Harry, 3482, Was in the First Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers

Harry Kitchen Harry, 3482, was in the First Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. Harry was one of the 20,000 British and Commonwealth troops who died on July 1st, 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. His body was never identified and he is remembered at the War Cemetery at Thièpval. Harry’s sister-in-law, Nellie, (born Sarah Ellen Rothwell), lived in Shevington until she died in May, 2011. She called her son Harry in memory of his uncle Harry Kitchen, who went “over the top” on July 1st July, 1916, and never came back. In 1944 Nellie married Harry’s brother Arthur, (spelled “Author” in the census record), who was born in 1905. Nellie was born in 1919, and is buried in St Anne’s churchyard. We do not know when Harry joined up. Conscription began on 2nd March, 1916, so Harry could have been a conscript, or he might have enlisted earlier. Since the battalion arrived in Marseilles on 29th March, 1916, there might not have been time for Harry to be trained, if he were a conscript. It seems reasonable to assume that he voluntarily enlisted some time before this. The Thièpval memorial, six miles north of Albert, and 100 miles south east from Calais, where Harry is remembered.

1 Harry’s family People seem to have moved around quite a bit even in the days before easy transport. Harry’s father, Edwin, was a farm labourer, born in Cheadle Hulme, near Manchester. His mother, Sarah, came from Brampton Abbotts in Herefordshire. In the 1891 census the family, Edwin, Sarah and Harry, are shown as living in Common Lane, North Meols, near Southport. Harry had been born in Walton, Liverpool, in 1888. In 1901 the family was living in 5, Gathurst Road, Orrell. Harry was still at school. Two younger siblings, Charles Edwin and Mary Elizabeth are shown as having been born in Dalton, Lancashire, in the area of the present Skelmersdale, and the second daughter, Emily, had been born in Parbold. Finally, in 1911, the family, comprising the two parents, seven children, and a boarder, were living in 87, Crooke. Edwin, the father, was now a “teams man on farm”, probably meaning that he worked with the horses. Harry was a miner (“drawer under surface”), and the second brother, Charles Edwin, was an errand boy.

This stone is in St Anne’s churchyard. Arthur Kitchen was Harry’s much younger brother. He had married Sarah Ellen Rothwell in 1944. They called their only son Harry, after his uncle Harry Kitchen. Their son, Harry, died in 1994. Nellie outlived Arthur for almost fifty years.

2 Harry’s work

Harry was a “drawer under surface”. Coal would be cut from the coalface by hewers. Another worker would load the coal into a pit tub which would be puked or pushed along the seam until it reached a point were it could be taken to the surface, either vertically in a lift or along an inclined track pulled by horses or a cable. Often the seams had low ceilings. Harry’s work would not have been easy.

3 What happened to Harry? Harry was killed on July 1st, 1916, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The First Lancashire Fusiliers were attacking near Beaumont-Hamel. “At 0720 hours the Hawthorn mine was detonated and of course the British bombardment in the area had to stop because on the far side of the hill the 2nd Royal Fusiliers were rushing the crater. By now it was broad daylight and the Germans had already spotted the Lancashires waiting down below them. The German artillery put down a bombardment of their own. At 0730 hours – ZERO hour – the Lancashires rose up out of the Sunken Road moving leftwards . . . They were cut down within a matter of metres. Because of the early detonation of the mine, and the subsequent failure to take the position, the Lancashires were also badly exposed to enfilading fire — they were being shot at from their sides as well as the front.” “By the end of a day of carnage 19,240 men had been killed, 2,152 were missing and another 35,593 were wounded; a total of 57,740 casualties in not much more than twelve hour's fighting. Across two thirds of the length of the British front what was left of the attacking units were back in their trenches.” One of those 19,240 men was Harry Kitchen of 87, Crooke. His body was never identified.