Name
Henry (Harry) James Marson (*1)
1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
22/08/1918
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
720768
London Regiment *1
1/24th (County of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
VIS-EN-ARTOIS MEMORIAL
Panel 10
France
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Holy Saviour Church War Memorial, Radcliffe Rd., Hitchin, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin
Pre War
Henry was born in 1895 in Victoria Park or Hackney, Westminster, London, and baptised on 30 Jun 1895 in St Mark, Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets. His parents were Henry James and Matilda Rebecca Marson (née Izzard) and they married in 28 October 1894 at St Thomas, Bethnal Green: Baroness Road, Tower Hamlets. Confusingly at Henry’s baptism, the parents were recorded as Henry James and Izzard Marson.
In 1901 the family were living at 24 Great Chapel Street, London. Present were both parents: Henry (27) and Matilda (26), Henry (senior) was a hairdresser and employer. Their children were: Henry James (5) and Edward John (1). Also presebt were two boarders: Frederick A Simpson (28) and Albert Desmonliere (20) and servants: Arthur Bergman (24) and Albert E Wilmott (21).
By 1911 the family were living at 18 Marney Rd, Lavender Hill, London S W. Present were both parents, Henry (senior) still a hairdresser an employer. The census recorded they had been married for 17 years with 6 children, of whom 1 had died. Of the children Henry was 15 and a shorthand typist and his brother Edward was still present, and they had been joined by Albert Herbert (9), Lillian Matilda (6) and Ivy May (2).
Before he enlisted he had been a Sunday school teacher at St Mary’s School Hitchin and was employed as a shorthand typist employed at the Law Courts.
Henry (junior) was not married but had a fiancée, Miss Lizzie Cartwright, who loved at 20 Trevor Road, Hitchin.
Officially he was recorded as living in Hitchin when he enlisted in Kennington.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in September 1914 joining the 24 London Regiment as Pte. 2764 – so he may have been a Territorial before the war. He posted to France, arriving there on 16 March 1915 and in 1917 he was renumbered to 720768.
Henry suffered an accidental eye injury and arrived at No. 3 Casualty Clearing Station from 48 Casualty Clearing Station on 24 January 1918 and returned to duty on the 31st.
He was killed in action on 22 August 1918.
At the time of his death this Battalion was in the 142nd Brigade of the 47th London Division of the III Corps in the 4th Army and taking part in the Battle of Albert. The 47th Division was at the right of the Corps line that stretched from Albert to the vicinity of the River Somme. Zero hour was at 4.45am on the 22nd August 1918 and the Division advanced behind 250 guns providing an artillery barrage creeping forward at the rate of 100 yards every four minutes. In the afternoon the enemy counter-attacked and casualties among the London's was extremely heavy. By the end of the day the Division had been driven out of the Happy Valley which it had captured earlier in the day and was so exhausted that it could not continue the offensive on the following day.
The sad news of Henry death was sent back by Trooper J H Cole, who buried Henry. He had found some photographs which must have contained Henry’s fiancée’s address. This arrived before any official notification.
He has no known grave, so his original grave was lost, quite possibly later in the war during further actions, so he is remembered on Panel 10 of the Vis-en-Artois Memorial to the Missing in France.
Additional Information
His parents moved from Tilehouse Street, Hitchin in late 1918, but before Henry’s death.
After his death £8 8s 1d was authorised to go to his father, Henry J Marson, on 18 June 1919. Later, a war gratuity of £19 was authorised to be paid to him.
His pension cards record Matilda Marson, his mother, as his dependant, living originally at 4 Park Mansions, Prince of Wales Road, Battersea, London, but was later amended to 153 Coppermill Lane, Walthamstow, London, E17. She was awarded a pension of 6s 6d a week from 13 May 1919.
His brother was in the R.A.F.
*1 Marsom on the memorials but Mason on may official records
*2 Believed more correctly, (County of London)
Bn. London Regiment (The Queens's).
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
