Name
Harry Fisher
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
28/09/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
43291
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
MILL ROAD CEMETERY, THIEPVAL
I. D. 12.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin War Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin
Pre War
He was born in Hersham and enlisted in Kingston-on-Thames and, according to the Lawson Thompson Scrapbooks, which are held in Hitchin Museum, was in the Bedfords.
Wartime Service
Initially he was Regimental Number 3/9374 in the East Surrey Regiment, but was later transferred to the 7th Battalion of the Bedfords with the Regimental Number 43291. At the time of his death this Battalion was part of the 54th Brigade in the 18th Division.
The Medal Rolls state that he was sent to the Balkans on the 11th November 1915 and that he died of wounds, whereas ‘Soldiers died’ database states that he was killed in action in France (from his burial location it would be France). The probability is that he went to the Balkans possibly with the East Surreys but later served with the Bedfords in France.
On the 27th September 1916 there was fierce hand to hand fighting at the Schwaben Redoubt. On the 28th September the 7th Bedfords attacked leading the left of the 18th Division attack on the Schwaben Redoubt and were then withdrawn to Thiepval which had recently been cleared of the enemy.
At first he was reported as missing then as killed. He was in ‘B’ Company of the 7th Bedfords in the attack on Thiepval and the Schwaben Redoubt to the north, which took place between the 26th - 30th September 1916. ‘B’ Company was one of the two assaulting Companies. The attack started at 1 pm. The Battle Report said that many men might have been saved if there had been more stretcher-bearers. ‘B’ Company suffered severely from machine-gun fire.
He was buried in Plot l, Row D, Grave 12 in the Mill Road Cemetery, Thiepval in France. The gravestones here have had to be laid flat due to subsidence from the Schwaben Redoubt tunnels.
Additional Information
No obvious connection with Hitchin has been established.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines, Jonty Wild
