HITCHMAN Harry

Harry was born in Blockley in 1881, one of eleven children, his father variously over the years a labourer or a quarreyman. He was at home in Blockley in 1891 but by 1901 he had moved to Stourbridge, where he was staying with his sister Mary Land and her family, and working as a drayman. In 1907, still living in Stourbridge, he married Mary Gulliver. She had a child and an adopted child, and Harry and Mary had at least one more child. In 1911 the family were living at an address in Wolverhampton.

The next information comes with Harry’s enlistment into the armed services. A small amount of his personal military documentation is extant, but it is generally of poor quality and unreadable in parts. It tells nothing of his war experiences, but give much personal information, including a list of his family, including parents, brothers and sisters and their whereabouts at the end of the war. When he attested, at Wolverhampton in 1917, he was living at the same address in Wolverhampton as in 1911 and still working as a drayman. He joined the Royal Garrison Artillery, though there is a suggestion in one document of membership of the Royal Engineers. He ended up as a gunner in 109 Heavy Battery, and was serving with them when he lost his life in action in August 1918 at the age of 37.

The date of attestation was unexpectedly late. Under the terms of the conscription acts a married man would normally have attested during 1915, been placed on the reserve, and called up from mid-1916. The reason for the delay here is not known; a reference in his attestation medical to an injury to the tip of his trigger finger would hardly seem a reason for his not having been called up. Among his papers there is a sheet, but without any personal identification, referring to a two-day stay in a Watford hospital in October 1915 for unknown reasons (unreadable).

From the “burnt documents”
Note: There are a small number of these, often in poor condition and only partly readable. Difficult parts are shown here in square brackets, either as dots (unreadable passages) or as suggested readings:

Harry attested at Wolverhampton on 21st January 1917, the regiment/corps is not clear, though the approval was at Aldershot on 5th February. He gave his address as 21 Ashland Street, Wolverhampton, his age as 35 years 6 months and his occupation as a drayman. He married Mary Gulliver, spinster, at Stourbridge on 9th June 1907. Children: Frederick Harry, born 28th December 1907 at Stourbridge, Ella Violet Gulliver, born 5th January 1902 and Kate Gulliver, foster-child, born 18th May 1902.

Medical:
Wolverhampton on unclear date in 1917, height 5 feet 2½ inches, chest 37 inches, injury to tip of trigger finger. There is an entry which shows Royal Engineers (number) 219346 (crossed out) and RGA 195511.

Among the documents is a form, but without any personal identification, documenting a stay in an unidentified hospital in Watford from 4th to 6th October 1915, relating to a sca… (rest unreadable).

Notification to unidentified that property in your possession […..] gunner Harry Hitchman, 109th Heavy Battery, Royal […] should be despatched to Mrs Mary Hitchman of 21 Ashland Street, Wolverhampton.

In reply to a request for relatives of Harry, required before the king’s message could be sent, Mary sent details of the family – their children, his parents and his brothers and sisters. The form was countersigned by William Stevens, vicar of St John’s, Wolverhampton:

Medal Index Card and Corps medal rolls:
Harry Hitchman, Royal Garrison Artillery, gunner, 195511
Awarded the Victory Medal and British War Medal.

From Soldiers’ Effects:
Harry Hitchman, 109 Heavy Bty, RGA, gunner, 195511, died 21/3/18 in action, France & Belgium, £1 18s 3d plus £4 War Gratuity, to widow Mary.