Capt. Herbert Percy Meakin Monument

Herbert Percy Meakin was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards on 2 October 1914 and promoted substantive Lieutenant on the day he was killed. He probably joined the 1st Guards Trench Mortar Battery on its formation in May 1916 and from then on it supported 1st Guards Brigade which included his original battalion, 3rd Bn. Coldstreams.

The Guards Division had taken severe casualties in front of Lesboeufs on 15 September. When they went in again on the 25th, General Pereira's 1st Brigade led on the right, parallel to this road. Good progress was made and Lesboeufs was taken at last.

Captain Meakin appears in the casualty list. A letter to his sister dated May 1917 said he was buried under a "durable wooden cross" at a point 40 yards NW of the Guichy - Lesboeufs Road.

After the War Meakin's grave could not be found and so land was bought on behalf of his family and the memorial was built in his memory at the approximate position of the original grave.

The memorial consists of a stone obelisk mounted on a stepped plinth and a concrete base. It was originally protected by iron railings which in the 1990s were damaged and removed. Recently the monument is replaced to a location near the road.

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Source

• Text: David Tattersfield en Michèl Admiraal
• Photos: Michèl Admiraal