingham when he joined up. He was a baker and confectioner by trade and the army sensibly decided to keep him making bread in the Service Corps. They sent Army Form B. 64c to his former employer, Frederick Seymour, in Arkwright Street asking some interesting questions:
Please say why he left you. Answer: To enlist
Do you believe him to be sober? Answer: Yes
Do you believe him to be honest? Answer: Yes
Can you give any other information as to his character? Truthful & Punctual
Give your opinion of his capabilities, stating, if applicable, whether he is a partly trained apprentice, an improver, journeyman, leading hand, chargeman, &c., &c.
Answer: Journeyman
Lindsey also took a practical bakery test at Aldershot and was rated 'a Fair Baker'.
In May 1915 he went to France and joined the 14th Field Bakery of the ASC. This was not a front line unit, but appears to have been part of No. 3 Base Supply Depot at Boulogne. He served there for 15 months before succumbing to pleurisy (a lung disease which can spread virally) in the 2nd Canadian Field Hospital. He died on 27 August 1916 and was buried two days later in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.
As well as appearing on the attractive Gonalston memorial in St Laurence's church, he is also commemorated on his parents' tombstone in Melton Mowbray.