CAPTAIN OSWALD ALEXANDER HERD
DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY
24TH SEPTEMBER 1916 AGE 25
BURIED: GUARDS' CEMETERY LESBOEUFS, FRANCE
On 21 September 1916, the 14th Battalion Durham Light Infantry went into the trenches near Guillemont between Trones and Bernafray woods. The following day, from noon until 6 pm, they came under sustained artillery fire. On the evening of the 23rd they moved up into the front line and were under constant fire throughout the night. At 8 am on the morning of the 24th the Germans launched an infantry attack on the British trenches. They were driven back, the British guns opening up in retaliation. Unfortunately the British shells fell short and one dropped into a 14th Battalion trench killing Herd and three other soldiers.
Captain Herd's mother, Constance Herd, confirmed his inscription, a quotation from Edmund Spenser's Fairie Queen.
Is not short pain well born, that brings long ease,
And lays the Soul to sleep in quiet grave?
Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas,
Ease after war, death after life, does greatly please.
Edmund Spenser 1552-1599
The Fairie Queen: Book 1 Canto IX