Pte 15942 Henry James Plott Fairclough

• Age: 29
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Peronne Rd Cem Maricourt
  Panel Ref: II.B.30

Henry (Harry) James Plott Fairclough was born in Liverpool on the 05th November 1886 the son of James Fairclough and his wife Eliza Anne (nee Fairclough). James and Eliza Ann were married in 1886. At their marriage in Christ Church, Aughton, James' mother's residence was given as Aughton, and Eliza's father was Henry Fairclough, a flour dealer. His father, James, was originally married to Elizabeth Grayson, they married on the 20th February 1870 at St Silas' Church. Sadly Elizabeth died aged just 32 and was buried on the 11th January 1885 at Anfield Cemetery, her address 133 Wavertree Road. 

Harry was baptised on 18th January 1887 in St. Silas Church, Liverpool, his parents at that time living at 42 West Derby Street, and his father's occupation given as flour dealer.

The family were still at 42 West Derby Street on the 1891 Census. Henry then aged 4 lived with his parents and  five older half brothers and sisters. His father is a 42 year old bread and flour dealer and his mother is 32 years of age with no occupation shown. His siblings are shown as; Ellen a shop assistant aged 19, Elizabeth a telephone clerk aged 17, Elsie 15, Robert 11 and 9 year old Annie. The family employ two servants. 

His father, James, died in 1892 at the age of 43.

Eliza Anne remarried to Lawrence Higgin on the 14th September 1896 at St Mary, West Derby. Widowed Lawrence was a 50 year old butcher of 77 Durning Rd, Edge Hill, father Francis, whilst widow Eliza was aged 36 of 1 Nuthall St, Edge Hill, father Henry. 

At the time of the 1901 Census the couple were living with their child Mary Victoria aged 4 at 77 Durning Road. The 14 year old Henry was a boarder at Dinglewood Preparatory School in Colwyn Bay.

After leaving school Henry joined the Civil Service. Appointments were published in the London Gazette on 15th May 1903 he was appointed temporary boy clerk, and on 04th June 1915 was promoted from established clerk to Surveyor of Taxes.

His step-father, Lawrence, died aged 62 in 1907, the electoral roll has the family then loiving at 28 Mill Lane, Old Swan.  

By the time of the 1911 Census the 51 year old Eliza Ann, a widow, described as a "lady", living on private means, and living at 6 Olive Mount in Wavertree, a 9-room house. Living with her are daughter Mary, a domestic servant called Sarah Davies and 24 year old Henry who is listed as a civil servant for the Clerk and Surveyor of Taxes and also as a retail butcher. He must have carried on his stepfathers business.

Henry enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 02nd September 1914, joining the 17th Battalion (No 4 Company) of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 15942. He gave his age as 27 years and 301 days and his occupation as a civil servant. He was described as being five feet seven inches tall, weighed 124lbs, 34" chest, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. He stated his religion as Church of England. His next of kin was mother Eliza Ann, at 6 Olive Mount. 

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14^th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

07.11.15: He embarked for France with his battalion.

He was killed in action on the 30th July 1916, aged 29, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive. 

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July. 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.   

A note in his service record states the Inland Revenue, Somerset House were informed of his death on 17th August 1916.  

He was remembered by his family in an announcement in the Liverpool Echo on Saturday 19th August 1916:

July 30th, killed in his 29th year Private Harry Fairclough (Pals) the devoted and dearly loved son of the late James Fairclough and Mrs Higgin, Hollyhurst, Olive Mount, Wavertree.

Harry's loss also featured in the Liverpool Echo on 23rd August 1916: 

BEE'S SPORTS NOTES.  

TOLL OF CRICKET AND FOOTBALL CLUBS.  

Locally and otherwise, the war continues its heavy toll upon sportsmen. In addition to the list given " Tim" Coleman in yesterday's notes, we now learn A. N. Slocock is missing, that another Rugger player, Second-Lieutenant M. H. Rowan, has been killed. Sam Jarman, the famed Northern Union forward (Leeds), who represented the Union against Australia in 1913-14, has been killed. In local sports circles the Old Xaverians have lost heavily, and their latest announcement concerns a dear friend of mine, Harry Fairclough, whose cheeriness when keeping goal for the Civil Service F.C., cricketing for Wavertree, golfing with Bowring Park Club, dancing, or " driving " made him well-known and well-liked sport. Another cricketer, Sergeant Robert Talbot Jones (captain of the Wavertree Cricket Club and one of the hardest hitters in the district) has been killed. ***The " Football Echo "on Saturday will reproduce photographs of the Wavertree members.  

