Genealogists' Forum - We have branches everywhere!



Go Back   Genealogists' Forum - We have branches everywhere! > Research > What Did Your Relative Do In The Great War?

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 09-06-14, 11:16
Merry's Avatar
Merry Merry is online now
Administrator
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Near Christchurch, Dorset
Posts: 21,264
Default Week 10 - Henry Albert Harrison

Henry Albert Harrison was born at Mangotsfield, Gloucestershire in 1872. He was the eldest son of James Harrison and Matilda nee Burchill.

Until WW1 Henry seems to have spent his life in Mangotsfield, marrying Sarah Ann Sheppard in 1896 and working as a labourer for various trades in the area. By the time war was declared Henry and Sarah had five children; James, Nelly, Doris, Frederick and Graham. Their last child was named Henry Albert for his father and was born on 19th August 1914, two weeks after war was declared.

Two days before his youngest son reached his first birthday Henry joined the Royal Engineers (Pioneer 114647).

Henry's service record states he had already served twelve months in the Royal Field Artillery in 1891-2 (Driver 89851). In Nov 1892 Henry had purchased his own army discharge for £18 and on re-enlistment he requested a refund of half this amount. It was requested that in order for the money to be refunded he would need to sign an affidavit stating the original payment was from his own money. This signed document is also in his army record. In Dec 1915 the army authorised a refund of £9 to Pioneer Harrison.

On 18th Jan 1916 Henry died from wounds and was buried at Henu Churchyard, Pas-de-Calais, France. There are only 20 British War graves in this churchyard, but three of them are Royal Engineers who died within a few days of each other, one of which was Henry. All three were men in their 40s.

Some six years later, Henry's widow wrote to the War Office asking if she could have the £9 that her husband had told her about, but had apparently never received. She was informed that the payment has been made in January 1916. As Henry was killed in January 1916, I wonder if he did ever actually receive his £9? There is no further correspondence about this in the army record.

I have a copy of a letter written in 1916 by Henry's uncle, Isaac Burchill, who lived in New Zealand, to Henry's cousin in Australia. They had both emigrated many years before Henry was born. Isaac says:

Quote:
I received a letter from my sister’s daughter, about three months back, telling me that her brother had been killed in France. She said his name was Harry Harrison. They had not received particulars, but the War Office said he had died from burns. She also said that he had left a wife and six children unprovided for, so I think their case is pretty bad.
I'm sure Sarah could have done with that £9 - she doesn't seem to have received any pension and remained a widow for the rest of her life. She died in 1941.
__________________
Merry

"Something has been filled in that I didn't know was blank" Matthew Broderick WDYTYA? March 2010
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 23:32.


Hosted by Photon IT

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7 PL3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.