Pte 10034 Henry Lea

According to his CWGC record, Henry Lea was 36 years old when he was killed in action, meaning he was born in about the year 1882. From the pension card, giving the names and dates of birth of his children, he married Ann(ie) Houghton, had a daughter Ann(ie) and lived in Prescot. On the only 1911 census record showing Henry and Annie with daughter Annie in Prescot, Henry is 24 and Annie 26.  Henry would have been born in 1885-86, giving his age at death as 32 or 33.

 

Through process of elimination, Henry Lea was the son of Peter Lea aged 22 of 31 Chatsworth St and Catherine (nee Barron), aged 25 of Cicely St, both from Prescot, who married at St Mary's, Edge Hill, Liverpool, on the 02nd January 1883, his father’s occupation given as watchmaker on the marriage certificate.  

 

According to the 1911 census form, they had six children, three of whom died young. Their first child, Ann, was born in 1883.  Her birth registration gives mother’s maiden name as Banon but there are no Lea-Banon/Bannon marriages in England or Wales, so this is likely a transcription error.  Ann died in 1890 at the age of 6 and was buried in St. Mary the Virgin Churchyard, Prescot.

 

Their second child, Henry, was born in March 1885, but died at the age of four weeks and was buried in St. Mary the Virgin.

 

Another birth registration shows Henry Lea, born in the September quarter of 1886, mother’s maiden name Barrow, but this is probably a transcription error, there being no Lea-Barrow marriages. This is most likely our Henry.

 

Their fourth child, another daughter, Harriet, was born in 1887 but died at age 3, and was buried in St. Mary the Virgin.

 

They had two more sons, who survived: William born in 1890 and James, in 1892.

 

At the time of the 1891 census the family, with two sons, is living at 11 East Street, Prescot.  His father Peter, 30, is a watch movement maker, his mother Catherine is 33,  Henry is 4, and William 10 months old.  Also boarding with them is his uncle Henry Barron, 23, a blacksmith.

 

In 1901 they are living at 3 Pottery Fields, Prescot with three sons. His father is a watchmaker (barrel maker), Henry, 14, is also a watchmaker (dial maker), William is 10 and James 9.

 

In 1908 Henry married Annie Houghton, born in Thatto Heath, in St. Thomas' Church, Eccleston. Their daughter Ann was born on 07th March 1909 also in Thatto Heath.

 

The 1911 census finds Henry, 24, and Annie, 26, at 24 Sutherland Road, Whiston, Prescot, with daughter Annie, just turned 2.  Henry is a general labourer in a cable works.

 

His parents with his brother James are at 14 Pottery Fields.  His mother is 53, his father and James are both employed in the cable works, his father, 50, as a general labourer and James, 19, as an office clerk. 

The British Insulated Wire Co. of Prescot, established in 1891, the works stretching from Prescot railway station northward, manufactured electrical cables and accessories, including overhead material for electrical traction, lighting and power distribution, electric welders, annealing furnaces, condensers, primary batteries, wood or steel telegraph poles, mining exploders, portable hand lamps. The company later became British Insulated and Helsby Cables Ltd.

Henry and Annie had two more children:  Henry, born on 16th March 1913, and Peter, on 02nd March 1915.

 

By the time he enlisted Henry and Annie had moved to 2 Court, 4 Houghton Street, Prescot, his address on the 1914 electoral roll.

 

He enlisted in Knowsley and was posted to the 19th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private 26607. Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, he enlisted in about April 1915.

 

At some point he was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps, 41st Bn. with the regimental number 10034.

 

In October 1918 the battalion was involved in an attack at L’Escaut near Courtrai (Kortijk), about 20 miles east of Ypres.

 

Henry was killed in action on 25th October 1918.

 

He was buried close to where he fell and after the war, when graves were concentrated, his body was exhumed and reinterred in Vichte Military Cemetery, Flanders, where he now rests.

The railway station at Vichte was captured by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment on 20 October 1918, and the village by the 9th (Scottish) Division two days later. In Vichte Military Cemetery, Rows A and B and part of Row C in Plot I were made in October 1918, by the burial officers of the 9th and 31st Divisions, and the remainder of the cemetery was formed after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields. In June 1933, a further 31 graves were moved here from SWEVEGHEM CHURCHYARD. Vichte Military Cemetery now contains 236 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 60 of them unidentified. There are also two Second World War burials, one of which is unidentified. The cemetery was designed by W H Cowlishaw.

 

The Parish magazine on 28th December 1918 reported on five more names to be added to the Roll of Honour, including:

“Pte. Henry Lea, 33, Machine Gun Corps, killed in action 25th October 1918, of 4 Court, Moss Street, leaves a widow and three children.” (Although the magazine gives his age as 33, he would, in fact have been 32; ages were often cited as being in his 33rd year, for example).

 

His children were 9, 5, and 3 years old when Henry was killed.  Annie, at 2 Door, 4 Court, Moss Street, and later at Aughton Street, received Henry’s Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £20.  She was awarded a 

pension of £1-9s-7d a week from May 1919.

 

His mother Catherine died in the December quarter of 1923, aged 66, and his father in the September quarter of 1924 aged 64.

 

In 1939 Annie, 56, with sons Henry and Peter, is living at 40 Kingsway, Prescot.  Henry, 26, is a general labourer, Peter, 24, a vertical driller (engines). It is not known what became of his daughter Annie.

 

His widow Annie appears to have died in 1945, aged 62.  His son Henry died in 1973 aged 60, and Peter in 1986 aged 71.

 

Henry is commemorated on 

British Insulated and Helsby Cables Ltd. Plaque, Prescot

St, Mary the Virgin Church Serviceman Statue, Prescot

St. Mary’s WW1 Roll of Honour.

 

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