The Old Xaverian list reads as follows:— Killed: Second - Lieutenant H. B. O'Donoghue, K.L.R.; Sergeant B. J. Fleming, "Pals"; Private G. M'Guinness, "Pals"; Lance-corporal A Wilkinson, R.E.; Private J. P. Roberts. Liverpool Scottish; Private J. A. Range, “ Pals "; H. Lockhart, " Pals"; Private H. Fairclough, Service Batt. K.L.R. ; and Private Francis X.  Brierton, K.L.R. Included amongst the wounded are Second-Lieutenant H. B. Clothier, 8th King's Liverpool Regiment: Sergeant J. P. Doyle, 6th King's Liverpool Regiment; Captain A. Horner, 8th King's Liverpool Regiment; Corporal J. Bright, " Pals "; Captain W. Horner. Royal Welsh Fusiliers; Private G. A. Montgomery, Canadian Scottish; Lieutenant T. J. Craig, R.F.A: and Private C. R. Wilcox, Service Batt. R.F.A. Lieutenant (Dr.) J. Unsworth has recovered from his wounds, and is back again at the front.  

Harry's death also featured in the Liverpool Football Echo on 26th August 1916: 

PRIVATE HARRY FAIRCLOUGH  

Private H. Fairclough of the “Pals” was killed in action on July 30. He was the son of Mrs Higgin, “Holmhurst,” Wavertree and was well known in the district. Educated at Dingle Wood School, Colwyn Bay, he was prior to the war in the Civil Service Income Tax Department. He was well known in football circles, playing in goal for the Civil Service F.C., Old Xavierians F.C. He was a member of the Wavertree C.C., also the Bowring Park Golf Club. Harry will be sadly missed by many friends in the Wavertree and Wallasey districts. 

He was reported as killed in action in the Liverpool Daily Post  on 12th September 1916: 

Killed. 

King’s(Liverpool Regiment) Fairclough, 15942, H. (Liverpool); 

Harry was buried close to where he fell and, after the war, when graves were concentrated, his body was removed and reinterred.

He now rests at Peronne Road Cemetery, Maricourt, France, his headstone bears the epitaph:

"PEACE PERFECT PEACE" 

Maricourt was, at the beginning of the Battles of the Somme 1916, the point of junction of the British and French forces, and within a very short distance of the front line; it was lost in the German advance of March 1918, and recaptured at the end of the following August.

The Cemetery, originally known as Maricourt Military Cemetery No.3, was begun by fighting units and Field Ambulances in the Battles of the Somme 1916, and used until August 1917; a few graves were added later in the War, and at the Armistice it consisted of 175 graves which now form almost the whole of Plot I. It was completed after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields in the immediate neighbourhood and from certain smaller burial grounds.

There are now 1348, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, 366 are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 26 soldiers from the United Kingdom known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of three soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in other cemeteries, whose graves could not be found.

The cemetery covers an area of 3,787 square metres and is enclosed on three sides by a low red brick wall.

Harry earned his three medals.

His outstanding Army pay and a War Gratuity of £8-10s went to his mother. No pension card has been found, indicating that either Harry had no dependants, or that his mother did not apply for a pension.

Probate was granted to his mother Eliza Ann Higgin.

FAIRCLOUGH Henry James Plott of 6 Olive Mount, Wavertree Liverpool private 17th Battalion K.L.R. died 30 July 1916 in France Probate Liverpool 20 November to Eliza Ann Higgin widow. Effects £1163 7s 5d.  

In 1919 Eliza was still at 6 Olive Mount with Mary Victoria, 22. 

She died at the age of 79 before the outbreak of the Second World War, in June 1939, leaving over £10,000.

Harry is remembered in the Hall of Remembrance at Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 64.

And on his father's headstone in Anfield Cemetery -

    ALSO HENRY JAMES FAIRCLOUGH

BELOVED SECOND SON OF THE ABOVE 

  WHO FELL IN FRANCE JULY 30^th 1916

             "HIS DUTY NOBLY DONE"       

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