Pte Harry Carver 12569 7th Yorks

[RobNoxious]

Hello all, first post here so please be gentle.

I'm looking for any information/maps/photographs or anything really regarding my great grandfather - Harry Carver.

He was one of 4 brothers, Harry, Fred, Robert and Wilfred who left their village in North Yorkshire and the only one to return home. Wilfred was killed on HMS Bulwalk when that exploded and Fred and Robert were each killed in or around the Somme. Harry was shot in September 1915 - I believe somewhere south of Ypres at Voormezeele. He spent about a year in the 4th London General Hospital - now Kings College Hospital. I know he had a plate fitted to his head but I don't know much more.

I'd appreciate it if anyone had any maps of the area he would have been in, any photographs either of the area or of the unit - photographs in my family are a rare commodity and I only have one photograph on Harry himself and none of the other brothers who joined the army.

I think I've found that the 7th Yorks and 7th Lincolns were relieving each other on the front line, if that helps.

Thanks in advance!

[Tawhiri]

These presumably are the three brothers on the CWGC website, none of them having a known grave.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2870810/wilfred-carver/

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1542601/fred-carver/

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1542607/robert-n-carver/

Robert was only eligible for the British War and Victory medals, so first entered a theatre of war after the end of 1915, Fred was also entitled to the 1914-15 Star, first entering a theatre of war in France on 26 August 1915. If you don't already have it, Wilfred's service record with the Royal Marine Light Infantry is available online as a free download from the National Archives once you have registered for an account.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7853531

There appear to be a number of pension index cards for Harry, along with a record of a Silver War Badge, so it looks as though he was discharged at some point due to his wounds. His Silver War Badge record will usually tell you both the date he enlisted, and the date that he was discharged. Unfortunately you will need full access to Ancestry or FindmyPast to see the actual records, but many public libraries have subscriptions to one or the other. It looks like Harry was the first of the three brothers serving in the Army to enter a theatre of war, as he qualified for the 1914-15 Star on 13 July 1915.

Edited to add that the war diaries for the 7th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment can also be downloaded for free from the National Archives. They are unlikely to mention Harry by name as an enlisted man, but will certainly tell you what the battalion was doing around the time that he was wounded.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7352931

Edited 12 March by Tawhiri

[RaySearching]

Well here is Wilfred  Pte PO/16955 R.M.L.I

 

and a newspaper cutting from the N.E.D.G  dated 3rd Dec 1914

 

Ray

Edited 12 March by RaySearching
number correction