Pte 34646 Harry Hunter

• Age: 23
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• D.O.W Monday 31st December 1917
• Commemorated at: Outtersteene Cc Ext, Bailleul
  Panel Ref: II.D.60

Harry was born in Liverpool in 1894 the fifth child of ten born to Hugh Hunter and his wife Sarah (nee Ledson) who married on 20th January 1886 at Walton on the Hill. Hugh was born in Preston and Sarah from the Walton area of Liverpool. Harry was baptised on 31th December 1894 at St Mary's Church in Kirkdale. 

He was educated at Longmoor Lane school from 1899 till 1904.

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 87 Sandy Lane, Aintree, Liverpool. His father, Hugh, is aged 36, born in Lancashire in 1865 and is employed as a hay cutter, his mother, Sarah, is aged 37 and was born in 1864 in Liverpool, she has no occupation listed. They have six children at the taking of the Census; Margaret aged 13, born 1888, Nellie aged 11, born 1890 (Census incorrectly shows 1893), James Richard aged 8, born 1893, Harry aged 6, born 1895 and Sarah aged 1 born in 1900. The children were all born in Liverpool. Sarah’s widowed mother Margaret Ledson aged 76, born 1825 in Liverpool is also living with them.   

The 1911 Census shows the family still living at 87 Sandy Lane, Aintree, Liverpool. His father, Hugh, is now aged 46, and is still employed as a hay cutter and the Census shows he was born in Preston. His wife Sarah is aged 47 and she has no occupation listed. They have been married for twenty five years and had ten children of which two have died. At the time of the Census they have seven children living at the home address; Their children are Margaret aged 23 has no occupation listed,  Nellie aged 21with a year of birth 1890 (previous Census showed 1893) is employed as a dressmaker, James Richard is employed as a hay cutter like his Father, Harry aged 16 is employed as a butcher’s driver, Sarah aged 11, Hugh aged 9, born 1902 and Lily aged 7, born 1904 are all at school.

Harry then aged 21, married May Wright aged 24 on 09th April 1916 at St Lawrence's Church. His address was then 79 Medlock Street.

Harry enlisted in Liverpool and was serving with  the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 34646 when he died of wounds at a Casualty Clearing Station on 31th December 1917 exactly 23 years to the day that he was baptised.

He now rests at Outterseene Communal Cemetery Extension, Bailleul, France.

Outtersteene was captured by the III Corps on 13 October 1914 but no Commonwealth burials took place there for nearly three years. In August 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, the 2nd, 53rd and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations came to Outtersteene, and the first and last of these remained until March 1918. The hamlet was captured by the Germans on 12 April 1918, and retaken by the 9th, 29th and 31st Divisions, with the ridge beyond it, on 18 and 19 August, but the cemetery was not used again during hostilities. After the Armistice, over 900 graves of 1914 and 1918 were brought into Plots I, II and IV from the battlefields surrounding Outtersteene and from certain small cemeteries. In the Extension, on the East side of the Communal Cemetery, were buried 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Australia, who fell in August and September 1918. 1,147 German graves were initially concentrated into Plot III. These were later removed to Steenwerck German Cemetery. The extension was used again in 1940, for the burial of those killed in the fighting which covered the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk. Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension now contains 1,393 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 499 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 14 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Second World War burials number 72, of which 23 are unidentified. The extension was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

Pension records show his widow Mary and also a daughter Olive Mary born on 13th October 1916.

Harry is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Emmanuel Church, Fazakerley and Longmoor Lane Junior School.

We currently have no further information on Harry Hunter. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.