Harry's Story.
EARLY LIFE
Harry Adkinson was born on 23 August 1888 in Macclesfield, the son of Emily and John James Adkinson, a millwright. In 1891, two-year-old Harry was living at 133, High Street, Macclesfield with his parents and older brother Robert (9).
Harry was educated at Sutton St George (London Road) School. By 1901, the family had moved to 26 North Street. Harry had five sisters - Alice (9), Frances (7), Annie (5), Eliza Mildred (4) and Emily (5 months) - and was working as an errand boy.
When Harry married Jane (Jessie) Savage at St George’s Church, Sutton on 23rd January 1909, he was living at 10 North Street. Their son, also named Harry, was born later that year, while Harry's father died in 1910.
In the 1911 census, Harry was lodging at 1 Bolton Street, Reddish, Stockport, employed as a Stationery Packer; his wife Jane was a boarder at 45 Fence Street, Macclesfield, employed as a cotton hand at Lower Heyes Mill; and little Harry was staying with his widowed grandmother Emily Adkinson at 10 South Street, Macclesfield (she had not moved house; North Street was renamed South Street between 1901 and 1911). Emily died in early 1914, and Harry and Jane had another son, Fred, born in the summer of 1914.
After Harry's death, in 1918 Jane married Arthur Swindells (as Jessie Adkinson) in Stockport and in 1921 the family lived at 18 Epplestone Street, Stockport. It seems that Harry's two sons were split up - young Harry remained in Macclesfield with his aunts and Fred went to live in Stockport with his mother and stepfather.
WW1 SERVICE
Harry served with the 1/7th Cheshire Regiment (Territorial Force) for six years prior to the outbreak of war and was recalled immediately. He transferred to the 5th Cheshire Regiment in January 1915 and was drafted to France, landing there on 15th February 1915. The Battalion went to the Ypres Salient; they were initially attached to the 14th Brigade, but were systematically introduced to war conditions by stages, until they were fit to be entrusted with their own section and during the period 22nd February to 6th April, the 5th Battalion was in trenches in the area of battle.
Harry was recorded by the 14th Field Ambulance as having received a gun shot wound to his left arm on 18th March 1915. He was transferred to No. 8 Casualty Clearing Hospital in Bailleul, where he died from his wounds the following day, 19th March 1915, aged 27 years. The Macclesfield Times reported his death on 1 April 1915, stating that he was the first Macclesfield Territorial to lose his life in the war.
COMMEMORATION
Private Harry Adkinson is buried in Grave Ref J.38 at Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Nord, France. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds casualty details for Private Harry Adkinson, and he is listed on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website.
Harry Adkinson is commemorated in Macclesfield on the Park Green, Town Hall, St Michael's Church and St. George's Church war memorials. Sadly, Harry junior lost his life in World War Two and is also commemorated on the Macclesfield Park Green war memorial.
NOTES
The Macclesfield Express published an article about the Adkinson family in October 2014.
SOURCES
GRO (England & Wales) Index: Births, Marriages, Deaths
Cheshire Parish Marriage Registers : St George's Church, Macclesfield (Find My Past)
Census (England & Wales): 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921
WWI British Army Service Records (Find My Past)
WWI British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects (Ancestry)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
Macclesfield Times: 1 April 1915, 8 October 2014
Research by Rosie Rowley, Congleton.