Background

Herbert Montgomery-Campbell was born July 11, 1898 in Apohaqui, New Brunswick to Lieutenant Colonel Henry Montgomery-Campbell and Laura Winslow. According to records, Herbert was the only brother in a large family with four sisters, Margaret, Constance, Florence, and Annette. Although Laura was born in Chatham and Henry came from the Fredericton area, they eventually met and later married one another September 10, 1889 in Fredericton surrounded by family and friends. After their marriage, Henry and Laura moved to Apohaqui where they began an extensive farm, started a family, and become involved in the Sussex region of New Brunswick. Prominent in local and political affairs, including being president of the Sussex Cheese and Butter Company, the Sussex Exhibition Company, and the New Brunswick Dairymen's Association, Herbert's father also came from a family with strong military roots, as was true of his mother Laura. In addition to having siblings who become actively involved during the war, the Winslow family was equally prominent in New Brunswick. As a result, the Montgomery-Campbell children grew up learning the skills of farming, tending to farm animals, and the importance of public service. They had even been taught horse-back riding. While Herbert's sisters eventually became trained as nurses and serve during the war, his decision to eventually volunteer for service was likely influenced by parents, uncles, and aunts who had a history of active service in the military. In addition to his father being a commanding officer of the 8th Hussars and 64th Battalion during the war, and an uncle, General Herbert Montgomery-Campbell who served during the Boer War and who was commanding officer of the 46th Divisional Artillery, Herbert was surrounded by military influences. When the war broke out in 1914, he was only a teenager studying at Rothesay Collegiate School, however, the desire to serve proved too great. Although young for service, he left school at the tender age of seventeen and formerly enlisted February 5, 1916 with his father's unit, the 64th Battalion, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His attestation record reveals that he had been active with the 81st Hants Regiment, belonged to the Church of England, and stood five feet seven inches tall having a medium complexion, brown eyes, and brown hair.

Wartime Experience

Two months after enlisting, on March 31, 1916, Lieutenant Herbert Montgomery-Campbell left Canada with his father's unit for Liverpool, England. Upon arrival Herbert was immediately put into isolation suffering from scarlet fever, an illness he would have until being discharged April 14. Over the next few months in England, Herbert began training with the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles until landing in France June 18, 1916. Despite reports in local newspapers that he had joined the 4th CMR, his records indicate that he was with the 5th at the front. He was arriving just as the Battle of Somme had begun, three months of brutal fighting designed by the Allies to pull the Germans away from Verdun. Newspapers indicate the young Herbert would celebrate his 18th birthday while in the trenches, a place where approximately 24, 000 Canadians would be killed or wounded. On the morning of October 1, under a constant drizzling rain, Herbert and his unit were given directions to capture Regina Trench, near the village of Courcellette, France. According to Nicholson's Official History of the CEF (1962), while they waited for zero hour, 3:15 in the afternoon, Herbert was in an advanced position being harassed by his own artillery as shells kept falling short of the German lines. Part of the 4th CMR had been tasked with creating a blockade to seal off the west of the trench while other units of the 4th and 5th CMR were to advance over no-man's land against heavy machine-gun fire and barbed wire that had not been cut. Many were killed as they advanced over no-man's land. According to Herbert's records, he was successful in leading his company of the 5th CMR in achieving objectives at Regina Trench that day, securing and consolidating what he could under repeated counter-attacks and machine-gun fire. As he was "directing his men and placing himself at all points of danger to encourage them," according to his circumstances of death record, Lieutenant Montgomery-Campbell was killed alongside other men in his unit. According to the official history, all but fifteen from the 4th and 5th CMR were either killed or taken prisoner in less than twenty-four hours. His body would never be recovered. News of Herbert's death would reach newspapers in Saint John and Fredericton two weeks later sending a wave of "profound sadness" in his home community and across the province. Known as a "general favorite" by his school friends and others who knew him, he had only been away from Canada for seven months at the time of his death. He was only eighteen years old.

Lest We Forget

Lieutenant Herbert Montgomery-Campbell is remembered with honour on the Vimy Memorial in Vimy, France. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, there are approximately 11, 169 name commemorated on this memorial to all Canadians who fought in France and who have no known grave.