At the time of the 1901 census the family have moved to Liverpool and are living at 44 Micawber Street, Toxteth Park, Liverpool. His father, Elijah, is aged 30, a police constable born in Middlewich, mother Eliza is aged 30 also born in Middlewich. They have three children, Harry is 3, Frank Cooke is 2 and Charlotte W. Cooke aged 6 months were born in Liverpool. Also in the household is his grandmother Charlotte Cooke, aged 65, a retired dressmaker, born in Knutsford. 

Harry attended Upper Park Street School in Toxteth Park and after he turned 12 was admitted to Liverpool Collegiate School as a day scholar in September 1909. He left the school in July 1912.

The 1911 Census record records the family living at 50 Elaine Street Liverpool. His father Elijah is aged 40, born 1871 in Middlewich, Cheshire,  occupation Police Constable, whilst his mother Eliza is aged 40, born 1871 in Middlewich. Cheshire. They have three children, Harry aged 13, born 1898, in Middlewich, Frank aged 12, born 1899 and Charlotte W aged 10, born 1901 both born in Liverpool are all still at school. Also living at the property is Harry's grandmother Charlotte Cooke now showing as being aged 73.

Harry enlisted in Liverpool and was serving in the 17th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 51587 when he was killed in action on the 12th October 1916 aged 19 during the Battle of the Transloy Ridges which was part of the ongoing Somme Offensive.

17^th Bn War Diary:  Battle of Transloy Ridge –                                               

11-10-16 - Gird Trench/Gird Support – Battalion in front line and support trenches. British bombardment of enemy front line system commenced about midday.  Hostile shelling was intermittent throughout the day.

12-10-16  - Our bombardment continued. Enemy reply weak.  2.5 p.m. Zero hour. Attack on German front line system commenced.  Enemy wire was found to be uncut and attack was unsuccessful.  Hostile machine gun fire was very heavy and caused many casualties. Battalion H.Q. and Support Trench were heavily shelled throughout afternoon and evening. […] During this action all communication had to be carried out by runners and carrier pigeons as all wires were being continually cut by enemy shelling.

Casualties: 5 officers killed,  5 officers wounded, 38 OR killed, about 225 OR wounded/missing etc.

Graham Maddocks, in “Liverpool Pals” p.140, adds:

“As the whistle blew, the 17^th Battalion left its trenches to move forward.  […]  As soon as the attacking waves left their trenches the enemy artillery began to register on them, and at the same time, the defending infantry commenced a murderous rain of fire.  […]  Although their numbers had been depleted by the British bombardment, they were trained and experienced soldiers, well dug in on high ground, and for the most part, looking out on uncut wire.  As such, it was virtually impossible for them to miss the City Battalion men struggling to advance in the mud towards them.   The 17^th Battalion, on the left, was particularly badly hit, as its portion of No Man’s Land contained a slight rise in the ground, and as the troops emerged onto it they were silhouetted against the sky and became easy targets.  Those on the left of the attack, who managed to avoid the hail of bullets and make it to the German wire, then found that it was totally uncut, and thus trapped, they too became easy targets, to be picked off almost at the enemy’s will.  It was hardly surprising that, seeing the first waves being wiped out, some of the following waves turned back and made for their start lines. These lines were now packed with other waves of troops, however, and the fleeing men added to the congestion already there, and became easy prey for the German gunners.  There is some evidence also, to suggest that at this stage, the British trenches were also being hit by their own heavy artillery shells which were falling short.” 

Harry's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

An online memorial site (Middlewich-heritage.org.uk) states that Harry enlisted at the age of 18 and was sent to France at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, but this has not been verified. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he served for no more than a year before he was killed.

On the first anniversary of his death a notice was placed in the Liverpool Daily Post, perhaps by a sweetheart:

“In loving memory of Rifleman H. Preston (Harry) (K.L.R.), who fell in action October 12, 1916.  (To memory ever dear.) - Ethel.”

His Army pay and a War Gratuity of £3 went to his father. His mother was awarded a pension of 6/- a week from June 1917, her address at that time still 50 Elaine Street. His parents later moved to Newton Hall Cottage, St. Ann’s Road, Middlewich.

In 1939 his parents, both 69, are at “Wynroy”, St. Ann’s Road, Middlewich.  His father is retired.  Living with them is married daughter Charlotte and her family.

His father died in 1949, at the age of 79, and his mother in 1950, aged 80.

Harry is commemorated on the following Memorials:

BICC Rod Rollers, Prescot

Liverpool Collegiate School, Everton.

He is also remembered on the family gravestone in Middlewich Cemetery -

      TREASURED MEMORIES OF 

        ALSO HARRY THEIR SON

             KILLED IN ACTION

12TH OCT. 1916, AGED 19 YEARS

Harry’s name was initially omitted from the Middlewich War Memorial and Roll of Honour.  As a result of research by Geoff Page and Philip Andrews of Middlewich Heritage, Harry was one of 14 men whose names were added for the centennial commemorations in 1918.