Henry Cohen

Private, Pioneer Corps
Service no: 13083824
Died 1 May 1941
Buried Rainham (Federation) Jewish Cemetery, United Kingdom
Age 23


Henry was born on 16 July 1917 in Whitechapel, London to Lithuanian parents Joseph and Esther nee Natelsky and he had eight siblings. Their father Joseph worked as a boot finisher and shoemaker throughout his life. After finishing school Henry worked as a basting tailor and in 1939 he was living with his parents in Bethnal Green, London.

After enlisting in the Pioneer Corps, Henry was sent to Catforth in Preston. He was resting along with two other soldiers on a grass verge which sloped down from the roadway to a ditch with their heads towards the road. Witnesses saw a Ribble bus overtake a stationary bus and one of the wheels crushed Henry’s head. At the inquest the driver stated that his attention was momentarily diverted by passengers knocking on the windows and waving at him to stop. He did not know that there were men on the grass verge until he looked again and then it was too late to avoid them. Henry was taken to the Royal Infirmary where he was pronounced dead and the Coroner pronounced his death as ‘death by misadventure’.


Henry’s death certificate