Gunner Albert Harris 1897-1918

By Susan Hubbard ©

I read with great interest the article about Gunner John William Hornbuckle in the April edition of the F H Journal. For I too have been on a quest to discover more about my Uncle, Gunner Albert Harris, whose name appears directly above that of John Hornbuckle on the Riversley Park Memorial.

As a young child in the 1950`s, my mother used to tell me about Uncle Albert, her eldest brother, who was killed in France, just two weeks before the 1st World War ended. He was only 21 years and had been killed by a snipers bullet while fetching water for his gun battery. The bullet had passed through his uniform breast pocket, containing his wallet, diary and pocket watch. The watch had been struck and the hands had come loose and my mother was given it to keep as a memento of her brother.

The only other information about him was that he had been engaged to be married, played the piano beautifully (entertaining the family and the Officers and men at the front) and that he was buried somewhere in France. His younger brother, my Uncle Cecil, was in the Royal Horse artillery and survived the war but never talked about it afterwards.

That was how things stayed until my mother’s death in 1991 when we rediscovered Uncle Albert’s pocket watch with the broken hands. My sister and I decided to try and find where he was buried and make a pilgrimage on behalf of my mother and the family. After contacting the war graves commission, we found out that he was buried near a village called Longueval in the middle of the Somme battlefields. So after more research we were in a position to make our first visit in 1999 and finally found him in the London cemetery and extension. It was a very emotional visit but very satisfying to think that at last someone from the family had finally paid their respects to him.

However the story did not end there for our interest in the 1st world war grew. We have now been back a total of four times, walking the Somme battlefield and visiting Ypres, Passchendale and many other places. We always revisit Uncle Albert’s grave though, somehow feeling the pull of another world long vanished.

This year my research took me to Nuneaton Library to view old Nuneaton Observer newspapers and it lead me to the following front page article about uncle Albert that no one had seen before. The article confirms that he was killed while drawing water, but states that he was killed by shrapnel from a shell and not a sniper as we had always thought. It was, once again, very emotional to sit and look at that article but also made me feel very proud.

Nuneaton Observer November 15th 1918
‘I die a soldiers death’
NUNEATON MAN’S MESSAGE TO HIS MOTHER
It is sad to record the death in action of Gunner Albert Harris of the Royal Field Artillery, on October 31st when the war was nearing the end. His home was at 155 Edward Street and he worked at Griff (Clara) Pit before joining up.
Twice he was wounded and returned to duty. He had put in 3½ years’ service in France, and has a brother also serving.
Major Anderson stated that the deceased soldier was returning from drawing some water when a shell fell close to him, inflicting mortal wounds.
The Chaplain writes: ‘A big shell had fallen about 100 yards away and he was taken to the Aid Post wounded. One piece of shell had passed through his pocket book into his breast. We did all we could … but in about quarter of an hour his youthful spirit passed to the other world. He was very brave and said, ‘Tell my mother, I die a soldier’s death’.

This month my son has also managed to visit his great uncle Albert’s grave and so I hope that the remembrance continues through the generations.

Albert Harris’ name is on the memorial in Riversley Park.

Photographs © Susan Hubbard

Information about London Cemetery at Longueval, including pictures can be found on the CCWGC website at http://www.cwgc.org