Name
Harry Sear
1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
04/06/1918
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
21985
Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)
5th Bn.
'C' Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TANNAY BRITISH CEMETERY, THIENNES
Plot 3. Row A. Grave 6.
France
Headstone Inscription
ONLY GONE BEFORE
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley,
Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford,
Not on the Boxmoor memorials
Pre War
Harry Sear was born in Hemel Hempstead in 1894, the son of Walter and Sarah Sear, and one of three children, although one died in infancy. The family lived in Boxmoor at 11 Russell Place when the children were young, later moving to Herbert Street and on the 1901 Census the family were living at 18 Herbert Street, Hemel Hempstead where his father was working as a Coachman/Groom.
By the 1911 Census they were living at 6 Bath Street, Hemel Hempstead, at which time Harry was working as a gardener (domestic). He later went to work at John Dickinson & Co Ltd at Apsley Mills where he worked as a "Wire Sticker".
His mother died in early 1917, aged 47 and his father a year later in January 1918.
Wartime Service
Harry enlisted in Hemel Hempstead and joined the Hertfordshire Regiment. (reg. no. 2174) three months prior to the outbreak of war. He was immediately mobilised when war was declared and sent to France on 6 November 1914.
In early 1915 he volunteered to retrain as a machine gunner and was sent to the Machine Gun School at Wisques in France. Once trained, he was posted to 'C' Company in the 5th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps later in the year.
By April 1916 he was with the 5th Battalion in the field and saw action across western France and Belgium over the next two years. In early June 1918 he was in trenches near Thiennes, France when 'C' Company came under persistent heavy shelling for a number of days. Harry was wounded at some point during this shelling, and died of his injuries on 4 June 1918, aged 24.
He is buried in Tannay British Cemetery, Thiennes, France.
Additional Information
His father, W. Sear Esq., 12 Church Street, Hemel Hempstead, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "ONLY GONE BEFORE".
His aunt Florence Tomlin received a war gratuity of £8 and pay owing of £33 11s.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com.
