Roll of Honour: Herbert Lea

Private H. C. A. Lea

1st Bn. Queen’s Royal Regt. (West Surrey)

6107001

Died in Bangladesh. Aged 35.

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Herbert Cecil Archer Lea was born in Balham in 1908 the younger of two sons born to William and Ellen Lea. William was a legal clerk from Staffordshire and Ellen was born in Ham in Surrey. In 1911 the family lived in Monument Road, Woking.

Herbert served with 1st. Bn. Queens Regiment. The battalion was part of the 7th Indian Division which was formed on the North-West Frontier of India. The Queen’s joined the division in November 1942 where they trained until the summer of 1943.

In the last few weeks of the monsoon and prior to operations in Burma the battalion moved to the Teknaf Peninsula in modern day Bangladesh. It was about this time that Herbert died, probably from illness as the battalion had yet to encounter the enemy. He was 35 years old when he died.

Herbert Lea is buried in Ranchi War Cemetery, near Calcutta, India grave 2.B.4). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.

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Last updated 25 August 2009

Sources

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Woking News and Mail