Roll of Honour - Cambridgeshire

Captain, Chaplain to the Forces 4th Class, attached to 41st Battalion, Machine Gun Corps. Killed in action in Flanders, Friday 24 August 1917. Aged 28. Son of County Councillor Mr Henry Green and Agnes Annie Green of Catley Park, Linton, Cambs. Husband of Olive Barugh Green. Father of Raymond Barugh Green. Awarded the Military Cross (M.C.). In the 1901census he was aged 12, born Gembling, Yorkshire, son of Henry and Agnes Green, resident Catley Park, Linton, Cambridgeshire. Buried in The Huts Cemetery, Dickebusch, Belgium. Plot III. Row B. Grave 13. See Linton St Mary also.

Note: Capt. the Rev Herbert Green was awarded the MC in May 2017 for "conspicuous bravery in directing and assisting the bringing in of wounded soldiers under an exceedingly heavy fire" at the second battle of Arras.

In an obituary, Cambridge Daily News quotes one of his sergeants who said of the chaplain: "he never thought of danger if there was work to be done...any man in his unit was proud to do anything for him. Men of all churches and of no church came to hear the padre who shared their trench life with them."

Extract from Cambridge Independent Press - Friday 31 August 1917, page 8:

LOCAL CASUALTIES.
Death of Captain the Rev. Herbert Green, C.F., M.C.
A BRAVE AND GALLANT GENTLEMAN

We regret to announce that Capt. the Rev. Herbert Green, chaplain to the Forces, was killed in action in France on August 24th. Capt. Green was the fourth son of Mr. Henry Green. and of Mrs. Green, of Linton. He was born January 16th, 1889. After some business experience in Cambridge, he offered himself, in 1912, as a candidate for the ministry of the Wesleyan Church, and was sent to the Theological College Richmond.

When war broke out he was in his last year college, and was expecting to be sent to a circuit to commence his active ministry. But duty another way, and he and some fellow students at once enlisted in the ranks of the Royal Naval Division, trained at the Crystal Palace and at Blandford, and was promoted full lieutenant in 1915. So highly respected was his manly, Christian character that, on the recommendation of his Commanding Officer and of the Wesleyan Conference, the War Office transferred him in I916 to the Chaplain’s Department, and after ordination on September 12th of that year, he proceeded at once to France.

At the second battle of Arras he won the Military Cross by his devotion duty and his care for the wounded under heavy fire. While he was always and enthusiastically a Wesleyan (as three generations before him had been) he was a man of broad sympathy, and one of his closest friends was the Anglican chaplain (the Kev. T. W. A. Jones. M.C.?., with whom he was billeted. Officers and men alike respected and loved him, and his cheery spirit and genuine sportsmanship, coupled with an untiring devotion to Christ and duty, won for him influence that was incalculable. One of his sergeants, who was in the First Eastern General Hospital when Capt. Green was last home on leave May, 1917, said of him that he never thought of danger when there was work to be done, and that any man in his unit was proud to do anything for him. Men of all churches, and of no church, came to hear the padre who shared their trench life with them.

Mr. Green married Miss Olive Barugh Barugh, of Linton, on November 19th, 1915, and the sympathy of a wide circle friends will be extended to her and his parents in their sorrow. The circumstances are all the more poignant because Mrs. Green was expecting her husband home leave on the very day which the news his death arrived. Four men who entered the Wesleyan ministry from Cambridge have fallen during the last months— W. H. Dyson (King’s), Clifford Reed. C.F.. M.C. (Trinity and The Leys), T. Kenneth Barnsley (Trinity), and Herbert Green. C.F.. M.C.

We are permitted to give extracts of two letters sent to Mrs. Green brother chaplains:—

Major the Rev. G. Leonard Robinson, Senior Wesleyan C.F., says: - "We have just come out of one of the fiercest battles in which the Division has been called to take part, and I am more than grieved to say that your brave and gallant husband fell in action yesterday morning. The afternoon before he had gone to one of our advanced dressing stations, and the next morning was on his way to the aid post of one of his battalions, when enemy shell burst quite near to him, about 100 yards from the dressing station. We have recovered his body and personal effects, and I am making arrangements to have the burial in a military cemetery three or four miles behind the lines.

“I cannot express what I feel with regard to this unspeakable loss. Personally, I had come to regard your dear one almost as a brother. For eight months we had worked together, and many an hour has been spent together exchanging confidences and discussing the affairs of Methodism. At present I am as one dazed, hut his noble example of heroic courage and absolute unselfishness will be an incentive throughout the coming days.

"Herbert Green was true Christian gentleman, whose unassuming character purified every circle into which he entered. He simply lived for his men, and in return they gave him their unstinted admiration and love. It may truly be said of him, as of his Master. ‘He saved others, himself he could not save.’

