240606 Rifleman Percy Harold Harwood, 6th King's Liverpool Regiment
- Amanda T
- May 25, 2020
- 3 min read
Identification
There were two CWGC entries for Percy H Harwood, both men were called Percy Harold but one was from Liverpool and the other from Somerset.
Family Information
Percy Harold Harwood was born on 26th Sept 1895 in Liverpool. His baptism record shows he was baptised on 13th October in the church of St Michael. His parents Alfred, a clerk, and Charlotte lived at 19 Parliament Place.
The 1901 census shows the Harwood family still living at 19 Parliament Place and consisted of Alfred aged 37 and employed as a railway porter, Charlotte aged 39, Gertrude M Harwood aged 13, Percy H Harwood aged 15 an Annie D Harwood age 6 months.
The 1911 census shows that the family had moved to 43 Upper Parliament Street. Alfred was working as a warehouseman, all four of their children were alive and three of them were living with Alfred and Charlotte; Percy Harold aged 15, Annie Dora aged 10 and George aged 6.
Military Information
Percy H Harwood's medal card shows that he was a private in the King’s Liverpool Regiment with the regimental numbers 2250 and 240606. It shows that he was eligible for the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the 1915 Star. It is noted that the 1915 Star was under the rank of rifleman while the others were as private.
The fact that Percy was renumbered from a 4 digit number to a 6 digit number within the same battalion shows that he was a member of the TF (Territorial Force) which was the volunteer reserve component of the British Army. The number 240606 is in the block allocated to the 5th Battalion but we know that he also served in the 6th Battalion.
The card also shows that he first entered the theatre of war on 24/2/1915 in France.
The following information from the KLR database at the Museum of Liverpool was originally taken from the 6th KLR casualty ledger. It shows that Percy was admitted to hospital in Ypres due to sickness, on 6th April 1915 and was discharged to duty on 8th April 1915. He was wounded in action on 28th June 1916 with shrapnel wounds to his left leg, he was admitted to 1/3 West Lancs Field Ambulance the following day. He could not have been seriously injured as he rejoined his battalion the same day (29th June 1916) He was readmitted to the Field Ambulance on the 3rd July 1916 with a shrapnel wound in his left leg and rejoined his battalion on 11th July 1916.
Death and Commemoration
Just two months after rejoining his battalion after medical treatment, Percy Harwood was reported missing in action on 19th September 1916. One month later on the 19th October 1916 the following was printed in the Liverpool Echo:
On 9/6/1917 his death was, for official purposes, presumed to have happened on or since 19th Sept 1916.
Percy Harwood has no known grave, his name is inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
The 6th KLR War Diary for the day Percy Harwood went missing is very brief, giving us no information about how the casualties and missing men were incurred.
19/9/1916
Battalion arrived at YORK TRENCH about 1am and remained throughout the day. Weather cold and wet. Casualties OR 14 wounded, 4 missing.
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