No.6620, Private, Harry SEELEY
Aged 37
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Harry Seeley was born in Norton ( 2nd qtr 1876 Stow 4a:587), son of Elijah and Fanny (née CRICK)
1881 census...Aged 5, he was at Woolpit Road, Norton with his father Elijah SEELEY [44] carpenter, born Norton; his mother Fanny [30] born Bury St. Edmunds; sisters Lucy [2] and Rosina [1] both born Norton; his grandmother widow Sarah CRICK [71] born Bury St. Edmunds. 1891 census...Aged 15, a farm labourer, he was next to the Fox and Hounds Inn, Norton with his parents (mother now recorded as born in Nowton) sisters Rosina and Agnes [9]; brothers Frank E. [7], Charles [4] and Bertie [1]. All the children born in Norton. 1901 census...Aged 18 (sic) a poulter's labourer, he was at Tostock Road, Norton with his widowed mother; brothers Frank and Charles (both poulter's labourers), Bertie and Elijah [8]. His father had died in 1892. 1911 census...Aged 35, farm labourer, he was still at Tostock Road, Norton with his mother; brothers Charles, Bertie and Albert (Elijah ?) [18]. All the men were farm labourers. He married widow (née GAME) Mary Ann HORREX [ born Hessett 2-5-1872] in 1912. She had two children Mary Kate HORREX [10-7-1901] and Albert HORREX [11-4-1909] both born in Norton. Their daughter Bessie Agnes SEELEY was born 8th February 1913. On the pension card his widow was at Garden House, The Street, Drinkstone. She married William TAYLOR in 1919. Despite having lived most of his life in Norton, he is not commemorated on that war memorial. |
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He enlisted in Bury St.Edmunds before the outbreak of war, a Regular in 2nd battalion of Suffolk Regiment. On the 16th June the Brigade attacked Railway Wood, Bellewaarde Farm and Y Wood. The leading troops got to Y Wood quicker than expected and were shelled by our own artillery. Despite that, they reached the outskirts of Bellewaarde lake but could go no further. They held the whole of Y Wood and the 2nd Suffolks, who had been in Reserve, now came up, told off to dig a trench connecting Y Wood with a culvert on the Menin Road. They came under gas attack for the first time but managed to complete their work that day, losing just 5 killed.
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