No. 24876, Private, Lewis SNARE
Aged 21
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Harry Lewis Snare was born in Fordham (Newmarket Q2-1896 3B:533),son of Henry and Alice SNARE (née LEONARD).
1901 census...Aged 4, he was at Lark Hall, Fordham with his father Henry SNARE [37] horsekeeper on farm, born Wangford, Suffolk; his mother Allis [34] born Eriswell, Suffolk and sister Mabel Alice [13] born Eriswell. 1911 census...Aged 14, a farm worker, he was at Lark Hall Cottages, Fordham with his parents (father now foreman) and sister Mabel Alice. 2 siblings had died. His father seems to have died in 1920 |
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He enlisted in Newmarket.
From "History of the Suffolk Regiment" by Lt Col CCR Murphy we learn that; April 28th 1917, at 4:27 am the 11th Suffolks forming the left battalion of the 101st Brigade, attacked the chemical works north of Roeux and immediately south of the railway . It was soon held up, and then driven back by intense machine gun fire from a trench which appeared to have been missed by our barrage, but a few men actually got through and into a quarry to the east of the works, coming back in the evening with 2 or 3 prisoners. At 9:45 am the enemy counter attacked from the direction of Roeux, capturing Mount Pleasant Wood and part of Ceylon communications trench. Major Tuck then went up into the line again and found the battalion front intact, Ceylon trench once more in our hands and the enemy in the process of being driven out of Mount Pleasant wood. At 10 that night the battalion was withdrawn from the front to the support line trenches for two hours to enable our artillery to bombard the chemical works, which were attacked - but again unsuccessfully - by a fresh unit afterwards. The 11th Suffolks suffered 107 killed, 82 having no identified grave. Among them were James Smith from Stetchworth and Ernest Taylor from Newmarket
photo; Commonwealth War Graves Commission click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
