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Walter Harrison Pte Documents Found

P

Phil Harborne

proper brummie kid
Hi All,



I was hoping someone could help. Upon doing some work in my house (in Sheldon Birmingham) i found hidden deep inside the walls some WW1 documents and was trying to see if i could find any family members to give them too.

They consist of 1 death letter, dated 5th Feby 1917 from the 14th Royal Warks Reg. H Clement, 2nd Lt.

1, picture of a grave labelled up as Pte W.E Harrison 1637

and 1 hand written letter home from France i believe to be from June 1916.

Doing some research i believe his full name is Walter Edward Harrison and his death to be on 4th Feb 1917. All the letters are in good condition considering their age.

I would love to find his family if he had any or find out some more information from him. If not to do something nice with these letters as they are a bit of history.
 
Welcome Phil. What a find ! I'm sure our members will help if they can. And it would be excellent if the documents could be returned to their families. Viv.
 
I tried looking on the "register of soldiers effects" to see who the next of kin was but I am not sure what it says apart from Harriet. However, a search on CWGC shows her to be his Mother. Son of Walter and Harriet of 159 Heneage Street. 1911 census shows another child George Frank H Harrison who died in 1970 as far as I can tell. A George F H married in 1938 to Dora Collett.
 

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A bit more digging shows a "tree" on Ancestry which lists both George and Walter (named as a half brother) and a girl Hilda who died in 2005. She is listed as a spinster and there are no children listed for George either. In the 1955 e roll (the last year online) George and Dora are listed at a Sheldon address (I am not putting it as it is probably the address of the poster from #1).
 
Thanks for that, thats some great Info. Though looks like it might be end of the line family wise.
I have an elderly neighbour who has owned the house for a while so those names might ring a bell with him.

I have also contacted the royal Warks museum who could not find more info solider wise but would be happy to take the documents to add to the museum, so worse case at least they can go to a good home.
 
I can't tell from Ancestry how the owner of the "tree" is linked to Walter or George. Living people details cannot be seen.
 
Phil
He was a member of the 1st Birmingham Pals service battalion. I will have a look the weekend to see if I have any information on him. He has a very low number so may have gone out with the original Birmingham Pals or may have been from the reserve. If you are interested in the history I did a thread on the Birmingham pals a few years ago as most of my collection relates to them.
Steve R
 
Hi Phil, How interesting, I'd love to find something like that!
There is a Valerie Harrison, mother Collett, born Dec 1941 in Birmingham. As George and Dora married in 1938 this could be their daughter.
 
Could be -the tree I found had no children listed and I haven't had time to search further.
 
Found this in Birmingham Post Friday February 16th 1917
 

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hello phil this is a find most of us dream about....and of course it would be fantastic if any remaining family of walters could be traced (however distant) and the documents handed over to them especially as this years sees the 100th anniversary of the end of ww1 dont give up just yet as more research is needed...phil i am sending you a private message(inbox top right of the main page)

lyn
 
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im not subbed to ancestry at the min but does anyone know if walters war records survived and do we have an image of his medal card

lyn
 
thanks viv...any chance you could put the medal card on please as it could be useful for any members of walters family that we may find...may have an update later on today...

lyn
 
Transcript below Lyn. Nothing in addition to what we already know. I've also 'remembered' him on the IWM's Lives of the First World War site and given a link to this thread. You never know, someone might pick up on it.

If PhilHarborne agrees it might be an idea to change the heading to "Walter Harrison Pte documents found" Viv.
 

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thanks viv....just one thing...where did walter die...i must get subbed to ancestry next week

lyn
 
He's buried in France, he has a cross on his grave inscribed "Live in Peace". Documentation about the grave is attached. On the listing, he's at the bottom - same for the second page, he's at the bottom. Viv.
 

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Most of this information is also on the Forces War Records site, though it shows his service number as 15/1637 - I presume that the 15 was his battalion number. It says he was born in Bordesley, but otherwise nothing else new.

Maurice
 
thank you janice and maurice...i think we have got all the info about walter that we can...now the hard (but as we know from the past not impossible) task of tracing any living rellies...we have a couple of irons in the fire will get back with any further developments

lyn
 
Yer im fine with changing the tittle of the thread, just cant figure out how to do it myself.

Death wise, his letter actually mentions that he was hit by a shell, it does say it was a direct hit and he died straight away, but i imagine they weren't always telling the truth to parents.

My house is in a bit of the mess at the minute with the work being done, but il try to post some pictures of the documents so you can all see them :)
 
phil you wont be able to change the title only moderators can do that so dont worry... that would be great if you can find the time to show us the documents..no rush as we still have a bit of research to do yet...:rolleyes: this is fascinating and may i say that for a young man such as yourself its wonderful that you really do care..:)

thanks phil

lyn
 
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Found him recorded on Soldiers who died in the Great War. It tells us he was born Bordesley and lived in Ashted. He was killed in action. As Sospiri says his service number prefix/battalion seems to be typed incorrectly. Viv.
 

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This info isn't about Walter but about his Lieutenant (later Captain) Herbert Clements who sent the letter notifying the family of Walter's death. Clements didn't live for much longer than Walter. Clements was a Birmingham Pal having signed up in October 1914. This is how he met his end in Belgium in October 1917 (extract from the Harry's War - the Harry Drinkwater Diaries):

"At daybreak the captain went along the trench to see the position for a possible excuse consummate with his conscience and was sniped through the head.By some means this second attack was cancelled."

Viv.
 
thanks viv how very sad..what an awful war this was..the more i read about it the more i think that my grandad was very lucky to come back alive

lyn
 
Can you explain what an 'excuse consummate with his conscience' means please? I haven't heard that phrase before.
Yes, Lyn, it was a dreadful war and it wrecked a lot more lives than those of soldiers who died and their families. Even those who returned were changed men.
 
Lady P I wondered about that. I decided he was trying to find a reason for giving an order to attack which he knew would result in loads of deaths.
 
Janice, yes that's possible. It must've been awful for one man to have to be put on the spot to make those decisions often with very little training. A dreadful waste.
 
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