No.17507, Private, William HARVEY
Aged 34
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William Harvey was born in Isleham in 1884 (Newmarket Q3-1884 3B:554) baptised in Isleham on 26th October 1884, son of Richard and Elizabeth HARVEY
(née GAMMON).
1891 census...Aged 7, he was at Coe's Drove,Isleham with his parents Richard HARVEY [52] agricultural labourer; his mother Elizabeth [48], sister Phebe [18] and brothers David [17], John [13] and Richard [12] all agricultural labourer, brothers Edward [10] and Joseph [6] and sisters Elizabeth [5] and Agnes [ 6 mnths]. All were born in Isleham. His eldest brother James was in the Army. His father Richard died in 1894 1901 census...Aged 16, an agricultural labourer, he was at Hives Drove, Isleham with his widowed mother, brothers Edward (agricultural labourer) and Joseph and his niece Lilie (the daughter of his eldest brother James). In Q4-1906 Wisbech 3B;1247,at Elm Church on 8th October he married Elizabeth BEAUTYMAN [19] born Limehouse,London. 1911 census...Aged 26, a farm labourer, he was living at 22 George Street, Wisbech with his wife and son John Richard [30] born Wisbech. His mother was still at Hives Drove, Isleham with his niece Lily. After his death Elizabeth remarried to John NEWMAN in 1920 in Wisbech. He was a younger brother of James Harvey who died at home in 1919 in Isleham.. see here |
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Attested in Suffolk Regiment on 29th December 1914 in Newmarket and examined in Cambridge. The 11th Battalion was often referred to as the Cambridge Battalion. Recruiting in the Fenland area had been so heavy that the Suffolk's depot in Bury St.Edmunds was struggling to cope and a camp was set up in Cambridge to cater for men from that area He gave his age as 30 years 5 months, a farm labourer from Sun Street, Isleham, who had previously served for 6 years with the 3rd battalion, Suffolk Regiment being discharged early in 1911. He gave his marriage particulars (above) and also recorded two children, John Richard 27-9-1907 and Ada 8-3-1912 both born in Wisbech. He was 5' 8.5" (174 cm) tall, chest 37" to 39.5"(94 to 100.3 cm). Having just the War and Victory medals shows he was not abroad before 1st January 1916, in fact he arrived in France 7th January 1916 He was first wounded on 1st July 1916 (the first day of the Battle of the Somme). Then he had a gunshot wound to the head on 20th March 1917, this may well have been when the battalion were in the line south of Roclincourt, carrying supplies, raiding and cutting wire ready for the assault on Arras. Then on 26th August 1917 he received gunshot wounds to the eye, nose and back, and is recorded as dangerously ill. His last and more severe, wounding probably came when they were engaged in the successful attack on Malakhoff Farm in front of Hargicourt. On 26th August 1917 he was first attended to at 103 Field Ambulance, passed on to 55 CCS (at Tincourt) and then to 5 General Hospital (Rouen) on 28th August before evacuation to UK on 21st September. Posted to depot (Bury St. Edmunds) on 22nd September 1917, he was discharged as no longer physically fit for service on 8th February 1918. He reported that he had suffered from pleurisy several years earlier but had fully recovered. Medical reports state that fatigue and the effects of his wounds had lowered his resistance and that he was 100% disabled. More often than not a casualty who died in UK was sent "home" for burial. It is not clear who arranged this and paid for it. One brother buried in Islesham and one in Wisbech is explained by his marriage in Wisbech, his subsequent residence there and his children being born in Wisbech. He does not appear on the Wisbech war memorial but on the Walsoken memorial in the churchyard of All Saints. His death registration is Wisbech Q4-1818 3B:1164 and gives him as an Army pensioner, suffering from gun shot wound and tuberculosis of the lung. The informant was his widow Elizabeth of 28 George Street, Walsoken, who married John H NEWMAN in 1920. |
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