Henry Frederick Speller (Service No. 5833128) was killed in action on 14 October, 1944. He was a Private in the 1stBattalion of the Suffolk Regiment. He was initially buried at Cemetery Th. J. Janssen, Overloon and subsequently re-interred on 19 May, 1947 in grave III. C. 8 at the Overloon Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. His inscription reads “God takes our loved ones from our homes but never from our hearts”.

Family Background

Henry Frederick Speller was born on 27 December, 1913 in the Dunmow district in Essex. He was the only child of Henry Francis Speller and Rosina Jane Bailes who had married in the Poplar district of London in 1906. Henry (Snr) was born in 3 September 1881 in Takeley Parish in Essex and Rosina in 1882 in Stepney Parish.
 
In 1911, Henry and Rose were living at the Street, Takeley, Essex. Henry was working as a Farm Labourer. They were at the same location in June 1921, but young Henry, was now with them. Henry (Snr) was now working as a labourer at a nursery for Mr Schmassmann, Nurseryman, Takeley.
 
Sadly, Henry’s mother, Rosina, died in 1929 in the Chelmsford District of Essex, aged 47.
 
In September 1939, Henry Frederick Speller was living with his widowed father at No 1 Gate Cottage, Dunmow Road, Takeley, Hope End Green, Dunmow, Essex. Henry (Snr) was working as an agricultural labourer and Henry (Jnr) as a Hay Presser.
 
Henry (Jnr) married Evelyn May Hayden on 2 March 1940 in Dunmow, Essex.
 
Evelyn was born on 8 August 1914 in the Bishop’s Stortford district of Hertfordshire to Walter Hayden and Fanny Marshall who had married in 1913 in Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire. Walter was born on 27 March 1887 in Henham, Essex and Fanny on 8 April 1890 in West Wickham, Cambridgeshire. They had children as follows: Evelyn May on 8 August 1914 and Margery Jane on 24 October 1916, both in Bishop’s Stortford, then Jessie G on 29 January 1924 and Kathleen M in 1925 in the Saffron Walden district of Essex.
 
In June 1921 Walter and Fanny were living at Rickling, Nr Newport, Essex with Evelyn and Margery and Walter’s mother, Agnes Ann Hayden, born 1844 in Hackney, London. Walter was working as a Platelayer for the Great Eastern Railway Company.
 
By September 1939, they were living at Easton Lodge Station, Little Easton, Dunmow, Essex. Walter was working as a Lengthsman on the Railway Engineers’ Repair Staff. With them were all four of their children, though the youngest was not named. Fanny was working as a Gate Keeper for London and North Eastern Railways. Evelyn and Jessie were in Domestic Service while Margery was a Shorthand Typist.
 
After their marriage, Henry and Evelyn Speller went on to have children as follows: Alan F 1940, Peter 9 October 1941 and Kathleen A on 2 October 1944  – all in Dunmow district in Essex. At the time of their son Peter’s birth in October 1941 they were living at 16 Stortford Road, Great Dunmow and Henry was already a Private in the Suffolk Regiment. His previous occupation was given as Hay Tyer.

Military Career

Henry had enlisted in the Army on 24 June 1940. He stated that he was born on 27 December 1913  in the parish of Takeley, Bishop’s Stortford, Essex. He gave his address as 16 Stortford Road, Dunmow, Essex. He gave his wife, Evelyn May Speller of the same address as his next of kin. His religion was Church of England. He was described at 5 ft 6 in tall and weighed 118 lbs. He had brown eyes and dark brown hair. He was medical grade 1. His trade on enlistment was given as a Hay Cutter and Binder.
 
He was initially posted to the Infantry Training Centre of the Suffolk Regiment and then to the 1st Battalion on 20 March 1941. He was granted Agricultural Leave from 20 November to 17 December 1941. He was posted to 41 Reinforcement Holding Unit 103 Reinforcement Group on 23 April 1944. He embarked for Europe on 4 June 1944. However, it seems that he wasn’t posted back to the 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment until 30 June 1944.
 
The 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment was part of the 8th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. Since 1940 it had spent time training in the United Kingdom for the invasion of Normandy in 1944, otherwise known as D-Day, on 6 June. The 1st Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Richard E. Goodwin, landed on Sword beach and was involved in attacking and taking the Hillman Fortress on D-Day itself. Towards the end of  June, they were involved in a major operation at Chateau de la Londe which was the worst the Battalion had suffered in France. It was two days after this operation that Henry seems to have joined the Battalion. It remained around the Chateau for the next two weeks, continually on watch for enemy activity. The Battalion watched as other Battalions fought in Operation Charnwood.
 
On 16 July they moved across the River Orne and arrived the following morning at Breville. The next offensive was Operation Goodwood with the aim of breaking through the German defences east of the Orne bridgehead and capturing the high ground beyond. The Battalion’s task was to take the villages of Sannerville and Banneville. The attack began on 18 July with a huge aerial bombardment. Having reached Bannerville with relatively few casualties, the Battalion entrenched there until 29 July. Conditions were extremely unpleasant and there were casualties from patrolling. The Battalion was then withdrawn into the Brigade Reserve at Escoville.
 
