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Herbert Thomas Flay

Herbert Thomas Flay[1, 2]

Male 1898 - 1976  (78 years)  

Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Herbert Thomas Flay  [3
    Birth Index No. PRO 1898  [3
    • 1st, 5a 85, Calne
    Birth 4 Jan 1898  75 London Road, Calne, Wiltshire Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 4
    Gender Male 
    Residence 31 Mar 1901  Calne, Wiltshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Occupation 24 Jun 1912  [3
    • Commenced work at Harris's Factory Calne Wiltshire
    Military Between 1914 and 1918  [3
    • 4th Battalion Tank Corps in France & Germany
    Military Between 1914 and 1918  [3
    • Regimental No 301735
    Name Bert Flay  [3
    Occupation 9 Oct 1920  [3
    • Age 22 years, Labourer in Factory
    Residence 9 Oct 1920  75 London Road, Calne Wiltshire Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Residence 9 Oct 1920  Moggs Lane, Blacklands, Calne Wiltshire Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Residence Between 1938 and 1964  90 London Road, Calne, Wiltshire Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Retired 1963  [3
    • From Harris's Bacon Factory, Calne Wiltshire
    Residence 5 May 1964  24 St George's Road, Gillingham, Kent Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Burial May 1976  Gillingham Cemetery Woodlands Road, Gillingham, Kent Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Death 13 May 1976  Medway Hospital, Gillingham, Kent Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 5
    Cause: Cardiac Arrest 
    Headstones Submit Headstone Photo Submit Headstone Photo 
    Person ID I7257  The Williams Family Tree
    Last Modified 11 Jan 2017 

    Father Thomas Flay
              b. 26 Apr 1868, Calne, Wiltshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 16 Jan 1951, 75 London Road, Calne, Wiltshire Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 82 years) 
    Mother Alice Maud Hand
              b. 24 Oct 1873, Calne, Wiltshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 5 Aug 1933, Calne, Wiltshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 59 years) 
    Marriage 9 Aug 1890  Free Church, Church Street, Calne, Wiltshire Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 6
    • 1. MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE DETAILS.
      Marriage Certificate No. C 1491 [Entry No. 14]
      In the presence of George Hand & Emma Flay
      Minister -Robert G Wheeler
      Registration District - Calne
      Copy of Certificate obtained 8.8.1933 [3]
    Death of One Spouse 5 Aug 1933  [3
    • Calne, Wiltshire
    Family ID F1933  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Miriam Annie Trowbridge
              b. 5 Aug 1899, Bucklebury, Berkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 1 Jul 1988, Pines Nursing Home, Gillingham Road, Gillingham, Kent Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 88 years) 
    Marriage Index No. PRO 1920  [3
    • 4thQ, 5a 251, Calne
    Marriage 9 Oct 1920  Free Church, Church Street, Calne, Wiltshire Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 6
    • 1. MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE DETAILS.
      Marriage Certificate No. C. 15271 [Entry No. 120]
      In the presence of Percival Gilbert Hillier and Ada May Flay
      Minister - Robert G Wheeler
      Registration District - CALNE
      Registrar Harold R Gross
      Copy of Certificate Obtained 3.12.1921 [3]
    Death of One Spouse 7 May 1976  [3
    • Gillingham, Kent
    Children 
     1. Frederick Herbert Flay
              b. 3 Dec 1921, Moggs Lane, Calstone, Nr. Calne, Wiltshire Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 15 Jul 2000, Kent & Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury, Kent Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 78 years)
     2. Living
    Family ID F1932  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 3 Jun 2008 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsResidence - 31 Mar 1901 - Calne, Wiltshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - May 1976 - Gillingham Cemetery Woodlands Road, Gillingham, Kent Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • 1. THE ESTATE OF MRS E R BEAZLEY Deceased

      Share from the Estate of Mrs E R Beazley Deceased amounted to 1/72nd share = ?8.03 and the said address being as at 14 December 1972.

      2. BIRTH CERTIFICATE DETAILS.
      Registration of Birth Certificate No. Entry No. 361
      Registration District - Calne Sub District - Calne
      Registration Date - 14.2.1898 Registrar - William F. Eattell.

      3. Copy of Birth Certificate Issued 24.6.1912 under Factory and Workshop A ct. Cert. Copy signed by Bertram Stackman, Supt. Registrar.

      4. Fought in World War One 4th Battalion Tank Corps in France & Germany Regimental No 301735

      History Tank Corps

      The British were the first nation during the 1914-18 war to commit Tanks to Battle. In 1916 the Battle of the Somme was not going well for the British. On the opening day, the 1st July, the British had suffered 60,0 00 casualties. Haig had been in discussions with Swinton about using Tanks on the first day, but the Tank had undergone a rapid development and their crews were still far from trained. Swinton agreed to commit three of his six newly formed Tank companies to the melee on the Somme. They arrived during August and September that year, the last Company arriving too late to take part in the up and coming battle. On the morning of the 15th September 1916, the first Tanks crossed no mans land. Only 49 were committed to the battle and of that number only 36 crossed the start line. The new weapon caused panic amongst the German troops, but the breakthrough that Haig had hoped for was impossible. Sufficient numbers were not available to achieve any real major success. Even though a breakthrough had not been achieved, the local successes of Tanks operating in ones and twos had demonstrated to Haig the value of the new weapon. The most reported local success of the Tanks on that day, being a single Tank travelling down the main street of Fler. By the second day the losses of Tanks due to mechanical break down, bogging, and losses to the enemy fire had reduced the initial 49 to practically nothing. The infantry were again left to fend for themselves. The dead lock still remained intact on the Western Front, but Haig had seen the potential of the new weapon and ordered an additional 1000 Tanks.

