Herbert Bourne, known as Bertie to his family, was born on 29th October 1895, in Peterborough. He was employed as an attendant at St Audry's before the outbreak of the war and left the asylum service to enlist. At some point, Bertie served in France and Flanders.

His granddaughter commented that one of her memories of Bertie was that he often spoke about the horses during the war. One story in particular related to a horse that was blind in one eye; Bertie recounted that on one occasion the horse stopped and refused to move. As it turned out, had they continued, both Bertie and the horse would have been killed by shell fire – a near miss for them both.

Once the war was over, Bertie rejoined the staff at St Audry's and remained there until his retirement. Bertie married Ethel M Walker in 1920 and, in 1939, they were living at 16 Upper Melton Terrace with their two children. In 1944, Ethel died, leaving Bertie a widower. Two years later, he married Edith Garrod. At the time of his death on 13th December 1978, Bertie was living at 48 Hall Farm Road, Melton.