235397 Sgt. Henry Percy Harris MMBritish Army 8th Btn. Devonshire Regiment from:Rose Cottage, Whitford, Nr Combpyne, Devon (d.17th November 1917) This is an extract from the book "For Our Tomorrow" about Combpyne-Rousdon in the First World War.
Henry Harris was born in Combpyne in the spring of 1893, the first child of Eli and Amelia (Minnie) Harris, who went on to have a further ten children together. The Harris’s were long time residents of Combpyne having been in the village since at least the beginning of the nineteenth century. The family lived at Little Bulmoor Farm where Eli was a carter. By 1911 Henry had left home and lodged with coachman Charles Honeybun and his family in Chard Street, Axminster, working as a farm labourer. At some point Henry moved to Rose Cottage in Whitford and began work on the Rousdon Estate (39). No record of a marriage has been found but between 1911 and 1914 Henry decided to become a regular soldier and joined the 1st Battalion the Devonshire Regiment. He was with his battalion in Jersey when war was declared and entered the ‘theatre of war’ on 22 August 1914. His regimental number, 9430, suggests he joined up in 1912, possibly initially as a territorial.
The 1st Devons landed at Le Havre on 22 August, where they joined ‘lines of communication’ defence troops, part of the BEF. Henry was rapidly in combat however as the battalion took part in the Battle of Le Cateau on 26th August, helping to hold up the German advance into France, and the Battle of the Marne in the second week of September which pushed back the Germans from the outskirts of Paris. Later in the autumn the battalion saw action at La Bassée and took part in the stand at Festubert.
My research has found that he received the Military Medal for gallantry on the Western Front where he was wounded, repatriated to England to recover, which was when he died.
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