Name
Henry Harradine Moulden
1897
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
19/02/1917
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
61300
Royal Fusiliers *1
7th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
HITCHIN CEMETERY
E. 796.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin
Pre War
His parents were Henry and Martha Moulden. He was born in 1897 and christened 26 May 1897 in St. Mary’s Church, Hitchin.
Henry have previously been married to Mary Ann (36) Moulden (née Chambers) and had children with he including Charles Henry (14), Herbert G (12), William A (11), Rose G (9), Percy Herbert (5) and Florrie (1) – ages in the 1891 census.
We believe Martha died in December 1895 and subsequently Henry married Martha Ann Harradine on 30 May 1896.
In 1901 Henry (48) and Martha (42) were living at 34 Bedford Close, Hitchin. Present were both parents: xxx and x, with x and working as a tailor. The children by Henry and Mary Ann (present in the census) were Percy Herbert (13), Florence (11) and also present now was Henry Harradine (4).
In 1911 Henry and Martha were living with Henry Harradine Moulden now 14 and an apprentice tailor, at 34 Bedford Street, Hitchin. The census recorded that they had been married for 15 years, with 7 children, all surviving. We believe that 7 includes the children from both marriages.
Before joining the army he had been apprenticed to F. Crabb & Son the tailors of Bancroft, Hitchin. He had been a St. Mary's Sunday School boy and was a communicant there. He was in the Church Lads' Brigade and also played for the Union Jack Football Club. When he reached age 19 in April 1916 he enlisted.
Wartime Service
He was originally Private 34426 in the Middlesex Regiment and at some point was transferred to the 7th Battalion Royal fusiliers with the Regimental Number 61300. He went to France on the 1st November 1916.
He was wounded in action on the 7th February 1917, when several Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers were engaged at Boom Ravine. It was raining, slippery with mud, the trenches were packed with troops and the Germans opened a heavy barrage. There were numerous casualties. A portion of a shell struck, or a gun shot, entered his right thigh and he was admitted to a Canadian hospital in France from which he wrote home. He was then transferred to a hospital in Gosforth, Newcastle, but died within a few days of pneumonia. The funeral service was held at St. Mary's Church, Hitchin.
His Commonwealth War Graves Commission stone is in Hitchin Cemetery Grave 796. It bears the additional inscription "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted".
Additional Information
After his death £6 0s 5d pay owing was authorised to go to his mother, Martha Moulden, on 22 October 1917. Later, a war gratuity of £3 was authorised to be paid to her on ( February 1920.
His pension cards record his mother, as his next of kin/dependant, living at 6 Gaping Lane, Hitchin, but the details of any pension are not recorded.
His brother (probably half-brother) Percy Herbert Moulden was also killed in the war. His mother later remarried after Henry’s death becoming Martha Andrews.
*1 Probably more correctly (City of London) Bn. London Regiment.
