Army Service Corps
Herbert Thomas Walding was born at Ruardean Hill on 9 September 1890, the son of Elijah and Lois Ann Walding. Elijah Walding was a coal miner.
In 1911 the family was living at Ruardean Hill and Herbert was a grocer’s assistant. He was unmarried. Herbert was engaged in ‘Home Service’.
There is no surviving record of his service and he was not entitled to any campaign medals.
Curiously, a recently released Pension Record Card (PRC) indicates that Herbert had a wife, Annie, who lived at 18 Bryntyfryd Street, Blackwood, Monmouthshire. However, it has not proved possible to confirm the date of the marriage.
The PRC also states ‘man’s mother is getting pension 28.2.19’.
Private Herbert Thomas Walding died on 25 October 1918 at the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich, aged 27 years. Cause of death not known. His grave is marked by a privately sponsored stone headstone.
His mother is also commemorated on his grave memorial and is assumed to be buried with him.
His father died on 8 March 1916.
His grave memorial, which has been removed from its original location, also commemorates several of his children and his wife Lois Annie who died on 30 January 1920.
Research by Eric Nicholls 5 August 2014 (revised 10 August 2021