Gunner Lionel Henry Cobb

Lionel Henry was the eldest son of 27 year old of Henry a newsagent and 24 year old Amy who was born during the second quarter of 1898.

The 1901 Census reveals that the Cobb family resided at 82 Effra Road along with their youngest son one year old Clifford
.
The 1911 Census reals that Henry and Amy had been married a total of 13 years with Amy giving birth to a total of 5 children, two of these children who had since died in infancy. 0nly the third child Richard Thomas aged 9 years having survived with his two older brothers.

Both Clifford and Lionel Henry were baptized later in life on 6th December in 1911 at St Mark’s Church in Wimbledon. The Baptism registry shows that their father was a shop keeper and that the family still resided at 82 Effra Road.

Lionel Henry enlisted in Wimbledon as a gunner in the Royal Artillery and died of wounds on the 20th September 1917. He is buried at Godewaersvelde British Cemetery.

Historical Information
The cemetery was begun in July 1917 when three casualty clearing stations were moved to Godewaersvelde. The 37th and the 41st buried in it until November 1917, the 11th until April 1918, and from April to August 1918, during the German offensive in Flanders, field ambulance and fighting units carried on the burials. After the Armistice, the graves of five soldiers of the 110th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery were brought in from a point nearer the Mont des Cats and in May 1953, four graves in Godewaersvelde Churchyard were moved into the cemetery. A considerable French plot was made on the terrace at the higher end of the cemetery in May and June 1918, but these graves were later removed.

Godewaersvelde British Cemetery now contains 972 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, and 19 German war graves.