305829 Sergeant Harry Hall 2nd/8th Battalion, The Kings Liverpool Regiment

[Guest]

I am researching my great uncle and trying to find if he was awarded any medals as would like to get replicas if possible to display alongside his photo. Sergeant Harry Hall 305829 2nd/8th Battalion, The Kings Liverpool Refiment. Died of wounds 3rd April 1917 aged 25. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Now we have found his grave in France we visit every year. May they all rest in peace.

[RaySearching]

Sergeant Harry Hall 305829 2/8 Bn K.L.R  according to the medal roll  he was (attached to the Trench Mortar Battery) awarded the British War + Victory Medals

 

and welcome to the forum

 

Ray

 

[wandererpaul]

He was entitled to the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

 

His MIC is here on ancestry

 

There seems to be some part of his service record on Find My Past too, here.

Edited 14 September , 2018 by wandererpaul

[wandererpaul]

The Find My Past record has a list of effects returned to a Sarah Jane Hall, 10 Dale Street Blackpool.

 

There’s also his casualty record.

 

embarked Southampton on 12/2/1917

disembarked Le Havre on 13/2/1917

 

With 171 Infantry Brigade Light Trench Mortar Battery.

 

On 2/41917 GSW IV to S R Chest at 3/2 West Lancs Field Ambulance. And also GSW to Abdomen at 1 A***** (unreadable text) CCS, casualty clearing station.

 

on 3/4/1917 Died of Wounds received in Action at 06 1st Austre (?) CCS.

 

 

[wandererpaul]

There’s a receipt, signed by Mrs S J Hall of Blackpool, for his BWM and VM. Signed on 26 May 1922.

[wandererpaul]

His FMP records also says he attested on 3/11/1914 as Private #2830.

 

His records notes;

Home 3/11/1914 to 12/2/1917

France 13/2/1917 to 3/4/1917

 

Wounded in Action 2/4/1917.

 

entitled to BWM & VM.

 

NoK; Father; Robert Hall

Chief Officer Fire Station Blackpool.

[RaySearching]

44 minutes ago, wandererpaul said:

on 3/4/1917 Died of Wounds received in Action at 06 1st Austre (?) CCS.

 

No 1 Australian Casualty Clearing Station

 

The recipient of his medals and effects Mrs S J Hall , I am sure you know was his wife 

Mrs Sarah Jane Hall (nee Sewell) the couple married in the parish church in Blackpool on the 3rd Feb 1915

 

Ray

[MaxD]

No 1 Australian Casualty Clearing Hospital was in Estaires in the Sacred Heart College which is at 23 Rue du College and according to its history has been in that location since 1865..

 

You might like to have a look next trip? .

Max

[RaySearching]

 

No.1 Australian Casualty Clearing Station opened at Estaires in the 2nd Army in May 1916, with a Nursing Staff of 7, drawn from the staff of No.1 Australian General Hospital.

In May 1917, the C.C.S. moved to Bailleul, where it had a busy time during the battle for Messines ridge, and in July it moved again to Outtersteene, a site near Hazebrouck. Here the work was very heavy during the mustard gas attacks in the Armentieres sector. In October 1917, Colonel Dick the O.C. was transferred to No.1 Australian General Hospital, and Lt.Col. Marks D.S.C. relieved him. On the afternoon of Sept.26th, the vicinity of the C.C.S. was shelled, and one fell at the back of the Officers’ ward, but fortunately did not explode. The patients were evacuated and the Sisters sent to No.2 C.C.S. for the afternoon, but returned later. After this, a concrete dug-out was built in the Sisters’ compound.

 

Ray

 

Edit source Scarlet Finders

Edited 14 September , 2018 by RaySearching

[MaxD]

171 Trench Mortar Battery in which Harry Hall was serving as Acting Sergeant Major was sent on 29 March 1917 to the trenches in the Bois Grenier sector south of Armentieres to relieve their comrades in 172 Trench Mortar Battery.

.

On 2 April 1917 the war diary records him being wounded by shrapnel and the next day records his death at No1 Aus CCS.  (On 4 April 1917 America declared war on Germany but I don't think the events are connected).

 

The trench area is shown on the map/image at:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=15&lat=50.6478&lon=2.8814&layers=101464966&right=BingHyb

 

Max

[Guest]

Thank you all so much for your help. I have found Harry's grave in Estaires and visit every year. I am the first in my family to visit him in over a hundred years since his death. All help in finding information on Harry is so gratefully received. X

[Fattyowls]

Hi Dawn

 

If I might add a bit of detail to the excellent work done by the previous posters, this part of the front was dubbed the Nursery Sector, and newly arrived divisions were often sent to this area to get used to the conditions. The area is very damp and the lines in front of Bois Grenier were not trenches but what were called breastworks; earth and sandbag walls raised above ground level. Digging down more than a foot or two would find groundwater. I'd not thought about it before but trench mortar batteries were often placed in separate trenches elsewhere, and I wonder how this would have been achieved in the breastwork sector.

 

Harry's unit was part of the 57th (2nd West Lancashire) division and had arrived just weeks before as the dates above show; they had replaced the New Zealand division in this area. Many battalions of the King's Liverpool spent time in the Blackpool area, and this may have influenced Harry joining one of them, although his service records will possibly tell us more. The battalions and brigades kept war diaries which some of the above information came from I think; if we can pinpoint where the battery were sited I might just have a photo of the area. Flat is the overriding impression, but you'll know that from Estaires. One of my footballers was killed in the area six weeks before Harry and another a month after and my grandfather was serving with the divisional artillery, so I know Bois Grenier quite well.

 

Pete.

Edited 14 September , 2018 by Fattyowls