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HARRIS William Henry
HARRIS William Henry
Signaller 14096, B Company, 9th (Service Battalion) Devon Regiment
Killed in Action aged 28, 30th September 1915
BATTLE OF LOOS, Pas-De-Calais, France
LOOS MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING and Dud Corner Cemetery (photo of inscription)
Situated between Béthune and Lens
Husband of Gertrude née Bond, whose father was Ernest Yong Bond, a chauffeur.
Married at All Saints' on 6th September 1914.
Son of William (Head Gardener) & Mary Alice Harris, of Bradford in the Parish of Pilton, Devon..
Nephew of Samuel Charles & Alice Harris The Dunns, Mumbles.
where he worked prewar, up to the time of his enlistment
Born c1886, Pilton, Devon, enlisted Swansea.
19 Sept 1916
South Wales Daily Post
News has been received of Signaller W. H. HARRIS (14096), Devon Regiment, who was reported wounded and missing since the battle of Loos, September 25th to 30th, 1915. His wife has just received information from the War Office of his death on the 30th, his body being seen by Sergeant Lewis of the same regiment. Signaller Harris was the second son of Mr. W. H. Harris, Hall, Bishopstanton, Barnstaple, and nephew of Mr. S. C. Harris, The Dunns, Mumbles.
In this pre-war photo-William HARRIS is seen on the left, next to Alice, plus possibly their child, and Samuel.
The sign above Sam Harris's, Barbers Shop said,
'MUMBLES TOILET CLUB',
The name came from the fact that you could not only get a haircut there but also take a bath and advertised, 'HOT OR COLD BATHS 6d'.
(Today that is about 2p).
William HARRIS married Gertrude [Bond] on September 6, 1914
Their wedding witnesses were Samuel Harris and a W.D. Eley, most probably the very same William David Eley who worked in the butcher's shop next door and pictured below.
It is not known when William joined up, but the military archives state that he was in the Devonshire Regiment. Apparently, it was not uncommon for men living in South Wales to join the Devonshire's. Of course William had Devonshire roots, which may have played a part.
The military archive says that he 'first served on July 27, 1915', but it is unsure whether that refers to his first service at the front or his actual arrival on French soil.
THE SHOP NEXT DOOR and William David ELEY,
The picture above shows two shops in The Dunns, Mumbles: the Eley the butcher's on the left of the photograph and Harris' next to it, with a woman looking in.
William David ELEY, who joined the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1914, was gassed, contracted trench fever, held in the army of occupation until 1919, to return to his father’s butcher shop in the Dunns, a broken man.
William David ELEY died in January 1922, a victim who died as a consequence of war, but not within its time boundary. Like many others who served, he is therefore not recorded on any war memorial.
We regret to record the death of
William D ELEY
An extract from the: Mumbles Press, dated Thursday 12the January 1922
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