Pte 24934 Charles Edwin Harvey

Probate:- 

HARVEY Edwin James of the White House Hotel, Dee Banks, near Chester, died 19 September 1908 Probate Chester 1 October to Annie Harvey widow. Effects £274 10s. 

In 1911, Edwin has died and Charles, Percy and Edith live with their widowed mother, now a self-employed milliner and draper, at 2 Kingsley Road, Seacombe. Charles was educated at Bootle Technical College before taking up employment with Lever Brothers (in 1911 he is described as a clerk with a wholesale chemist).

Charles Edwin enlisted in January 1915 joining the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 24934. He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory and 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. He arrived in France on 7^th November 1915.

He was killed on the 14th January 1916 when a grenade exploded prematurely, killing him and two comrades, who were Rhys Roberts and Leonard Brownlie. 

The battalion diary for 14th January 1916 records:

2am 14.01.16 - No.16050 Pte Brownlee L.C. (D Coy), No.15563 Pte Roberts Rees (C Coy), & No. 24934 Pte Harvey C.E. (D Coy) accidentally klled by premature explosion of rifle grenade.   

The Birkenhead News reported the incident: 

Poulton Soldier Accidentally Killed

The casualties suffered by the Liverpool Pals in France include Private Charles Edwin Harvey, of, 240, Poulton Road, Somerville, who lost his life through the premature bursting of a grenade which he and two comrades were preparing to discharge. All three were killed. They belonged to the 17th (1st City) Battalion of the King’s. in which Private Harvey, who was 28 years of age, enlisted in January.

Mrs. Harvey has received many letters expressing deep sympathy in the loss of her second son. Those from the comrades show that he was a very popular member of “D” Company, and that his death is sincerely deplored throughout the battalion. “It is a fearful shock to us all,” writes one of his chums, “for he was immensely popular.” Another, who had come to regard Private Harvey “almost as a brother,” writes evidently under deep stress, and mentions how greatly one of the officers was affected. The circumstances of the accident are described in a letter addressed to Mrs. Harvey by Canon M. Linton Smith of Liverpool, who is serving as chaplain with the 89th Infantry Brigade. He says :- “Private Harvey was killed, along with two of his companions, by the accidental discharge of a bomb which was being prepared to discharge at the enemy. He died instantaneously, suffering no pain. With very great difficulty his comrades carried his body back from the place where the accident happened to battalion headquarters. It took nine hours hard work to convey the three the three-quarters of a mile which separates the two places. The same afternoon I laid him and his comrades to rest in the beautiful little military cemetery near by, which, after the war, will become British property, so that the graves will always be cared for. A carefully made cross, with full inscription, marks each grave, and as long as I am here I shall be personally responsible for seeing that the cemetery is kept in proper order.”

Lever Brothers announced Charles' loss in their staff magazine:

"Private Harvey, a single man, 28 years of age, joined the 17th Service Battalion King's Liverpool Regiment from our Liverpool Branch Office in January 1915. On 21st January this year, news was received of his death in France a week earlier through the remature bursting of a grenade, which also killed two of his comrades. "He was immensely popular" writes a fellow soldier, expressing to his mother the deep sense of loss felt by all of his comrades in arms, which we also feel."
    
Charles now rests at Cerisy Gailly Military Cemetery, Grave II A 7.

Soldiers Effects, Army Pay of £2 16s 11d, and a War Gratuity of £3 went to his mother, Mary Ann. She also received a pension being half impaired. 

He earned his three medals and is commemorated on the following memorials:

Lever Brothers, Port Sunlight.

St Luke’s Church, Poulton, Seacombe.