Name
William Charles Harper
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/04/1918
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Serjeant
265438
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ST. SEVER CEMETERY EXTENSION, ROUEN
P. IX. H. 12B.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin War Memorial,
4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hitchin,
St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin,
Hitchin British Boys' School Memorial, Hitchin,
Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
He had been born in Melbourn in Cambridgeshire and later home was at 17, Grove Rd, Hitchin where he attended Hitchin British Boys' School.
Before the war he had been employed as a gardener at the Benslow Convalescent Home. He played football for the Blue Cross Club.
He enlisted in Hitchin.
Wartime Service
William was allocated the Regimental Number 265438 in the Territorial Army, serving in No. 4 Company of the 1st Battalion. He volunteered for overseas service and was sent to France in November 1914.
He fought in the Retreat from Mons, Neuve Chapelle, St. Julian, Arras and Passchendaele. He received a head wound in March 1915 from which he recovered in Rouen Hospital, but on the 25th March 1918 he received a further head wound from which there was little chance of recovery and he was sent to No. 6 General Hospital in Rouen, but he died three weeks later.
The wounds which resulted in his death were probably sustained in the retreat following the great German offensive which started on the 21st March 1918. By the time the Hertfordshires had reached the security of Amiens, the fighting portion of the Battalion had been reduced to a small cadre.
He was buried near where he died in Plot P, Row 9, Grave 12B in St. Sever Cemetery Extension at Rouen in France.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild