Private HENRY JAMES SOFFE
8, Upper Stockbridge Road, Winchester
(later 17, St Paul’s Hill – no longer stands)
Service number 17710. 2nd Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment
Killed in action, France, 20 October 1916
Life Summary
Henry James Soffe was born in Church Oakley, near Basingstoke, Hampshire, on 13 January 1872. Known as Harry to family and friends, he was one of 13 children born to John and Charlotte Soffe. The family moved to the Winchester area in the late 1880s and although Henry moved away after marrying, his parents and several brothers and sisters remained in Fulflood. Henry was one of two Soffe brothers killed in the Great War. Three others fought and survived.
Family Background
The history of the Soffe family, both before and after the Great War, is covered in the biography of Henry’s brother George. See George Soffe's biography. This biography will focus on Henry Soffe’s life from the time of his marriage up until his death in 1916.
Henry married 26-year-old Maria Campbell in South Stoneham, near Southampton, early in 1901. Maria was the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Campbell and had been born in Chipstead, near Banstead, Surrey. In 1891 she lived with her parents and three siblings in a large house in Chilworth, near Southampton, where her father worked as a gardener and domestic servant.
By the time of the 1901 Census, compiled a few months after their wedding, Henry and Maria Soffe were living at 46, Laundry Road, Shirley, Southampton. Henry was working as an assurance agent. On 18 August 1901 Marie gave birth to a daughter, Dorothy, in Shirley. A son, Henry, born in Rownhams, near Southampton, followed on 25 March 1904. By 1911, when his parents were living at 8, Upper Stockbridge Road, Winchester (later renamed and renumbered as 17, St Paul’s Hill), Henry Soffe was working as a jobbing gardener and living with his wife and children at 4, Victoria Road, Freemantle, Southampton.
Henry was 43 years old when he volunteered for military service in Southampton in about May 1915. His brother George had enlisted with the 4th Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment on the outbreak of war in August 1914 and was fighting the Turks in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) by the time Henry joined the Hampshires. Frederick and Ernest Soffe also enlisted within days of each other in December 1915 while the youngest brother, Arthur, a professional soldier since 1902, was already serving on the home front.
Great War Record
One can only guess at what motivated Henry to enlist at his age. Perhaps he was inspired by his brother George or wanted to show solidarity with him. It could be that he saw the war as an opportunity for adventure. Or he could have been guided by straightforward love for his country – clearly the Soffes were a patriotic family. Whatever his reasons, Henry would have been under no illusion about what he was letting himself in for. By May 1915 British newspapers were full of the names of men killed and wounded in action, particularly on the Western Front.
After completing his training at the end of 1915, Henry (service number 17710) joined up with the 2nd Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment. By this time, the 2nd Hampshires had spent eight months fighting at Gallipoli where they suffered heavy losses through combat and disease. Henry’s military records show that he entered a theatre of war on 1 December 1915 which means that he may have served at Gallipoli for a short period before the 2nd Hampshires were evacuated to Egypt in January 1916.
In March 1916, the 2nd Hampshires moved to France where they were assigned to the Fourth Army as it prepared for the Somme Offensive. Between 1 and 10 July Henry fought at the Battle of Albert, the opening phase of the campaign. At the end of the month the Hampshires moved north to trenches near St Julien, near Ypres in Flanders, where a German gas attack on 8 August killed four officers and 125 men and wounded 120 more.
In early October 1916, the 2nd Hampshires returned south to reinforce 12th Division at the Battle of Le Transloy during the closing stages of the Somme campaign. After moving up to reserve trenches near the village of Gueudecourt, two companies of the Hampshires helped to capture a German position known as Hilt Trench. On 17 October, the whole battalion assembled in Hilt Trench for an assault on the next German position, Grease Trench. This began at 3.40am the following morning in pouring rain but, despite the weather, the Hampshires succeeded in overpowering the Germans in Grease Trench and took 200 prisoners. However, in the confusion, some troops were unaware they had reached their objective and continued almost as far as the German second line. They were then forced to retreat, and many troops were hit by rifle and machine-gun fire.
Over the next two days the Hampshires in Grease Trench were subjected to German counter-attacks and artillery fire. The battalion should have been relieved on the night of 19-20 October, but with the communication trenches deep in mud, the relieving battalion could not complete the manoeuvre in time. The Hampshires therefore had to remain in double-manned trenches until the evening of 20 October when they were finally relieved. This was the day that Henry Soffe was killed, along with 11 of his comrades. He was 44 years old.
The 2nd Hampshires received many congratulations from commanders for their gallantry and tenacity during the Battle of Le Transloy. In his book chronicling the Hampshire Regiment during the Great War, the military historian C.T. Atkinson writes:
18 October 1916 ranks among the 2nd Hampshire's most notable achievements. Success at that stage in the Somme was never easily obtained and needed dash and determination to no small degree.
A short notice announcing Henry’s death appeared in the Hampshire Regimental Journal in January 1917:
Soffe - Killed in action, in France, on October 20th, Pte. H. J. (Harry) Soffe, Hampshire Regiment, third son of Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Soffe, 8, Upper Stockbridge Road. Winchester, aged 44.
Family after the Great War
Henry Soffe is listed in the Winchester War Service Register. His widow Maria died in Southampton in June 1939, aged 63. The couple’s daughter Dorothy married in 1922 and lived in Southampton before moving to Guildford, Surrey, where she died in 1974, aged 73. Henry Soffe Jnr also married and lived in Southampton where he is believed to have died in 1969 at the age of 65.
Medals and Memorials for Henry James Soffe
Bancourt British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France
Private Henry James Soffe was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is buried in Bancourt British Cemetery (below), Pas de Calais, France (GR. X. B. 9) and is listed on the memorials at St Matthew’s and St Paul’s churches, Winchester.