Biography of Private Horace William Little, (30292)
51st Labour Corps
Formerly 201673, 1st/4th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment
and 4662, Lincolnshire Regiment
Died 1st June 1917

Soldier

  • Name: Horace William Little
    Date of birth: 1898
    Place of Birth: Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, England
    Date of Birth Registration: January – March 1898
    Place of Birth Registration: Holbeach, Lincolnshire, England
Father

  • Name: William Little
  • DOB: 1869
  • Place of Birth: Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England
  • Occupation: Head teacher
Mother

  • Name: Ada Williows
  • DOB: 1872
  • Place Of Birth: Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, England
  • Marriage: 1897 Holbeach District
Siblings: (Name), (DOB), (POB)

  • Horace William Little, 1898, Long Sutton
    Sydney Belmont Little, 1899, Long Sutton
    Nellie Elizabeth Little, 1901, Long Sutton
    Harold George Little, 1903, Long Sutton
    Reginald Gregory Little, 1905, Alford
    Gilbert Frank Little, 1907, Pointon
    Winifred Ethel Little. 1908. Pointon
    Cuthbert Little, 1909, Pointon
    Dorothy Little, 1911, Pointon
    Clement A Little, 1912, Pointon
    Hilda N Little, 1914, Pointon
    Geoffrey F Little, 1917, Pointon
Census

  • 1901: Horace is living with his parents in the High Street, Long Sutton, Lincolnshire.
  • 1911: Horace is living with his parents at the School House, Pointon, Lincolnshire. The census gives him an age of 13 and he is listed as been at school.
Relatives in services

  • None found
Marriage

  • No marriage for Horace has been found and because of his age we can assume that he never had the opportunity to marry.

Newspaper Mentions

  • Grantham Journal Saturday 13th November 1915.
    BILLINGBOROUGH
    MORE RECRUITS:- The following names appear in the recruiting list this:- F. J. Scarborough (Billingborough), 1st London Regiment; Tom Ellingworth (Horbling), R.F.A and George Morris Whiles (Horbling), A.S.C.; Charles Robert Allen, a native of Billingborough, formerly a Sergeant in the King’s Own Hussars, has resisted in the Ary Service Corps; and Horace Little, the Pointon schoolmaster’s son has joined the Lincolns.

 

  • Grantham Journal Saturday 9th June 1917.
    DIED ON ACTIVE SERVICE
    LITTLE – At a Military Hospital abroad, on 1st June Pte. Horace William Little, Lincolnshire Regiment, the dearly loved and eldest son of William and Ada Little, Pointon School House, Folkingham, aged 19 years.

 

  • Grantham Journal Saturday 9th June 1917.
    POINTON
    LOCAL SOLDIER DIES ABOARD – Mr. Little, school master, received a letter from the War Office about a fortnight ago, stating that his son, Pte. Horace William Little, was seriously ill in France, and a younger son Sidney, a clerk in Billingborough Post office, immediately set out to see his brother.  On arrival, he found him suffering from cerebro-spinal-meningitis, having only lucid intervals of consciousness.  During the middle of the week more re-assuring news was received, but the patient had relapse, and died on June 1st.  The funeral – a military one – took place in the Military Cemetery at Treport, on the following day, and it was attended by deceased’s brother, who placed on the grave a wreath sent by the Company to which he belonged.  Deceased, who was only 19 years of age, was too young when he first presented himself for enlistment.  He joined the Lincolns, however, in Ocober, 1915, and was in France about fourteen months.  He was home last September, after being in hospital with trench fever.  The greatest sympathy is felt for the family.

Military Records

Attestation Papers

  • Available
Soldier’s Died In The Great War

  • These records show that Private Horace William Little 30292 Labour Corps was killed in action on 1st June 1917 in the Western European Theatre in France and Flanders.

Pension Records

  • Available

Effects Left To

  • Father William
Medals

  • The British Medal
    The Victory Medal
Memorials

  • UK:
  • Sempringham, Roll of Honour in St Andrew’s Abbey

 

  • Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
  • In memory of Private Horace William Little, 30292, 1st/4th Lincolnshire Regiment who died on 1 June 1917.
    Remembered with honour, Mont Huon Military Cemetery, Le Treport.

© Picture taken by South Lincolnshire War Memorials

© Picture taken by South Lincolnshire War Memorials

Military Service Timeline

  • In November 1915 Horace enlisted into the Lincolnshire regiment at Lincoln (No 4662). Some records indicate that at the time of his death we was posted to the 51st labour Company of the labour Corps 30292, although other records commemorate him as a private in the 1st/4th Lincolnshire Regiment under the number 201673.
     
    His military records have not been found and were most likely destroyed in the London warehouse fire in the blitz.
     
    The information we have discovered has been pieced together from various surviving records and so the dates and his movements during the war are largely unknown.
    When he was posted from the Lincolnshire Regiment to the Labour Corps is unknown but it must have been between January 1917 and June 1917.
    The Labour Corps was manned by officers and other ranks who had been medically rated below the “A1” condition needed for front line service. Many of the men of the Corps were previously wounded and were posted from their original battalions to the Labour Corps. Labour Corps units were often deployed for work within range of the enemy guns, sometimes for lengthy periods.
     
    As we do not know the circumstances of Horace’s transfer to the Corps or any details of previous wounds then it is not possible say where on the western front he was serving prior to his transfer to the No 16 Hospital at Le Treport.
    We do know that the 4th Lincolns had spent most of 1917 in the Loos area but when Horace left them for the Labour Corps is unknown.
Sources

  • WW1 Soldier’s Records (www.ancestry.co.uk)
    Commonwealth War Graves Commission
  • British Newspaper Archive.