Name
Harry Flitton
1885
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/03/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Serjeant
5500
King's Royal Rifle Corps
3rd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 51 and 53.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Great Gaddesden War Memorial, Not on the Hemel Hempstead memorials
Pre War
Harry Flitton was born in 1885 in Great Gaddesden, Hemel Hempstead, the son of Noah and Sarah Flitton and baptised there on 31 May 1885.
On the 1891 Census the family were living in Great Gaddesden where his father was an agricultural labourer and his mother worked as a straw plaiter.
His mother died in 1892 and, although his father continued to live in Great Gaddesden, on the 1901 Census Harry and his brother James were living with his sister and brother in law Frederick and Agnes and their family at 10 Brownlow Road, Borehamwood, Elstree, Herts, and he was working as a Band Turner on a Farm.
By 1911 he was back in Great Gaddesden, as a boarder with Jonathan and Agnes Wakefield living at Gaddesden Row and working as a farm labourer. On enlistment his address was given as 11 Piccotts End, Hemel Hempstead where his father was living.
Wartime Service
He had enlisted in 1903 into the Kings Royal Rifle Corps and joined them in Gosport on 23 July 1903, serving in Bermuda between 16 March 1904 and 25 June 1905. He served for 3 years and was then transferred to the reserve in 1906.
When war was declared he was recalled and served with the 3rd battalion in France from 5 March 1915, having re-enlisted in Bedford. He was promoted to Corporal and subsequently Lance Sergeant.
He was killed in action on 20 or 30* March 1915. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial,
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £6 and pay owing of £2 11s 4d. N.B. Although the service record is available it is in poor condition and almost unreadable. *Three military sources give date of death as 20th March.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, dacorumheritage.org.uk, hemelatwar.org.
