Pte 28908 Harold Allen

Harold Allen was born in Radcliffe, Lancashire, on 09th July 1885, the middle son of William Allen and his wife Mary Elizabeth (née Lord).  His father was born in Pilkington, part of Radcliffe.  His mother, born in Radcliffe, also appears on records as Elizabeth Mary, or just  Elizabeth or Mary. They married in 1883, and had three children. Harold had an older brother James Willie, born in 1883, and a younger brother John, born in 1888.

 

Harold was baptised in St. Thomas, Radcliffe, on 23rd August 1885, his parents’ abode Radcliffe and his father’s occupation listed as maker up (a person who prepared or 'made up' material to customers clothing requirements).

 

At the time of the 1891 census his parents are living at 201 Bolton Road, Radcliffe, with three sons.  His father is a maker up of cloth, Harold is 5.

 

His father worked at the same job for Harold’s entire life, and the family lived at the same address at least since he was five years old, if not since birth.  

 

Radcliffe, southwest of Bury, was at one time home to around 60 textile mills and 15 spinning mills, along with 18 bleachworks.  

 

The 1901 census finds them at the same address.  In addition to his father, all three sons are now employed in the cotton industry.  James, 17, works in cotton dyeing, Harold, 15, is a crofter in a cotton bleach works, and John, although only 12 years old, is an assistant maker up of cotton yarns.  (A croft is a piece of land where bleaching or dyeing is carried out.) 

 

In 1911 Harold is 26 and still working as a crofter in the bleach works.  His father is 53 and his mother 51. John, 22, is a clerk in a cotton mill.  His elder brother James is married and also lives in Bolton Road, working as a cotton ball warper. (A warper takes cones of thread by the hundred and organises them to make the warp ready for weaving.)

 

A later newspaper report states that, before enlisting, Harold worked in Mount Sion Bleachworks.  (The factory, on Mount Sion Road, west of Radcliffe, burned down on 02nd March 1918.). Mount Sion Mill along Sion Street manufactured guncotton during the war.

 

Harold enlisted, or was conscripted, in Radcliffe in about July 1916, as Private 58779, 18th Bn, King’s Liverpool Regiment.   After shipping overseas he was at some point transferred to the 8th Bn, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, 76th Brigade, 3rd Division. In 1917 they fought at Arras, the Scarpe, and at Passchendaele. 

 

By 1918 the battalion had moved from the Ypres Salient to the Somme front and fought at St. Quentin during the German Spring Offensive which began on 21st March, including repulse of attacks near Wancourt on 24th and 28th March.  In April they were in action during the battle of the Lys.

 

 

It is not known when Harold suffered his fatal wounds, but he died of his wounds on 12th April 1918.  

 

He now rests at Choques Military Cemetery, France where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"SADLY MISSED"

 

Choques Military Cemetery, 4 km northwest of Béthune, contains mostly burials of those who died at No.1 Casualty Clearing Station, based at Chocques from January 1915 to April 1918.  From April to September 1918, during the German advance on this front, the burials were carried out by field ambulances, divisions and fighting units.  (A collective grave in VI A contains the remains of 29 soldiers of the 4th King's Liverpool Regiment killed when a German shell struck a troop train on 11th April 1918.)

 

The CWGC Graves Registration form shows Harold’s rank as Corporal, but by the time his headstone was erected, this had been amended to Private.

 

His death was announced in the Manchester Evening News on 30th April:  

“Corpl. [sic] Harold Allen, King’s Own Royal Lancashires, 201 Bolton Road, killed, was employed at Mount Sion bleachworks.”

 

His Army effects and a War Gratuity of £7-10s went to his mother, who was awarded a pension of 12/6d a week from November 1918.

 

Harold is commemorated on the Radcliffe War Memorial