“Yesterday was a terrible day, on which many gallant officers and men made the great sacrifice, but not one who fell will be more greatly missed than Herbert Green. You know you have my heartfelt sympathy, and will be constantly in my thoughts and prayers during these days of sorrow and strain. It is a mercy that he was not called upon to suffer. He literally did not see death. We know that for such as he there is a ‘place prepared.’"

Capt. the Rev. T. W. A. Jones. C.F. (Church of England), who won the M.C. on the same occasion as Capt. Green, wrote to Mrs. Green:

"You have probably heard by now the death of that very gallant gentleman, your husband, the Rev. Green, C.F., M.C. I am told it was in the morning August 24th. I got two stretcher-bearers to bring his body to - , and reverently collected his personal effects from his pockets. Mr. Robinson will be sending them on to you.

"I saw him on the evening of August 23rd, and he was going round the wounded men, comforting them, taking down addresses, and writing for them. He was always so unselfish, so brave, so good. I cannot tell you how greatly I admired him and all his work among our men. He was a man of great natural ability, stainless honour, of splendid courage, and has laid his gifts at the feet his great Master, Jesus Christ. Many a man has been helped and encouraged and uplifted by his thoughtful, unselfish words, and by his noble life and character. He will be greatly missed.

“Great as your sorrow must be, it should be a proud sorrow to have known and loved and been loved by such a man; a proud sorrow to have shared with him his great love for God and his fellow men; a proud sorrow for you to think that you inspired and helped him to live the life he lived, and climb the heights of self-sacrificing service in the cause of Christ and His Kingdom. Let there be a halo round your sorrow. "

He was loved by officers for his fine character and his unfailing unselfishness; he was loved by the men. The more I knew him the more I myself admired and loved him.

“They err who tell us love can die;
With life all other passions fly,
All others are but vanity,
But love is indestructible,
Its holy flame for ever burneth.
From Heaven it came, in Heaven returneth.

“Pardon the lengthiness of this letter, but I really wanted somehow to express my love for him, and I had the privilege of being with him many a time out here. May God enable you to see the glory of the love which centres round the Risen Christ.”

A special memorial service will held in Linton Free Sunday next, September 2nd. at 3 p.m., and will be conducted by the K. Winboult Harding. B.D., at Cambridge, and the Kev. K. Wendel Jones. A.T.S., Pastor of the church.

Extract from the Cambridge Independent Press - Friday 7 September 1917, page 7:

THE LATE CAPT. HERBERT GREEN.
Memorial Service at Linton

A memorial service was held in the Congregationalist Church, Linton, on Sunday afternoon for Capt. The Rev. Herbert Green, Chaplain to the Forces who, as reported in the “Cambridge Weekly News,” was killed in action on August 2th. Capt. Green, who was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Green, of Linton, gained the Military Cross for devotion to duly and care for the wounded at the second battle of Arras.

The service, which was very impressive, was largely attended by people from the whole district. A contingent of the local V.T.C., numbering 40, was present under the command of Lieut. S.A. Taylor. The service was conducted by the Rev. R. Winhoult Harding, of Cambridge, a personal friend of the late Capt. Green, and the pastor of the church, the Rev. R. Wendal Jones, A.T.S. The pastor took the opening part of the service, and Mr. Harding conducted the committal service and gave an address. Mr. Harding read many touching extracts from letters received from Capt. Green’s brother officers, speaking in glowing terms of him. The address was based on the text. “They shall walk with in white, for they are worthy” (Revelations iii.. 4).

The white garments, the speaker said, signified purity, simplicity, sacrificial ministry, and victory. All these four characteristics were marked in the life of Capt. the Rev. Herbert Green. As one of his fellow workers had said of him, he purified every circle into which he entered. His aim was single; he had no thought except for the glory of God and the good of the men he worked for. His ministry and life were truly sacrificial, for, as one the private soldiers who was in Linton a short time ago, and who knew Capt. Green, said of him, “He was never afraid to help us, and just before he was killed was carrying a stretcher with some us.’’ “Truly he gave his life for others,” continued the speaker, “and now our Christian faith will affirm that he shares in the victory of all goodness, for he stands with those who are clad in white garments before the Throne and have palms in their hands and sing the of triumph."

To those more intimately concerned, Mr. Harding said it was only possible for their friends to go to a certain point with them in their sorrow —only as far the Gate of Gethsemane could any outsider go with these who mourned. But though they had to tread the pith of sorrow alone, yet within the shades of their Gethsemane they would find One, Jesus, Who had trodden that path before, and Whose comfort would be all in all.

During the service the following hymns were sung; “Brief life is here our portion." “To all the saints who from their labours rest," “Now the labourer’s task is o’er,’’ and “O love that wilt not let me go.” Mrs. A. H. Crawley presided at the organ, and at the conclusion of the service played the Dead March in Saul."

LINTON WAR MEMORIAL