Young Herbert Carl Gawith sounded as if he was a bit of a 'ne'er do well', as they say. He and his elder brother, James, were born in Kendal, his family later moving to Dalton-in-Furness. At the time of the 1901 Census they weren’t living with their parents but were instead residents of the Industrial School for Boys, Offerton Lane, Stockport, aged 11 and 12 respectively.
I don’t know the circumstances under which they found themselves there, so far away from their home, but it wouldn’t have been through choice. Boys sent to Industrial Schools were usually classed as vagrants, living on the edge of the law, or in many cases living beyond the law. Whatever the reason, they were what would be termed ‘juvenile delinquents.’
Despite the pleasant appearance of the building as shown in the photograph, I’ll bet it was a tough establishment. The discipline regime in such places was notorious; order and a sense of responsibility wasn’t so much instilled into the young inmates as beaten into them.
Coming from such a background Herbert would probably have assimilated into the disciplined life of the Army quite easily when he joined up in 1907. He seems to have taken to soldiering, because rather than serving 3 years with the Colours and a further 9 years on the Reserve (to give him a pension after 12 years service) he appears to have remained a full-time soldier after enlisting. On the outbreak of war in 1914 he was serving in India with the 2nd Battalion.
The 2nd Battalion didn’t move to France straight away; India was far too important to be left unguarded and release of the Regular troops stationed there had to wait until newly-formed units could be transferred to take over the garrison duties.
When he did arrive in France with the Battalion on January 15th, 1915, it was as part of the 83rd Brigade in the 28th Division. Service in and around Ypres and Northern Flanders then followed. At some point between then and May 8th he got wounded, seriously enough to warrant evacuation back home for recuperation. His Service Records have not survived but the May date is a reasonably certain cut-off as on that day the 2nd Battalion was wiped out, the men either dead or taken prisoner.
Following his recovery he wasn't posted back to the 2nd Battalion, but was transferred to the 8th Battalion, co-incidentally the same battalion in which his younger brother, Frederick, was serving. However, during the time he was recovering from his wounds he had his photograph taken again, as can be see from the fact that he is wearing 'hospital blues', the temporary uniform given to patients in military hospitals. He's also wearing a hat bearing the badge of the South Lancashire Regiment, not the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment). Quite why he is wearing another badge is a mystery. There are no records that I can find that suggest he ever served in the South Lancashire Regiment, either before the war or during it. It could just be that he needed a hat for the purposes of the photograph and borrowed it from a fellow patient.
That aside, he was wearing the badge of the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) when he was killed at Longueval on July 18th, 1916. I wonder how many more 'reformed' citizens like Herbert Gawith were churned out of the Industrial School system only to end up being churned into the mud of the Somme battlefield?
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