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2nd Lieutenant Hubert Leslie JEFFERYS
13th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) Date of birth: 19th January 1896 Date of death: 29th April 1917 Killed in action aged 21 Commemorated on the Arras Memorial Bay 3
Hubert Leslie Jefferys was born at 25 Richmond Park Road, Kingston-Upon-Thames in Surrey on the 19th of January 1896 the only child of Arthur Jefferys, a banker, and Louise Mary (nee Sketchley later Hilliard) Jefferys of 25 Richmond Park Road, Kingston, later of "St Fabians'", Chelmsford in Essex. He was christened at St Luke’s Church, Kingston on the 29th of March 1896. He was educated at Ardingly College until April 1911 and at Lancing College where he was in News House from May 1911 and in Fields House from September 1912 until May 1913. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps. He was a member of the Football XI in 1912. On leaving school he worked as a bank clerk. Following the outbreak of war he immediately applied for a commission but, unable wait for a reply, he enlisted in London as Private STK/130 in the 10th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) (Stockbrokers) on the 29th of August 1914. At a medical examination, which was held on the 25th of August, it was recorded that he was five feet nine and a half inches tall and that he weighed 129lbs. It was also recorded that he had a fresh complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. He was posted to A Company and landed at Boulogne with his battalion on the 30th of July 1915. On the 1st of May 1916 the 10th (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers relieved the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers in trenches near the village of Berles-au-Bois. At 2.35am on the morning of the 4th of May the German guns commenced a heavy bombardment artillery and trench mortars on the Fusiliers front line and on the trenches of the neighbouring battalions. At 2.40am the fire lifted from the front of the battalion on their right but continued on that of the battalion. Communication was soon cut with battalion headquarters and ladders were seen in the enemy trenches but no infantry attack followed the barrage. Casualties sustained during the bombardment were six men killed with fifty two wounded. The wounded were evacuated to the rear across open ground under the cover of thick fog. Hubert Jefferys was wounded while acting as a stretcher bearer. He had been hit in the shoulder, the head, the arm and in the left leg; his eyes had also been injured. He was evacuated to 50 Filed Ambulance and then to 9 Casualty Clearing Station. On the 7th of May he was loaded on board No. 24 Ambulance Train and arrived at 1 Canadian General Hospital at Etaples the following day. He was evacuated to England on the 15th of June 1916 on board the Hospital Ship "Brighton". On the 16th of June 1916 he was admitted to Tooting Military Hospital where a report on his progress was made: - "Wounded May 4th 1916 near Berles. Treated 1st Can Gen Hosp, Etaples where piece of shrapnel was removed. Shrapnel fragments also removed from right arm and left leg. Thyroid trachea wound nearly healed. Wound in anticubital space of right arm healed. Radial pulse impactfully. Hand cold. Flesh wound left thigh nearly healed." He was transferred to the 1st London General Hospital from the 20th of June to the 27th of July 1916. On his recovery he applied for a commission in the Leinster Regiment on the 14th of September 1916 and underwent a medical examination at Dover of the 7th of October where it was recorded that he was five feet ten and a half inches tall and that he weighed 140lbs. He was posted to 7 Officer Cadet Battalion at Fermoy on the 4th of November 1916. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) on the 1st of March 1917, was attached for service to the 13th Battalion and returned to France on the 19th of April 1917. On the 28th of April 1917 the 13th Battalion Royal Fusiliers was detailed to attack German positions to the south of Gavrelle as part of the ongoing Battle of Arras. Their objective was the Whip cross roads to the south east of the village and they were on the left of the 13th Battalion Rifle Brigade. At 4.25 am they went forward from their trenches, which were about 300 yards east of the Gavrelle-Roeux Road, but were held up by a German machine gun position near the cross roads. By 10.15am this position had been cleared, the objective had been taken and two companies held both the road and the crossroads on a line of some 250 yards. In spite of the attentions of harassing fire from enemy machine guns and snipers, they held the new line throughout the following day until they were relieved by the 9th Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) on the night of the 29th of April.

Fields House