Royal Navy, Royal Marines Medical Unit, Service no. 3189 RN.
Born: 22nd January 1890. Died: 18th April 1970.
Story
Prince was born in Kippax, the son of Thomas May and Harriet Prince. The May family, like the Carters and Beevers, had three brothers who saw active service: Prince, David, and George May, although George was killed in action on 14th July 1918. Prince married Mindwell Hudson in Kippax on 5th May 1914 (below left), just before the outbreak of War, and Prince’s brother David was a witness at wedding. Prince enlisted on 4th January 1915.
Pictured above right: Prince with wife Mindwell and daughter Dorothy. Pictured below: Prince’s Bible from training at Crystal Palace in 1915:
Mindwell’s brother Benjamin Hudson was posted as missing in action on 1st July 1916, and her parents posted a request for any information in the newspaper. On the 13th April 1917, after nine months of uncertainty, it was officially announced Benjamin had been killed in action, which led to Mindwell having an emotional breakdown, coupled with her husband still serving in the War. During the Second World War, her son Charles, born just after the First World War, enlisted and was wounded in Germany during the last big advance. The repeat experience caused Mindwell to have a second emotional breakdown in May 1945 which required treatment in Kirkburton. A much-reduced generation of villagers had lived through the First World War, and now had to watch their children fight in the Second World War. It is unlikely that any generation has had to endure so much trauma, which Prince described here in May 1964.
Prince’s War-time experiences were further revealed after his death on 18th April 1970 as a result of a fall, which left Ted Bickerdike as the sole survivor of the ten Medical recruits pictured in 1915. Mindwell passed away three years later, and is buried with Prince in Kippax.
Kippax Roll of Honour 