46384 Private John James Harris

46384 Private John James Harris was born in Hanley in 1889, he was one of two children to Henry Charles Harris & Hannah Mould, Henry and Hannah married in 1885 in All Saints church, Odd Rode, Hannah died in 1896 when John was 7 years of age, Henry died in 1910 in Wirral. In 1901 John lived with his grandfather in Mow Cop, then in 1911 John was in lodgings with Arthur and Alice Mould (his Uncle & Aunt) at Wood Street, Mow Cop, his occupation was a Coal Miner Hewer he was unmarried.

John enlisted in Cheshire after 1916, there are no surviving Military records for him and his Medal Index Card doesn’t give a lot of details, only that he was entitled to the Victory Medal and the British War Medal, he was killed on the 25^th March 1918 age 29, his body was never found, he has no known grave, he is remembered on the Arras Memorial, France.

Written on the Medal Index Card is: Lancashire Fusiliers Regiment request authority for disposal of medals dated 20.11.22, this means there either was no record of family to send the medals to, or the family refused to have them, so John’s medals were never struck and never issued.