BRADSHAW Harry

Appears in the Worcester/Worcestershire Roll of Honour Book for army casualties located in Worcester Cathedral under Church Lench casualties.

Harry Bradshaw was born in Atch Lench but the 1901 census shows that at that time he was living with his parents Arthur and Ann Bradshaw and his younger brother Arthur in Harvington. He is also identified both by the Evesham Journal and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as being from Harvington.

When his mother died in October 1911, he went at age 13 to live with an uncle in Gumlu, Queensland, Australia. It was here that he enlisted on 28th March 1916 into the Australian army, giving his age as 18 years, 4 months and his occupation as a labourer. He was 5 feet 9 inches tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair.

He sailed from Brisbane on H.M.A.T. Clan McGillivray on 7th September 1916 to France, and was serving with 9th Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division Australian Imperial Forces when on 5th January 1917 he was “with a number of comrades laying telephone cables behind the front line. They had just finished for the day and were moving back to camp when two big shells dropped close to the party” five other soldiers were killed with him. His draft of reinforcements had only arrived 48 hours before.

Australian Service Record accessed via:  https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/
Reference: Barcode 3109530 Series Accession No B2455 Location: Canberra

Harry Bradshaw has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.