Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
Herbert Charles Rayment, the third son of William Frank Rayment (a maltster) and Emily Rayment (née Fisher), was born on 8th January 1890 in the small village of Aspenden, which is situated just south of the town of Buntingford in Hertfordshire, England.
A gardener, he lived in Aspenden for many years and on 3rd August 1914, at the age of 24, he married a local domestic servant named Kate Tew in Layston Parish Church.
Enlisting in the army at Buntingford, he served firstly as a private in the 4th Essex Regiment (service number number 4030) but later transferred to the 7th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, City of London Regiment (Regimental Number 61336) and it was whilst serving in the latter that he was killed in action at the Somme on 30th January 1917.
He is buried in plot I, row H, grave number 14 at Varennes Military Cemetery on the Somme in France and his name also appears on the local War Memorial located at Market Hill in Buntingford.
Although he never had any children his name is remembered to this day because, in his honour, East Hertfordshire Council allocated the name Rayment Close to one of the roads in a new residential development at Buntingford. Nineteen dwellings were constructed in 2016 by Taylor Wimpey UK Ltd. in Rayment Close, which is situated to the east of the town centre on land to the north of the existing Hare Street Road.
Unfortunately no photographs of Herbert Charles Rayment appear to have survived, but if one ever comes to light, the Rayment Society would be more than interested!