Name
Henry Charles White
1880
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
28/11/1917
37
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
156380
Royal Garrison Artillery
144th Siege Battery
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BARD COTTAGE CEMETERY
V. C. 20.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Saviour's Church War Memorial, Radcliffe Rd., Hitchin
Pre War
Henry was born in 1880 in Chelsea, Middlesex and his parents were Thomas J. and Jane White.
In 1881 the family were living at 50 Christchurch Rd. Chelsea, Middlesex. Present were both parents: Thomas J. (50) and Jane (29), with Thomas working as a bricklayer. Their two children were: Thomas Alfred (6) and Henry Charles 11 months.
By 1891 the family had moved to 64 Hardy Street, Maidstone, Kent. Present were both parents, with Thomas, at 60, working as a painter. They now had a third child Jenny E (2).
So far none of the family have been found in the 1901 census.
Henry married Elizabeth Edwards (b 2/12/1882) on 29 September 1907 in Sutton-Valence, Kent. Their first child Bernard John was born in 1909.
In 1911 Henry (30) and Elizabeth (28) were living at 73 Dacre Road, Hitchin. Henry was working as an outfitter’s assistant. The census recorded they had been married for 3 years with 1 child – Bernard. Elizabeth’s sister Alice Maude Edwards (26) was also present. Their second child Stuart Henry was born in 1914.
Before joining up he had been employed as an outfitter's manager by H.H. Wightman, High Street, Hitchin for eleven years. He was also a member of the St. John's Ambulance Brigade, a chorister at St. Mary's Church in Hitchin with a fine tenor voice and Secretary of the Symphonic Society.
Officially Henry was recorded as born in Christchurch, Chelsea, Middx. and enlisted in Hitchin, Herts.
Wartime Service
Henry was given the Regimental Number 156380 and posted to the I 44th Siege Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery which was equipped with 6" howitzers. He was killed in action in Belgium just a fortnight after the official end of the Second Battle of Passchendaele.
He was buried in Plot 5, Row C, Grave 20 in the Bard Cottage Cemetery in Belgium. The cemetery is at Boezinge and contains the graves of a number of artillerymen.
Additional Information
When he died his wife was living in Lancaster Road, Hitchin.
After his death £6 9s 1d pay owing was authorised to go to his widow, Elizabeth, on 6 April 1918. Later, a war gratuity of £3 was authorised to be paid to her on 24 November 1919.
There are two seemingly conflicting pension cards, presumably due to clerical error or his wife's remarriage.
One card is for his mother as his dependant Jane Lewis 10 Queen Anne Road, Maidstone, Kent who was issued a pension of 10s a week from 3 May 1918 but that ended on to 7 October 1919.
The second card giving his dependant as his widow Elizabeth. There is a note “He married Elizabeth, now Edwards”; in fact, coincidentally as her maiden name was Edwards, she had married Frederick Alex Edwards in Bromley in 1919. Her address was given as Waterloo House, Wellington Road, St Mary Cray, Kent. It also confirms her children (with Henry) as Bernard John (b 19/5/1909) and Stuart Henry (b 1/6/1914). She was awarded a grant of £5 on 14 May 1918 then a pension of 25s 5d a week from 17 June 1918. Later that address was changed to Boxley House, near Maidstone, Kent and she was living there with her new husband and the two children in 1921.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
