Description

Admin History:

Henry Lewis Hulbert, the first born child of Henry Ernest Hulbert and his wife, Frances 'Fanny' (Gamble) Hulbert was born in Hull on the 12th January 1867. Educated in Hull and at Felstead School in Essex, he embarked upon a career in the Civil Service in the Malay State of Perak (a state in Malaysia today) when not quite eighteen years of age. His career terminated abruptly by a persoanl scandal, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at San Fransisco, California on the 24th March 1898.

During the ensuing twenty years until his death in action in France on the 4th October 1918, Henry Hulbert would become a recipient of America's highest award for military valour, the medal of Honor, earned for heroic conduct during a combined British-American expedition in Samoa on the 1st April 1899. Additional awards for bravery in France would include the Navy Cross, Distinguished Service Cross, four Silver Star Citations and the Croix de Guerre, 1914-1918 with Palm.

He holds the distinction of being the first Marine appointed to the newly established rank of Marine Gunner in 1917. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and immediately promoted First Lieutenant in 1918, Henry Hulbert was personally recommended for promotion to Captain by General John J Pershing, Commanding General, American Expeditionary Forces in France, a promotion subsequently approved by the Secretary of the Navy.

The destroyer, USS Henry L. Hulbert named in his honour, was launched in 1919 and continued in service until 1946. The name of Henry L. Hulbert is among these inscribed upon the Peace Cross in Bladensburg, Maryland, erected in 1919 to honour the memory of the men from Prince George's County (Hulbert's home of record in America) who lost their lives in The Great War. In 2008 the Commandant of the Marine Corps authorised the establishment of the Hulbert Trophy for Outstanding Leadership, awarded annually to the Marine Gunner who best exemplifies the leadership and personal qualities of Henry L. Hulbert.

Description:

Includes copies of birth, baptismal, marriage, death and burial records, official Marine Corps personnel records, complete records of the examining board, census records, parish records, family group sheets, records of the State of Perak, personal correspondence of Henry Hulbert and contemporary secondary accounts. All of these records are copies apart from the Leatherneck magazines.

Major Bevilacqua has provided notes and explanations to the records in most of the files and these have been kept with the files.