Private Herbert William Carter
Rank or Title
Date of Birth
1890
Date of Death
7 Mar 1917
War time / or Pre War occupation
Employer
Regiment
Service Number
Place of Birth
World War I Address
Place of Death
Grave Location
War Memorial Location
Soldier or Civilian
- Soldier
Source

Pte Herbert William Carter, 34097, 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, died in a military hospital in France on March 7th, 1917, suffering from spotted fever.
He is pictured wearing the Edward Medal for civilian gallantry with which, as a Luton Corporation employee, he had in October 1913 been presented by King George V at Buckingham Palace after saving the life of a colleague who lay unconscious at the bottom of a gas-filled well at Luton Sewerage Works. Colleague William Brandon also received the medal for going down the well in June 1911 in an attempt to rescue another colleague, Alfred Butterfield, who died after suffocating from foul gas. Herbert Carter in turn volunteered to rescue the unconscious Brandon and tied a rope round him to have him pulled back to the surface. Herbert Carter then tied a rope around Butterfield's lifeless body and that, too, was dragged out of the well before Carter was pulled clear.
Born in Breachwood Green in 1890, Herbert Carter had married Grace Hilliard in Luton in late 1911. At the time of his death Grace was living at 54 Norman Road, Luton, while his widowed mother, Mary Ann, continued to live at Breachwood Green.
Individual Location
Author: Deejaya
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