Frederick Charles Harvey, a Flamstead resident, died in an explosion in a munitions factory in Hemel Hempstead, aged just 16. Although a non-combatant, as he was carrying out war work when he died, following a campaign by the Rev. Cecil Russell, vicar of St Leonard’s, his name was included on the war memorial.
The Reverend Cecil Edward Russell MBE was the vicar at St Leonard’s for 20 years, from 1937 to 1957. This means of course he was the parish priest throughout the second world war. He also wrote a history of Flamstead and the church, 50 years after the one written by his predecessor.