ÉPEHY COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Somme
France
GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 50.00536, Longitude: 3.1351
Location Information
Épehy is a village between Cambrai and Peronne, about 18 kilometres north-east of Péronne.
Épehy Communal Cemetery contains one Commonwealth burial of the First World War.
Number of Identified Casualties: 1
Burial Details
2nd Lieutenant Robert Douglas Herman, South Lancashire Regt., attd. 9th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, died 22 September 1916, aged 23. Son of William Douglas Herman and Alice Maude, his wife.
Robert was born on the 9th November 1892 in Prescot and baptised at Christ Church, Eccleston on the 23rd July 1893. He was the son of William Douglas Herman and Alice Maud Herman (née Cave). They had married in 1885. His father was a Chemical Engineer and Manager at Pilkington Sheet Glass Works in St. Helens. Robert had two older sisters, Alice Louise and Cecile. Sadly, Cecile died when she was just over a year old. The family lived at 'Holme Lea' View Road, Rainhill. Robert was educated at Caldy Grammar School, West Kirby. Their mother had been blind since she was 42 years old. She was living in a Nursing Institution on both the 1901 and 1911 Census. She died in 1914 aged 63.
Before the war Robert worked as a Motor Driver. He joined the Royal Navy as an Air Mechanic on the 30th October 1914 and served at HMS President and HMS Pembroke before being discharged on the 31st July 1915 in order to take up a commission and join the Royal Flying Corps. He was appointed Second Lieutenant and assigned to the South Lancashire Regiment, 2nd/5th Battalion on the 1st August 1915. He then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and was sent to France in July 1916, being appointed Flying Officer the following month on the 16th August 1916.
Robert was shot down on 22nd September. He was flying a BE12 6561 of 19 Squadron. He died of wounds in a German Field Hospital at Épehy and was buried by the Germans in the Communal Cemetery there.
Robert's father commissioned a stained glass window to be made in memory of his son. It can be seen today in Christ Church in Eccleston.
Robert is also commemorated on the 'Men of Rainhill' WW1 brass plaque' in St Ann's Church, Rainhill as well as on Rainhill's War Memorial.
(Sources: CWGC, Ancestry, Find My Past, Newspaper Archives, Seaman's and RAF Officers Records, London Gazette, IWM, Rainhill Remembers, Great War Forum)
Bio Woose (Find a Grave)
Épehy is a village between Cambrai and Peronne, about 18 kilometres north-east of Péronne.
Épehy Communal Cemetery contains one Commonwealth burial of the First World War.
Number of Identified Casualties: 1
Burial Details
2nd Lieutenant Robert Douglas Herman, South Lancashire Regt., attd. 9th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, died 22 September 1916, aged 23. Son of William Douglas Herman and Alice Maude, his wife.
Robert was born on the 9th November 1892 in Prescot and baptised at Christ Church, Eccleston on the 23rd July 1893. He was the son of William Douglas Herman and Alice Maud Herman (née Cave). They had married in 1885. His father was a Chemical Engineer and Manager at Pilkington Sheet Glass Works in St. Helens. Robert had two older sisters, Alice Louise and Cecile. Sadly, Cecile died when she was just over a year old. The family lived at 'Holme Lea' View Road, Rainhill. Robert was educated at Caldy Grammar School, West Kirby. Their mother had been blind since she was 42 years old. She was living in a Nursing Institution on both the 1901 and 1911 Census. She died in 1914 aged 63.
Before the war Robert worked as a Motor Driver. He joined the Royal Navy as an Air Mechanic on the 30th October 1914 and served at HMS President and HMS Pembroke before being discharged on the 31st July 1915 in order to take up a commission and join the Royal Flying Corps. He was appointed Second Lieutenant and assigned to the South Lancashire Regiment, 2nd/5th Battalion on the 1st August 1915. He then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and was sent to France in July 1916, being appointed Flying Officer the following month on the 16th August 1916.
Robert was shot down on 22nd September. He was flying a BE12 6561 of 19 Squadron. He died of wounds in a German Field Hospital at Épehy and was buried by the Germans in the Communal Cemetery there.
Robert's father commissioned a stained glass window to be made in memory of his son. It can be seen today in Christ Church in Eccleston.
Robert is also commemorated on the 'Men of Rainhill' WW1 brass plaque' in St Ann's Church, Rainhill as well as on Rainhill's War Memorial.
(Sources: CWGC, Ancestry, Find My Past, Newspaper Archives, Seaman's and RAF Officers Records, London Gazette, IWM, Rainhill Remembers, Great War Forum)
Bio Woose (Find a Grave)