On 27 July, Henry was posted to an X(ii) list, suggesting he had incurred an illness or injury. He was posted to an X(iv) list on 30 July 1944 implying he was waiting to be posted back to a battalion. He was posted to back to the 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment on 4 August 1944.
 
Meanwhile, on 30 July, the Battalion re-crossed the River Orne to Beuville and on to a rest camp at Fontane-Henry. On 2 August they moved back to the front at Caumont-l’Evente. Henry will have rejoined them on 4 August when they left there for new positions near Le Beny-Bocage that night. They then moved again to near the village of Estry to help contain a German attack, then to Montishanger and on to Vire. From there, they were involved in Operation Grouse as part of an attack to capture Tinchebray. This began on 12 August and resulted in further casualties.
 
On 16 August they had reached Flers and found it free of the enemy. They were given a warm welcome by the people. They received a similar welcome when they moved south of Flers to Chapelle au Moine on 20 August where they remained for two weeks while they reorganised and re-trained for what was to come. During this second half of August they received many reinforcements to replace the men lost at Tinchebray.
 
On 3 September, the Battalion left Chapelle au Moine and crossed the Seine, reaching Farceaux after a journey of 130 miles. Here they remained until 16 September. They then progressed through Belgium, succeeding in crossing the Escaut Canal on 20 September before advancing into the Netherlands at Weert on the 21st where they remained until the 27 September. They continued from Weert to Maarheeze then De Rips, reaching Moelenhoek just below Nijmegen by 1 October. This was close to the German border. They took up positions overlooking the River Maas facing enemy shelling.
 
From there they swung round to the south, passing through Mook and Rijkevoort to approach occupied Overloon from the north. The aim was to attack Overloon and clear the enemy salient west of the River Maas in what was known as Operation Aintree. The attack on Overloon was delayed by heavy rain and very muddy conditions until noon on 12 October. The plan was that the 1st Suffolk Regiment would attack on the right while the 2nd Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment would proceed on the left. Early that morning the Battalion moved through St Anthonis and Oploo to an assembly area to attack Overloon. An artillery barrage moved forward 100 yds every 5 minutes with the Battalion following behind. The Battalion reached their objective that day which was just to the west of Overloon but with 10 men killed and 57 wounded. During that night the Battalion was subjected to fairly heavy shell and mortar fire. The following day the Battalion moved its position slightly east, astride the main road from Overloon to Venray. This was a more secure position than the previous night as other regiments had cleared the nearby woods of enemy. Even so, four men were killed and 20 wounded that day. Although on 14 October the Battalion suffered rather less shell and mortar fire than the previous days, nevertheless 5 men were wounded and 2 were killed, one of whom was Henry Frederick Speller.
 
His daughter Kathleen was born on 2 October 1944, just 12 days before her father’s death.
 
He had served for a total of 4 years and 113 days of which 132 days were in northwest Europe. He was awarded medals as follows 1939/45 War Medal, 1939/45 Star, Defence Medal and France & Germany Star. His wife was awarded a pension of £1/12/6 payable from 29 January 1945 and an allowance of £1/13 for their 3 children.

Aftermath

An article in the Herts. And Essex Observer of 20 December 1947 described the unveiling of Dunmow’s War Memorial. Before the ceremony, a parade, headed by the band of the Grenadier Guards, marched from the downs to the memorial.  Between three and four hundred people attended the unveiling. The memorial  contained the names of 24 Dunmow men who gave their lives in the 1939-45 war.
 
Col. A.C. Newman V.C. unveiled the memorial. In his address he said “There are many among you who fought with these men who sacrificed their lives. All of you will feel the same. While you were bearing the fear, the boredom, and the hardships of war, you learned the value of comradeship. Sometimes in battle loss of life became trivial, but after the battle we realised that men had died that others might live. The names inscribed on this memorial will ever be a constant reminder to others. They had faith in us. They had faith in their country. If we need a reminder of their loyalty, it is here before us. If it had not been for their sacrifice, we should not be here today. So let their names on this memorial be a constant reminder to us who are left.”
 
Henry’s father, Henry F Speller, died in Dunmow District in 1951 aged 68.
 
His wife, Evelyn May Speller, died in 1992 in the district of Uttlesford in Essex.

From FindMyPast website: Civil and Parish Birth, Marriage and Death Records; England Census and 1939 Register Records; Military Records, Electoral Rolls
Suffolk Regiment War Diary
Wikipedia and Friends of the Suffolk Regiment websites for information on the regiment
Ww2talk.com Website
Henry Frederick Speller’s Service Record from National Archives ref WO 423/435623
Photo – found on Findagrave – posted by Wouter van Dijken
Assistance from Neil Caton (Henry’s grandson)

Research Elaine Gathercole