Christ College Remembers … Second Lt Bertram Hincks

CHRIST COLLEGE REMEMBERS . . . SECOND LIEUTENANT BERTRAM HINCKS REMEMBRANCE DISPATCH NO. 22 HAS BEEN POSTED IN HOUSES TO COMMEMORATE SECOND LIEUTENANT BERTRAM HINCKS (SCHOOL HOUSE 1904-1908) WHO WAS KILLED IN ACTION ON 18TH DECEMBER 1916.

Bertram Hincks was the son of a Hay doctor. He was the youngest of six brothers, and the third to join Christ College. He was a promising sportsman and played rugby football for the 2nd team and hockey and cricket for the 1st XIs.

After leaving school he went into banking and spent four years in London before emigrating to Canada. He settled as a land Agent and farmer in Victoria on Vancouver Island, where one of his older brothers had already established himself as a fruit farmer.

At the outbreak of war Bertram joined the 50th regiment of Canada (Gordon Highlanders), and on 23rd September 1914 he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He returned to England and entered France in February 1915, taking part in the Second Battle of Ypres (April 1915), the Battles of Festubert (May 1915) and the Battle of Loos (September 1915). Later he was promoted to Lance Corporal and served with the 16th Battalion (Scottish), 1st Canadian Contingent.

He was ordered back to England in the spring of 1916 to join officer training at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was gazetted Second Lieutenant, King’s Royal Rifle Corps before returning once more to the Front. On 18th December 1916 he was killed “by a stray shot” just south of Morval.

Second Lieutenant Bertram Hincks is buried at Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval. He is remembered on the Hay-on-Wye War Memorial as well as on the Christ College War Memorial.