      This is the Story of the Tank during the Great War.

      During the Second World War the Tanks of the German Panzer Divisions created and helped to perpetuate the myth of German invincibility up until 194 3. The First Tanks of the Great War were a far cry from the machines of 21 years later. The Tanks of the Great War were unreliable, difficult and stressful to use, with limited range and speed. They were designed to crush the wire entanglements in no mans land, neutralise the Germans' Machine Guns and cross the German trenches. They were not the machines of Blitzkrieg of the Second World War.

      Through 1916 and most of 1917, they were available in small numbers and misused by the British High Command in Penny Packets. During this time, the Tank Corps attracted some of the brightest of the British Officers Corps, who envisaged a wider application for the new weapon. Fuller was the pre-eminent thinker in the British Army during the 1914-1918 War and the 1920s, with regards the application of the Tank in combat. He saw the Tank and its crews being wasted on the battlefields of Messine Ridge and Ypres (Passchendaele), in 1917. In both cases, the ground was unsuitable for Tank operations, the Artillery cratering the landscape prior to the attack. At Ypres the Artillery bombardment had turned the battlefield into a bog, that swallowed men and Tanks alike. During this period, Fuller convinced Haig to carry out a limited Tank raid at Cambrai. The ground at Cambrai was well suited to Tank operations and it's success (in November 1917) came at a time when many senior commanders started to question the value of the Tank Corps (especially in the light of infantry losses on the Battlefield of Ypres).

      With the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, large numbers of German Troops were released from the East to reinforce the German Western Armies. This was the next great test of the Tank Corps. Ludendorff's assault on the 21st March 1918 was not unexpected, but it success was. Fuller had attended a conference at GHQ on the 2nd March 1918 to plan for defensive operations against the expected German offensive. The British 5th Army commander General Gough, suggested digging Tanks into strong points. Fuller could not support this idea as it went against his theories on the use of Tanks in Battle. The Tank was a mobile weapon; therefore it would be used to the best advantage in defence, if its mobility was exploited. He proposed a tactic that became known as "Savage Rabbits" where Tanks would be positioned in a dugout and would rush forward at the most opportune moment and engage the enemy. This went against his own theories on concentration and created a logistical nightmare, which accounted for the 120 Tanks lost in the first week of the German offensive. Many of the Tanks lost in the first week had run out of fuel or simply cut off when the Germans avoided them as they moved forward. The German tactics of infiltration involved avoiding strong points by the initial assault, leaving the strong points to be dealt with by latter waves of troops. Though the Germans advanced deep into the British lines they were unable to break through. These were desperate days for the British Army. By August the Allies had regained the ground they had lost earlier. The Tank Corps making a significant contribution this period.

      On the 8th August the British attacked at Amiens, which was described by Ludendorff as the Germans "Blackest Day of the war". The attack at Amiens consisted of the British 4th Army and the French 1st Army, the Canadian Corps, the Australian Corps and the III Corps formed the British 4th Army. The Canadians and Australians led the attack an hour before sunrise on the 8th August. These were two of the finest fighting formations on the Western Front and were described in "White Heat" (by John Terraine) as elite troops. The Canadian and Australian Corps were supported by 420 Tanks in 12 Battalions (10 Heavy Battalions and 2 Whippet Battalions) of the Tank Corps. The offensive was so successful, that an 11-mile gap was made in the German lines. By the 11th August the offensive was over. The effect of Amiens on the German morale was devastating. The German Army was defeated. As Fuller described it, when describing the remainder of the War, "the rest was minor Tactics". This was the last battle the Tank Corps committed large numbers of Tanks to. The Tank Corps on the 11th August was only able to muster 38 serviceable Tanks.

      The Tank Corps fought through to the end of the war taking part in the successful actions at Bapaume, Arras, Epehy, St Quentin, Selle and Mauberge. The Tank Corps suffered in the closing stages of the war under improved German antitank tactics. The Tanks were forced to operate in the "Half Light" as John Terraine described it. Irrespective of what conditions they were forced to operate in, they significantly boosted the morale of the infantry. In the course of two and a half years the Tank had left the drawing board and became an effective weapon overcoming distrust and misuse, contributing to the Allied victory in 1918.

      Companies and Detachments of the Heavy Branch, Machine Gun Corps (Later The Tank Corps)

      Company Formed Arrived In France Notes

      A Company May - 1916 September - 1916 Expanded to become A Battalion in November 1916

      B Company May - 1916 October - 1916 Expanded to become B Battalion in November 1916

      C Company May - 1916 August - 1916 Expanded to become C Battalion in November 1916

      D Company May - 1916 August - 1916 Expanded to become D Battalion in November 1916
      4th Battalion Tank Corps

      Originally D Company, Expanded to become D Battalion in Nov 1916, redesignated 4th Battalion in Jan 1918.

      Battles

      Somme 1916 (As C Company)
      Arras April 1917
      Messines Ridge June 1917
      Ypres July-October 1917
      Cambrai November 1917
      Amiens August 1918
      Bapaume August 1918
      Epehy September 1918
      Battle of Cambrai-St Quentin September/October 1918 [3]
    • (Medical):Certificate No. IO 95771 Entry No. 3 Reg. District - Chatham Sub District - Gillingham Administrative Area - Kent [3]

  • Sources 
    1. [S3657] The John Flay Line (Reliability: 3).
      Temporary Tag

    2. [S6297] Temp Tag 9 II (Reliability: 3).

    3. [S1397] John Flay.

    4. [S1461] Copy of Birth Certificate.

    5. [S1462] Copy of Death Certificate.

    6. [S1493] Copy of Marriage Certificate.