Boy Soldier - L/15938 Private Henry Gransden, Middlesex Regiment

2 April , 2020

I discovered yesterday on Ancestry that four of my great uncles on my grandmother’s side had served, one in the RAMC, one in the RFA and two in the Middlesex.

I found it rather strange, however, that one of them, Henry James Gransden, had no MIC. I know, of course, that the service records are sometimes there, sometimes not, but I’ve not yet failed to find the MIC. When I looked again at his Attestation of July 1915, I saw he had given his birth year as 1897, age as 18. Since I knew that Great Uncle Henry was born in 1900, I figured, oh well, it must be a different Henry Gransden.

It became clear as more of his record surfaced that young Henry had told a porky or two on enlistment. Of course there was no MIC, because he had been discharged later that year having been found out - he was just 15 years old! Great to see the actual letters my great grandfather had written to Henry’s CO asking that he be discharged due to his age and explaining any misunderstanding there had been over his identity and birth certificate.

Henry had clearly chosen to join the same regiment as his older brother William, but at such an age. I suppose, like so many, he must have seen it as a great adventure. Unlike so many of the Boy Soldiers, luckily for him he got found out and thrown out!

I have no photos of young Henry, but I wonder if he actually looked older than he was, or whether it was one of those occasions when the recruiting personnel turned a blind eye...