The heartbreaking story of a warehouseman from Tufnell Park who was killed in the Battle of the Somme and his family’s desperate bid to find out what happened to him are the subject of a new exhibition.

Sgt Hugh Victor Hember was one of nearly 20,000 British soldiers killed on the first day of one of the bloodiest battles in World War I, which began 100 years ago today (Friday). But it was 10 months before his family back home learned that he had been killed.

The exhibition, Searching for Hugh Victor Hember, tells the story of his time in the trenches of France – from the Christmas truce with the Germans on Christmas Eve 1914 to his family’s attempts to find out what happened to him.

It opened yesterday (Thursday) at Islington Museum and features photographs, artefacts and scores of letters Victor sent from the front over the course of nearly two years.

A couple of years ago the letters and photos were in a drawer but thanks to Chris Garnsworthy, whose mother Ruth is Victor’s niece, the collection has been meticulously organised.

The experience has helped Ruth, who lives in Enfield with husband Hugh, connect with the uncle she never knew.

“My father, Frank, never spoke about the war. I think he felt guilty and sad he did not fight,” Ruth said. “He obviously loved his brother very much. I knew nothing about him but I feel I have got closer to him.”


In one of his early letters from Christmas Eve 2014, Victor tells how the Germans could be heard singing carols as midnight approached “while our men replied with Tipperary”. Each side then left their trenches to “exchange souvenirs”, he wrote.

His letters speak of tough conditions on the front, including mice biting through the clothing men were standing up in. He did not have a change of clothes for nine weeks.

But there was humour and light heartedness too as he spoke of his time in French towns away from the trenches.

“Sometimes he was trying to play down how bad the conditions were,” Ruth said. “He even said it must be worse for the people back at home as they don’t know what’s happening.”

As time goes on, the letters become more sombre. In one to his friends at Carleton Tennis Club, he writes: “One wonders that men can be such utter fools as to know of no other way of settling their disputes except by causing such destruction to life and property as can never be replaced.”

Photography was banned on the front from April 2015 but Victor’s friend Gerald Paterson, who later married into the Hember family, smuggled film back and forth from the frontline by cutting out the middle of his shaving stick.

In a letter written to his brother just two days before his death, Victor writes: “I have heard of our post being stopped and everything is being censored. Don’t be

scared or worried if a sentence has had a rubber to wash it out… Tell mother I received Isobel’s letter. I must close now. Love to you all, Vic.”

The exhibition features letters from Victor’s family after he had been declared missing. They wrote to the Red Cross and even the King of Spain to see if his ambassador in Germany could help.

“They held fast to the hope he was a prisoner of war or just wounded,” Ruth said. “The letters and artefacts make a powerful and moving archive. It’s a complete story, not just that of Victor, but of the whole family.”

A memorial to Victor, who lived in Archibald Road and Carleton Road, can be found at Thiepval Memorial in France.

Islington Council heritage manager Cheryl Smith said: “We are very proud of this display of this fascinating yet heart-wrenching story of just one of the many, many young men who went off to fight for his country, but was never seen or found again, and the tragic impact this had on his family.”

The exhibition at the museum in St John Street, Finsbury, runs until August 27

• Keywords
  WORLD WAR ONE, MILITARY PERSONNEL, LETTERS
• Geographical keyword
  CARELTON ROAD
• Persons keyword
  Hugh Victor Hember, Gerald Paterson, Hugh Garnsworthy