Reginald Herman Tribe was born on 26 May 1881 in Chatham, Kent, the eldest of the four children of Herman Thomas Bedingfield Tribe (1855-1894) and Alice Mary Tribe, née Holder (b. c1860). His birth was registered in the 2nd quarter of 1881 in the Medway registration district, Kent. His three siblings were Nina Una Tribe (1883-1951), Maurice Bedingfield Tribe (1885-1969) and Marjorie Alice Tribe (1890-1974). His father was a general medical practitioner. The 1891 census describes him as a boarding scholar at Amblehurst, London Road, Reigate, Surrey and the 1901 census shows him as Reginald Tribe, aged 19 years, single and a medical student, living with his widowed mother who was a lodging-house keeper at 36 Gloucester Place, Marylebone.
The London Gazette shows that he obtained a commission on 1 March 1915 as a Temporary Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps and entered France on 15 April 1915. Promoted to Temporary Captain he was awarded the Military Cross and the citation reads 'Having organised an aid post behind the front line, he dealt untiringly with many wounded cases belonging to several different units, his courage and efforts being the means of saving many lives and much suffering. He showed splendid determination and resource'. In addition to the Military Cross he was also awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal. He was also twice Mentioned in Despatches.
In 1925 he became a director of The House of the Sacred Mission in Kelham, Newark, Nottinghamshire, later becoming its Principal. He travelled to both Canada and South Africa to work on his religious teachings and in 1935 published The Christian Social Tradition. The 1939 England and Wales Register, that was compiled for the issue of National Identity Cards, confirms his address as the House of the Sacred Mission in Kelham, Nottinghamshire.
He was killed on 9 February 1945, aged 63 years, as a result of enemy action when attending a meeting of the Faith and Order Department of the British Council of Churches at Church House, 98 Tavistock Place, WC1, when it was hit by a V2 rocket. Confusingly, probate records show that he died on 10 February 1945. This is either an error or he was injured in the V2 rocket attack on 9 February 1945 and died the following day. The probate records also give his place of residence as 5 Canning Place, Liverpool and that when probate was granted on 2 June 1945 to his two spinster sisters, Nina and Marjorie, his estate totalled £1,746-8s-8d.
He is shown as 'R. H. TRIBE' on the memorial inside the rebuilt the United Reformed Church Trust Building, Wakefield Street, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website, in the Book of Remembrance at St Wilfred's Church, Kelham, Newark, Nottinghamshire and as 'TRIBE, THE REVD. REGINALD HERMAN, S.S.M., age 63; B.A., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., M.C., Twice mentioned in Despatches' in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour, located near St. Georges's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, London.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
