Pte 48257 Joseph Harland

He was born in Liverpool in early 1876, the eldest son of Joseph Harland and his wife Mary (née Tonge).  His father, born in Leeds, Yorkshire, and his mother from Liverpool, married in 1873 and had 12 children.  He had an older sister Mary;  Joseph and Mary were baptised together in St. Peter’s, Everton on 23rd August  1876, his parents’ residence 7 Garibaldi Terrace and his father’s occupation listed as painter.  He had younger siblings Frederick (who died at age 1), Thomas, Nellie, Martha, Caroline, Alice (who died in infancy), John, Ruth, Samuel and Dorothy (died in infancy).

 

In 1881 his parents, with three children, are living at 16 Morecambe Street, Anfield, Liverpool. His father 34, is a painter, his mother is 29, Mary is 7, Joseph 5, and Thomas 2.

 

By 1891 the family has moved to 68 Bala Street, Anfield, now with seven children. His father 43, is a house painter, his mother is 38, Joseph is 15, employed as a shop lad (port), Thomas 11 a scholar, Nellie 9 a scholar, Martha 7 a scholar,, Caroline 5 a scholar, John 3, Ruth 1. 

 

His father died in 1896, aged 48.

 

When he was 24, Joseph married Edith Rose Ann Pickering, on 17th April 1900 in St. Philip’s Church.  He gives his occupation as bricklayer, and his address as 2 Rolfe Street.  Their daughter Mary Victoria was born in 1901.

 

The 1901 census finds Joseph at 13 Davenport Street, Toxteth Park, living with his in-laws, John and Ann Pickering.  Joseph is 25, employed as a bricklayer, Edith is 26, born in Liverpool. Their daughter Mary is two months old.

 

The couple had two more daughters and three sons:  Edith Rose Ann, born in 1902, Beatrice Lilian 1904, Joseph Clarence 1906, Thomas Reginald 1908, and John Leslie in early 1911.

 

In 1911 the family is living at 13 Whiteford Street, Liverpool, with six children. Joseph is 35, a jobbing bricklayer, wife Edith Rose Anne is aged 36. They advise that they have been married for 11 years and have had 6 children. All of the children are declared at home; Mary Victoria 10, Edith Rose Anne 8, Beatrice Lillian 6, Joseph Clarence 5, Thomas Reginald 2, and John Leslie 2 months old.

 

Another daughter, Maud Ellen, was born in 1913.  She was baptised in March 1913 with brothers Joseph, Thomas, and John, in St. Margaret’s Church, Anfield. Sadly, baby Maud died at ten months old and was buried in a private grave in Everton Cemetery with her grandfather, Joseph’s father. Another son, Stanley, was born in 1915.

 

Joseph enlisted in Liverpool in the 18th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 48257. Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, Joseph served for 16 months, most likely being conscripted in about November 1916, when he would have been 40 years old, the upper age limit for conscription, which had been introduced in January 1916 for single men between 18 and 40. Married men were initially exempt, but this was changed in June 1916 (and the age limit eventually raised to 51).

 

At some point Joseph was transferred to 19th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment. He was killed in action on the 28^th March, 1918 during the German Spring Offensive. 

The Battalion diary records the events of the day as follows:

During the morning the enemy attacked the troops on our right flank and succeeded in capturing ARVILLERS, menacing our right flank. Three companies of the Battalion had to be immediately echeloned backwards as protection, the Battalion engaging the enemy, who were attempting to come out of ARVILLERS. This position was held during heavy fighting until 2pm when the Battalion was informed that French troops had come into position in the rear. In order for the Division to be relieved the Battalion had to hold their ground whilst the 2^nd Bedfordshire Regt and 2^nd Bn. R.S.F.’s passed through on their way to the rear. At 4pm the Battalion commenced to move off in small parties, passing through the French, and marching through MEZIERES, MOREUIL to MORISEL where hot dinner was provided. The Battalion then formed up and moved up by companies to ROUVREL and were billeted for the night. By this time the total casualties had reached 23 Officers and 457 O.R.

Joseph's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial in France.

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.

 

Edith placed a notice in the Liverpool Echo on 2nd July 1918: 

“Reported killed in action, March 28, aged 42 years, Private Joseph Harland, K.L.R., the beloved husband of Edith Harland. (Dear brave heart, God bless thee, wheresoever in God’s wide universe thou art to-day.  We thank our God upon every remembrance of our dear dad.) - His Wife and seven Children, 13, Whiteford Street.”

His widow Edith received Joseph’s Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £7.  The pension card shows that a £5 grant was paid in April 1918 and a pension of £1-17-11d a week was awarded from October 1918.  However, a note on the pension card dated states, “Pension refused, widow not eligible 12/3/1919”, but no reason given.  It can only be imagined how Edith managed with seven children, the eldest 17 and the youngest not yet three. 

 

Edith never remarried.  In 1939, on the eve of World War Two, now 64, she is still living at 13 Whiteford Street with sons Thomas, 31, an electrical instrument maker, and John, 28, a house furnisher’s clerk.

 

Two of Joseph’s four sons applied for conscientious objector status in WW2.  If Edith had been denied a pension when their father died perhaps it is understandable that the family experienced lingering bitterness or reluctance to sacrifice sons to another war.  

 

On the day war was declared in 1939, Parliament passed the The National Service (Armed Forces) Act, which imposed conscription on all males aged between 18 and 41, who had to register for service. Those medically unfit were exempted, as were others in key industries.  Conscientious objectors had to appear before a tribunal to argue their reasons for refusing to join up. If their cases were not dismissed, they were granted one of several categories of exemption, and were given non-combatant jobs.

His youngest son Stanley, 25, a dock labourer, and married with a child, address Cedar Road, Aintree, was conditionally registered as a C.O. to work on the land (reported in the Liverpool Echo in June 1940).  The Civil Defence Duties Order passed in 1941 required registration as fire wardens, rescue and medical teams, etc.  But in the same newspaper on 5th December 1941:

“For failing to register under the Civil Defence Duties (Compulsory Enrollment) Order, Stanley Eric Harland, aged 25, agricultural worker of Mayfield, Ditton Lane, Moreton, was sent to prison for one month at Wallasey this morning. ...  Harland had been registered as a conscientious objector and had been working satisfactorily on a Morecambe farm.  He objected that the new registration was war service and he did not comply with it.  Asked by the Chairman whether he would now register under the Order, the defendant stated that he was not willing to enrol.”

His eldest son Joseph, married with a child, also applied for Conscientious Objector status.  As reported in the Liverpool Echo on 4th September 1942:

“A Liverpool bricklayer, Joseph Clarence Harland, aged 36, of 250 Townsend Avenue, told the Conscientious Objectors’ Tribunal in Liverpool today that he owed his patriotism to the whole world, and not to any one nation.  He resolutely refused any active cooperation with the Armed Forces.  He added that the objection was founded on a wish not to impose suffering, but when asked by Judge Burgis if he had done anything whatever to relieve suffering, he replied, “Not really”, adding that there would be no suffering if everyone took up his attitude. ... The Chairman, in removing Harland’s name from the register of conscientious objectors, said the applicant was not actuated by conscience, but by self-interest.  Harland said he would appeal.”

 

Unfortunately, no further records have been found so the outcome of the cases is unknown.  All Joseph’s sons, if they served, survived the war. 

 

Edith died in 1944, age 69, leaving effects of £213 to married daughter Mary.  

 

Joseph is commemorated in Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panel 57

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