Name
Harry Stevens
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/09/1916
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
23482
The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
9th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 11 A.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin
Pre War
Harry was born in Hitchin, Herts on 22nd July 1882, the son of Charles Ernest Stevens, a Carpenter and Fanny Stevens (nee Ipgrave).
Baptised on 10th September 1882 at Holy Saviours Church, Hitchin.
1891 Census records Harry aged 8, living with his parents, brothers Francis E. 11, Arthur 10, Bernard 2 and Fred 9 months, at 105 Nightingale Road, Hitchin, Herts.
Harry attended St Mary’s National School, Hitchin.
1901 Census records Harry aged 18, working as a Milkman, still living with his parents and brother Fred 10, at 105 Nightingale Road, Hitchin.
1911 Census records Harry aged 28 working as a Labourer on the Railway, still living at home with his parents and brother Fred 20, at 32 Bunyan Road, Hitchin.
Harry Married Florence Lily Hunt the daughter of Thomas and Esther Hunt, of 53 Queens Street, Hitchin, Herts, on 15th April 1916, in the Parish Church, Hitchin, Herts., she was the sister of Frederick and Bertram Hunt, who were both killed in the Great War..
Wartime Service
Harry enlisted in December 1915, posted to the Bedfordshire Regiment with the service number 25598 and put on the reserve. He was mobilised for war service in January 1916.
On completion of his training with the Bedfordshire Regiment he was posted to the 9th Battalion, The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment on 26th June 1916, with the service number 23482. He landed in France on 1st July 1916. The Battalion was in the 74th Brigade of the 25th Division of II Corps in the Reserve Army.
Harry was initially posted as missing on the 3rd September 1916, but later confirmed as Killed in Action. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing in France.
His death coincides with the Battle of Pozieres and his unit had been at Ovillers on the 28th August 1916 in the Somme Sector. The ground was covered by enormous shell holes and there was not a single landmark for miles. The trenches had been blown to pieces and were full of German and British corpses. By the 4th September the church at Ovillers had been reduced to a signboard.
Harry has no known grave, but is remembered on Pier/Face 11A of the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing in France.
Additional Information
Harry’s brother Fred was Killed in Action 13 days later on the 16th September 1916 while serving with the 6th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, he is also commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing in France.
There is a more detailed biography available "here"
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild, Stuart Osborne
