203507 Pte L A Harris, Essex Regiment

I picked up the Victory Medal to this man about eighteen months ago; part of a job lot from the second-hand market in Chelmsford.  I wrote about Stephen Smeeton - another component of the job lot - yesterday.  This is Leslie Harris's story.

The medal index card gives this man's name as Leslie, and little else.  He was entitled to the British War and Victory Medals and so did not arrive overseas until 1916 at the earliest.  His number - 203507 - belongs to the series allocated to the 4th Battalion, Essex Regiment, and I know from my own research into army numbers that this number was not issued until after May 1917. 

There are surprisingly few candidates for Leslie A Harris recorded in the GRO's birth records. The most compelling candidate appears to be Leslie Arnold Harris who was born in Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire and who appears on the 1911 census as a 12-year-old living with his family at 64 Salisbury Avenue, Rochford, Essex.  This would have made him an 18-year-old conscript in 1917.

The owner of my Victory medal certainly survived the war and, I believe, died in 1961.  There is a death for a 61-year-old Leslie A Harris recorded in the Brentwood District in the June quarter of that year.

Cap badge courtesy of North-East Medals.

'Missing' family medals

If not already in good hands within the family, I seek the medals for the following relatives:

3819 Pte Herbert Richard Hallam, 20th Hussars, later Z/211 Pte, Rifle Brigade.
My paternal great grandmother's brother, Bertrand Elam enlisted under the pseudonym, Herbert Richard Hallam, on 2nd November 1894. He earned the QSA with clasps 1901, 1902, Orange Free State and Transvaal whilst serving with the 20th Hussars, and during WW1 added the 1914 Star, and British War & Victory medals to his collection. He later served with the Rifle Brigade, Gloucestershire Regiment (pictured above) and Royal Defence Corps.



S/18321 Pte John Frederick Nixon, 8th London Regiment.
My great uncle, John F Nixon, was attached to the 8th London Regiment when he was killed in action on 3rd October 1918. Jack, as he was known to his family and friends, has no known grave and is commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois memorial in France. He was entitled to the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and a memorial plaque would also have been sent to his next of kin. In the undated photograph above, Jack Nixon stands next to his brother Sid. A photo of Jack in army uniform has recently come to light. See header on Army Ancestry Latest.


34714 Pte Alfred Arthur Nixon, Essex Regiment.
My great uncle, A A Nixon was entitled to the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the Territorial Force War Medal. The photograph above dates to 1916. Alf Nixon is flanked by his brothers Edgar Albert Nixon (RFC) and Walter Leonard Nixon (RGA). Walter Nixon was my grandfather.


DM2/137673 Private Charles Arthur Roberts, Army Service Corps.
My maternal great grandfather, Charles A Roberts was entitled to the British War Medal and Victory Medal. The photograph above was taken "somewhere in France"; date unknown.


A/Capt Alfred Eldred Iliffe MC, Bedfordshire Regiment
Alfred Iliffe went to the Balkans in 1915 as 1630 Pte A E Iliffe with the 1/1 Suffolk Yeomanry. He was later commissioned into the Bedfordshire Regiment and would win the MC in 1918. I seek his 1915 Star (Suffolk Yeo), his British War and Victory Medals (Beds Regt) and his Military Cross.

Alfred is distantly related. His mother was a maternal great-grandmother's sister.