No.41438, Lance Corporal, Harry Nelson AVES
Aged 30
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Harry Nelson Aves was born in Bottisham Lode, baptised Harold Nelson AVES in St James Lode on 2nd August 1891, the son of John and Henrietta Cornwell AVES (née AYRES).
Lode was officially separated from Bottisham as a parish in 1894, a fact not universally recognised.
1891 census...Aged 3, he was at Mill Road, Bottisham Lode with his widower father John AVES [35] coprolite labourer; sisters Alice B [11], Mabel R [10] and Hephzibah [8]; and brother Silas [6]. All were born in Bottisham Lode. His mother Henrietta had died in Q4-1890, aged 31. 1901 census...Aged 13, farm labourer, he was at Mill Road, Lode with his father (farm labourer), sister Mabel and brother Silas J (farm labourer). His father married Avis HART from Lode in 1904. 1911 census...Aged 23, bread baker and confectioner, he was lodging at 16 Station Road, Letchworth with Josiah and Mary Ann KNIGHT. His father was in Lode with his wife Avis AVES [49] and their son Martin John AVES [4], born Lode and Avis' mother Jane HART [91] from Bottisham. Harry married Mary Ann Elizabeth NOLAN (born 9-9-1878 in Hitchin) in Hitchin (Hitchin Q3-1912 3a:1688). According to the pension card Mary was at 52 Devonshire Road, Cambridge, before moving to Offley Hoo Farm,Hitchin. She died in December 1918 and is buried in St James' Lode |
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He enlisted in Cambridge.
On the 16th August, the 13th Royal Irish Rifles were just south of St Julian, as the 108th Brigade attacked, the 13th RIR on the left, 9th RIR on right and the 11th and 12th battalions in Reserve. They managed to reach Somme and Gallipoli blockhouses before being driven back to their trenches at 10 a.m. Passchendaele (the 3rd Battle of Ypres) must be an unforgettable word in this unit. By the end of the 16th August 1917 the battalion mustered but one officer and 60 men fit for duty. They amalgamated with the 11th Battalion soon after, to form the 11th/13th Battalion. Of the 94 killed on 16th August alone, only 12 have identified graves. Harry was found as shown below, identified by his groundsheet, and re-interred at Tyne Cot in 1919.
 
photo: Roy Beardsworth click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
