Serjeant. 168th Siege Battery. Royal Garrison Artillery. Service No: 29836.
Early life:
Harry’s parents were John Alfred Adams and Juliet Helen Adams, née Hemsley, who were married on 7th July 1874 at Richmond Parish Church. Juliet is described as 18 years old but John’s entry described him as ‘of full age’ later records show a gap of twelve years between them.
They were living at Castle Hill in Richmond in the 1881 census and their children were Elizabeth aged six, Emily aged four, William Alfred aged three and Thomas aged just nine months. Their father John was employed as a groom. All of these children had been born at Richmond.
When Harry was born in the second quarter of 1889 they were still living at Richmond and Harry was baptised at the parish church (probably St. Mary the Virgin) on 1st May 1889 by the Curate, Reverend Reginald Wilmot Ware. John’s profession at that time was ‘Driver’ and we assume that he was a carriage driver and he’d been promoted from being a groom.
By the time of the 1891 census the family were all living at Waterloo Street in Richmond. John was working as a groom and the children were William aged thirteen and a hawker’s assistant; Thomas aged ten; Alice aged eight, Ellen aged six, Mary aged four were all of school age and Harry aged two was at home with his mother Juliet who was on home duties.
Two more children were born after Harry, they were James Edward, who was born in Oakworth in the last quarter of 1891 and Julia, who was born at Oakworth in the first quarter of 1894.
This means that the family must have been living in Oakworth since late 1891.
In 1894, 1895 and 1896 they were living in Oakworth as their father John was registered as an elector at 12, Dockroyd for those years. The whole family suffered a tragedy when Juliet died at the age of forty and was buried in Dockroyd Graveyard on 15th October 1895. She is in grave 4V which is not marked with a headstone. Harry the youngest child would have been aged just six at the time of his mother’s death.
The tragic circumstances for the family were doubled when their father John died at the age of 59 in 1897. He was buried in the same grave as his wife Juliet, on 18th August 1897.
Note: The grave was owned by John Adams but John is buried there as John Alfred Adams. Several records verify that this was his full name, but he chose not to use Alfred much of the time.
By 1901 they had moved from Dockroyd to 124, Clough Gate so were still living in Oakworth. Emily, a wool drawer aged 24 was the head of the household, Eleanor was a wool spinner aged 16 as was Mary, aged 14. Harry was aged eleven, James was nine and Julia was aged seven, so they would all have been at school. Their eldest brother William was still living at 12, Dockroyd.
Harry’s sister Alice had moved out before the 1901 census and married Arthur Tomlinson at Kildwick in 1903.
His brother Thomas married Christabel Heseltine Davy at Richmond in 1907, he was a groom at Aske Hall, Richmond.
Harry married Gertrude Janie Pillage at Plymouth, Devon in 1909. At the time Harry was serving with the Royal Garrison Artillery and it’s likely that Harry met Gertrude at Plymouth when he was serving there.
They had three children in all, they were Evelyn Juliet, born on 18th October 1910; Doris Gertrude, born on 20th November 1912; and Ivy Gladys, born on 7th March 1916.
Army service:
Sadly there are no Army service records for Harry, for either his early Army service or for the Great War period. We do know that he was with number 24 Siege Battery when he went overseas on 24th July 1915 and would have served with them at Plymouth where his home was based.
In the 1911 census Gertrude was aged 21 and boarding with her daughter Evelyn aged 5 months, at the home of 61 year old Mrs. Hannah Rickard at 7, The Row, Turnchapel, in Plymouth. The census shows that Gertrude had been married for one year.
At the same time Harry was also 21 and recorded in the 1911 census at the Military Barracks of Tower Hill, Freetown in Sierra Leone, West Africa. He was serving with 15 Company, Royal Garrison Artillery and was a Gunner and married.
War service:
After the outbreak of the war, Harry was serving with the Army and left for the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 11th July 1915. He entered the war theatre when he disembarked at Alexandria in Egypt on 24th July 1915. He would have been serving with the 24th Siege Battery at that time.
At some point in his war service he transferred to the 168th Siege Battery and was serving with them when he died of pneumonia at Casualty Clearing Station on the 10th of November, 1918. It is particularly poignant that he died the day before the Armistice, when the fighting was just coming to it’s end.
He was buried in grave 19 of row C in plot I of Vadencourt British Cemetery at Maissemy in France.
This was the cemetery which was serving No. 5 Casualty Clearing Station and this here during the period from October to November 1918.
Keighley News, 23rd November 1918, Page 9:
Miss Adams, who resides at Farra Street, Oxenhope, has received official notification that her brother, Sergeant Adams, has died in hospital through illness. Sergeant Adams was married, and was in the Army at the outbreak of war. He was a smart and capable non-commissioned officer.
Keighley News November 30, 1918, page 3:
Mrs Harry Adams, who was residing at her sister’s at 3, Farra Street, Oxenhope, has received information that her husband, Sergeant Harry Adams, of the R.G.A., has died from broncho-pneumonia in France. He leaves a widow and three children. His home was at Plymouth.
Post war:
Gertrude was Harry’s widow and sole legatee in his will as well as being his next of kin. She received Harry’s remaining Army pay of £13 19s 0d plus a war gratuity of £28 which was calculated by his rank of Sergeant and the length of his Army service. She also received a grant of £8 on 24th March 1919.
She would also have received his personal effects and his medals in the early 1920s and a Bronze war memorial plaque and King’s certificate, all inscribed with his name.
Gertrude also received a weekly dependant’s pension of 32 shillings and one penny, beginning on 19th May 1919.
Remembrance:
Harry is named on the Oxenhope Great War Memorial in the Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin. Since he has no apparent connection to Oxenhope we presume that as his sister and possible Gertrude and the children were living in the village after the war, that they requested his name be added to the memorial.
Information sources:
North Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1940.
1881 England Census.
England & Wales, Free B.M.D. Birth Index, 1837-1915.
England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975.
North Yorkshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1924.
1891 England Census.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915.
West Yorkshire, Non-Conformist Records, 1646-1985.
1901 England Census.
West Yorkshire Electoral rolls.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
1911 England Census
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919.
Find a Grave.com.
British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920.
WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920.
Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929.
World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923.
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library.
1921 England Census.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005.
1939 England and Wales Register.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007.
