Wycombe Marsh Memorial Service(picture from SWOP website)
High Wycombe Cemetery
George Harvey 1894 1919
My name is George Harvey and I was born on 4th August 1894 in Flackwell Heath, Buckinghamshire and baptised on 18th March 1895. My parents were James & Eliza nee Goodman. In 1901 I was 6yrs old and living with my family in Flackwell heath. My father was a labourer and other siblings listed were: Rose, Gilbert and Mary. Our father died in 1903.
The 1911 Census shows that I was living with my widowed mother and my older brother James, sister Florry aged 15yrs and two younger sisters, Hilda aged 10yrs and Eva aged 7yrs. We were living at Beech Road, Wycombe Marsh. Me and my brother James were mill hands at a local paper mill.
I enlisted at High Wycombe on 25th May 1915 aged 20 yrs. My short attestation papers show that I was about 53 tall and had some tattoos on my right arm. I joined the 5th Battalion Kings Royal Rifles which was a reserve Battalion and remained in England for the duration of the War. I became Rifleman R/13184. However records show that I was assigned to the 1st Battalion on 31st August 1915 and served on the Western Front. I was involved in many battles including the Battle of the Somme (1st July-18th Nov 1916) and was wounded in action on 27th July 1916. On the day I was wounded the War Diary reads:
At 7.10am after an hour barrage on Delville Wood, the 1st KRRC and 23rd Royal Fusiliers of 99 Brigade, 2nd Division began their advance from the south. By 9am they had occupied a line 50 yds from the northern edge of the wood. This entry shows that I was injured during the Battle of Delville Wood (14July -3 Sept 1916). The fighting here was very ferocious.
I was treated for gunshot wounds to my hands and eyes in Abbeville and then posted back to England in August 1916 possibly on the hospital ship HMS Gloucester Castle as records show I was treated on the ship at some time. A medical board review stated that I had also had a fractured jaw from a shrapnel wound which meant I had problems eating and that I had lost some use in my fingers after the gunshot wounds. I was discharged from Service on 11th May 1917.
I was awarded the Silver badge which was introduced by King George V to honour all military personnel who had served at home or overseas since August 1914 and who had been discharged due to illness or wounds. This was an outward symbol that showed the soldier had fulfilled his duty to his country.
I died from influenza and was buried in High Wycombe Cemetery on 27th February 1919. As I was no longer a serving soldier I was not included on the CWGC website and I do not have a CWGC gravestone. I am buried in an unmarked public grave which seems a great pity. I am remembered on the Wycombe Hospital Memorial Plaque and on the Wycombe Marsh War Memorial.
Researched by Ruth Bowler, Flackwell Local Area History Group
