Pte 38434 Andrew Harron

An online family tree gives his mother’s maiden name as Love, and states his parents married in 1877 but this cannot be verified.

 

Andrew had older siblings William and Elizabeth, and a younger sister Maggie Jane. The family was Church of Ireland (Protestant).

 

On the 1901 census the family is found in house 9 Drumerail, Ballintra, Donegal, about one mile from Bridgetown. His father Alexander, 45, and his brother William,16, are agricultural labourers, his mother is 37, Elizabeth is 13, Andrew 10, and Maggie 5.  None of the family is literate. 

 

Andrew Harron, age 22, farm labourer, of Bridgetown, is found on a passenger list on the S.S. Ionian sailing from Londonderry on 22nd March 1910, and arriving at Boston on 1st April.  (However, his stated age does not agree with his age at death, per CWGC. Others of the same name give different birthplaces or different father’s name.)  He gives his next of kin as Alex. Harron, Bridgetown, Co. Donegal, and his destination his cousin Wm. Harron, 12 Shield Street, Woburn (Mass.). Andrew is described as 5’ 9” tall, with a ruddy complexion, fair hair, and hazel eyes. On the literacy question, Andrew states that he cannot read.

 

At 12 Shield Street on the 1910 census (taken on 16th April, two weeks after his arrival) is William Harron, 32, his wife Cassie, and daughter Dora. Andrew is not listed.

 

Andrew had left the family home by the time of the 1911 Census.

There are crew records for Andrew showing his job as a greaser.

Name:  Andrew Harron

Port of Departure:  Valparaiso, Chile

Arrival Date: 06th October 1908

Port of Arrival: Liverpool, England

Ports of Voyage: Coruna; Valparaiso; Lisbon; Antofagasta; St Vincent; Santa Cruz; Lota; Port Stanley; Montevideo; Rio de Janeiro and La Pallice

Ship Name: Oravia

Shipping Line: Pacific Steam Navigation Co

He enlisted in Liverpool and was serving in the 19th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 38438 when he was killed in action on the 23rd June, 1917 aged 27.

By June 1917, the 19^th Battalion was in the Ypres salient, in the front line south of Hooge. On the 10^th June, the 19^th Battalion is relieved in the line and marches back to Brandhoek. The Battalion War Diary for 23^rd June records:  

 “At night practically all the battalion were out on a working party digging an assembly trench and suffered casualties:  7 OR killed, 13 OR wounded, 1 OR missing.” 

Andrew was one of the 7 other ranks  killed, the others being George Ashbrook, Norman Garside, Harold Hart, Harold Mathison, Frederick Owen and Joseph Spencer mentioned in the Battalion diary.

Andrew was buried near to where he fell, and after the war, when graves were concentrated, his body was exhumed and reburied in Perth China Wall Cemetery, where he now rests. (The Graves Registration report gives date of death as 23/8/1917.)

The cemetery was begun by French troops in November 1914 (the French graves were removed after the Armistice) and adopted by the 2nd Scottish Rifles in June 1917. It was called Perth (as the predecessors of the 2nd Scottish Rifles were raised in Perth), China Wall (from the communication trench known as the Great Wall of China), or Halfway House Cemetery. The cemetery was used for front line burials until October 1917 and contained 130 graves. It was not used again until after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from the battlefields and smaller cemeteries around Ypres.  There are now 1,426 WW1 Commonwealth burials in the cemetery.

 

His death was announced in the Londonderry Sentinel on 25th September 1917 and in the Larne Times on 29th September:

“Private Andrew Harron, King’s Liverpool Regiment, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Alex. Harron, Bridgetown, Co. Donegal.  He came from America and joined the Colours at the outbreak of war.”

 

His mother Elizabeth received his Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £4-10s.

 

Andrew is commemorated on Ireland’s National Roll of Honour.