CARTER Harry

The birth of Henry Carter is registered in the September Quarter 1864 under the Shipston on Stour Registration District. The death of Henry Carter aged 50 is registered in the June Quarter 1915 under the Cardiff Registration District.

Henry/Harry Carter enlisted as Private 8796 in the Grenadier Guards on 4th September 1883 at London. On his attestation paper he gave his age as 19 years, one month, his place of birth as Draycott, Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire and his occupation as a labourer. His next of kin was Mercy Hopes, Blockley near Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire. Henry was 5ft 8 and a half inches tall with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair. It was also noted that he had a small scar on his left elbow, left side of neck, the back of his right elbow and a small mark in front of his left ear. After 3 years service, in September 1886 he was transferred to the 1st Class army reserve having spent 132 days serving in Egypt and a further 71 days in Cyprus. His character was described as Good. In September 1895 he was discharged at the termination of his 1st period of engagement. He re-enlisted on 13th April 1896 for a further 4 years service.

The following information is courtesy of the researcher of the casualties on the Blockley War Memorials:
Harry (baptismal name Henry) Carter was an old soldier who had served in the Grenadier Guards, including service in the Sudan in 1885. He was long retired when war broke out in 1914, but he nevertheless enlisted. No doubt because of his age he did not serve abroad; in fact his service was short, as he died of illness soon after enlisting.

Harry was born of an unmarried mother in Draycott in 1864 and baptised (as Henry) in Blockley the following year. Two years later his mother married, and he lived at home in Blockley with mother and step-father and their children until at least 1881, when he was working as a labourer. In 1883 at the age of 19 he enlisted in the army. He was recruited by a sergeant in the 4th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment and was processed by that battalion, in Stow-on-the-Wold and Cirencester. However, he had opted to join the Grenadier Guards and within a week was accepted by them in London. Harry was unable to write, even to sign his name, when he enlisted. His attestation paper shows a cross in place of signature, another person having witnessed this as “his mark”.

His enlistment was for 12 years (3 with the Colours, 9 with the Reserve). During his active service he served in Egypt with the 3rd Battalion of his regiment and was part of the force led by Major-General Sir Gerald Graham VC, which carried out the expedition, the second such, to Suakin in the Sudan in 1885. He earned the Suakin Clasp to his Egypt medal.

During his nine years on the Reserve, which ended in 1895, he probably lived in Blockley – he was at home with his mother and step-father and their children in 1891 working as a general labourer. In 1896 he re-enlisted in the Grenadier Guards for four years, possibly as a Territorial. Nothing is known about this period, but there may have been an element of active service, for in 1901 he was shown in Blockley as a soldier on furlough; this is in contrast to his description as a labourer during his Reserve service in 1891. At that time the South African (Boer) war was underway, but no records have been found of him actually serving in South Africa.

In 1901 he was lodging with an Esther Dowdeswell and her son at Back Ends in Blockley. Ten years later in 1911, although his mother and step-father were still living in the village, he was still residing in Back Ends but this time as the householder with Esther Dowdeswell as his housekeeper. His mother died in early 1915. Harry was back in military service by 1915, with the Welsh Regiment, having enlisted as a volunteer in Cardiff. There are no personal military documents for this period and no medals card, indicating service only at home.

There are other documents, one stating that he was in the 1/5th Battalion, one in the 5th (Supn [?Supplementary]) Battalion. The 5th was a Territorial Battalion which was in Wales when war was declared, and moved to Tunbridge Wells, then Scotland and later Bedford, presumably for training, before being posted abroad in August 1915. It is unlikely that Harry was with them as he died in Cardiff in June 1915. The 2/5th Battalion was formed in November 1914 as a second-line unit, later absorbed into the Cheshire Regiment.

Harry died of an ulcer in the stomach in the 3rd Western General Hospital, Cardiff in 1915 at the age of 50 and was buried in Cardiff. He was unmarried, as his military effects were passed to his eldest sister Mrs Harriet Lewis, (nee Hopes).