Howard Simson Tindall
Howard Simson Tindall was born on the 5th July 1884 in Deptford and
baptised there on the 5th August. Howard was the second son of
Alfred Albert Tindall, head of the publishing firm of Balliere, Tindall and Cox,
and his first wife Sophia nee Simson. Sophia died in 1889 and Alfred remarried two years later to Catherine Bowyer Smith, with whom he had two children.
Howard was educated at Hailleybury College near Hertford and Pembroke College, Cambridge where he obtained an MA with honours. He was a well-known athlete, being secretary of the Thames Hare & Hounds, and at Cambridge represented the University in cross-country running. He went into partnership with his father and joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps in December 1914.
He was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Berkshire Regiment in 1916, and served with the BEF from early 1916, and promoted to Lieutenant. He took part in fighting at Messines Ridge and was killed in action during the advance on Lens on the 31st July 1917, whilst acting as Brigade Signalling Officer.
Howard’s elder sister May had married Arthur Edward Giles in 1898. Arthur was quite a renowned surgeon and in 1909 was appointed as the first Consultant Surgeon to the newly opened Queen Victoria Memorial Cottage Hospital
in Welwyn where he worked until his death in 1934. He served with the
RAMC in France from 1915, and sent a poem in memory of his brother-in-law to Howard’s half-sister Doris Freda:
Noble Heroes round his grave are lying,
On the fatal fields of Flanders slain:
They, like him, for Truth and Honour dying,
Deathless fame and Life immortal gain.
His was British manhood’s high perfection;
Gentleman and Sportsman, kind and brave;
His the loyal heart that wins affection;
His the virtues that he died to save.
Hearts are sore and eyes are red with weeping,
Yet a Solace Faith and Love shall find,
With his spirit in his Father’s keeping,
And his memory in own hearts enshrined.
Howard’s elder brother Alfred Albert Tindall, a Medical Publisher lived with his wife Blanche and their family in Digswell.
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Poem reproduced courtesy of Ms. S. Coffey, granddaughter of
Doris Freda Moffat nee Tindall
