Hill, Leonard
Private (Signaller)
No. PLY/1335(S), 2nd R.M. Bn. R.N. Division, Royal Marine Light Infantry
Killed in action on Friday 26 October 1917 (aged 24)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium (Panel 1 and 162 A)
Uncle of SWW casualty Arnold Leonard Hill No. 1476096
BIOGRAPHY
In the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Debt of Honour Website it is recorded that Private (Signaller) Leonard Hill was a son of Charles Edward and Annie Hill who lived at 126 Donaghadee Road, Bangor.
Both of his parents are commemorated on a family grave headstone in Bangor Cemetery, Newtownards Road, Bangor:
Annie Hill died on 16 November 1937 and Charles Edward Hill (formerly of Hunslet, Leeds) died on 14 August 1940.
Private Leonard Hill was 24 when he died on 26 October 1917 and he has no known grave.
Private Leonard Hill is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.
Leonard Hill was born on 23 September 1893 in East Hunslet, Leeds, Yorkshire and he was the youngest son of Charles Edward and Annie Hill (nee Burrell) who were married around 1879. Charles Edward Hill was a wholesale wallpaper salesman and he and Annie had at least nine children (all of whom were born in Leeds), including:
Arnold Burrell (born around 1881)
Florence (born around 1883)
Bertram (born around 1884)
Reginald (born around 1886)
Hugh (born around 1888)
Dorothy (born around 1889)
Charles Donald (born around 1892; also served with the Royal Marine Light Infantry, No. PLY/1334(S) – number consecutive with Leonard’s; survived the war)
Leonard (born 23 September 1893 at Hunslet, Leeds)
Leonard Hill enlisted on 3 January 1916, was drafted for the British Expeditionary Force (Signaller) on 16 April 1917, joined the 2nd Royal Marine Battalion, Royal Marine Light Infantry on 3 June 1917, and was killed in action on 26 October 1917.
Another address in Army papers for Leonard’s parents was 185 Beaumont Road, Bourneville, Birmingham.
In a death notice inserted in the 15 August 1940 edition of the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury it is recorded that Charles Edward Hill died on 11 August 1940 at 71 Grove Park, Bangor. This date is confirmed in official death registration documentation. In official documentation Annie’s date of death is recorded as 4 November 1937.