Biography:
Leslie Bede Drinkwater
1928 –15/07/1936
Leslie Bede Drinkwater

Plot 1034 Leslie Bede Drinkwater (1928-1936)
Leslie was born in 1928 in the Henley registration district to Edward G Drinkwater, a farm manager and Winifred (née Trevor).
Little Leslie died on 15 July 1936 aged only 8 at Cell Barnes Colony. This was a 600-bed institution near St Albans which opened in 1933 under the auspices of the County Council. It was not intended as a hospital for those suffering from what we would now recognise as mental illness, but for those with a wide range of learning difficulties to which names we now find deeply offensive were attached. For a child to be admitted it meant that they were considered incapable of receiving normal schooling.
It has not been possible to trace the whereabouts of the family at the time of Leslie’s short life, but two hundred of the beds were available to non-Hertfordshire residents, so it may be that it was felt to be the best place for him although he was not a Hertfordshire resident. However, this does not explain why he was buried in this town.

in the cemetery
Plot 1034 Leslie Bede Drinkwater (1928-1936)
Leslie was born in 1928 in the Henley registration district to Edward G Drinkwater, a farm manager and Winifred (née Trevor).
Little Leslie died on 15 July 1936 aged only 8 at Cell Barnes Colony. This was a 600-bed institution near St Albans which opened in 1933 under the auspices of the County Council. It was not intended as a hospital for those suffering from what we would now recognise as mental illness, but for those with a wide range of learning difficulties to which names we now find deeply offensive were attached. For a child to be admitted it meant that they were considered incapable of receiving normal schooling.
It has not been possible to trace the whereabouts of the family at the time of Leslie’s short life, but two hundred of the beds were available to non-Hertfordshire residents, so it may be that it was felt to be the best place for him although he was not a Hertfordshire resident. However, this does not explain why he was buried in this town.
Relatives
No relatives have been linked to Leslie Bede Drinkwater