Name
Henry Charles Mitchell
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
109468
Labour Company
183rd
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Henry Mitchell was born in the autumn of 1873 at Abbotsley Downs, Huntingdonshire. He was the eldest of four children (two sons and two daughters) born to Joseph and Ruth Mitchell. Joseph was employed as a Gamekeeper. In the 1891 Census Henry was recorded as an Agricultural Labourer.
In 1909 Henry married, and a daughter was born to his wife Annie, at Leavesden in 1910. In the 1911 Census Henry’s occupation was recorded as an Asylum Attendant, employed by the Metropolitan Asylum Board, at the Leavesden Asylum. At the time the family lived at 23 Asylum Cottages, Abbots Langley.
Henry was recorded in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour for the first time in November 1914, when at the age of 41 he was listed serving with the Bedfordshire Regiment. In the December 1914 Magazine Henry was listed with the 4th Bedfordshire’s. In the February 1916 Magazine it was noted that he had transferred to the 5th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment, and a month later had moved to the 5th Royal Irish Fusiliers.
By January 1918 Henry served with the Labour Corps, and it is most likely that he had transferred out of the infantry at some point in 1917, when he would have been 46 years old, and less suitable for Front Line duties.
Henry was recorded in the Absent Voter Records of Autumn 1918, Spring 1919 and Autumn 1919, serving with the 183rd Labour Company, and was listed with an address at 23 Tanners Hill (probably the same house as his pre-War address at Asylum Cottages).
Henry Mitchell survived the War.
Additional Information
Formerly 4th & 5th Battalions Bedfordshire Regiment & 5th Royal Irish Fusiliers
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
