Henry worked for Lloyds Bank before the First World War and lived at ‘Neston’, Selbourne Drive in Douglas. A promotion took him to the Liverpool branch, and upon the outbreak of war he enlisted in the Liverpool Pals Brigade. He was soon offered a commission as an officer with the Manchester Regiment and it was with the 21st battalion of this regiment (the Manchester Pals) that he was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916, aged 31. He was shot through the heart leading his men at the start of the great push at Mametz Wood and is buried in Dantzig Alley British Cemetery, Mametz. His father had the words, “A true Manx gentleman and loved by all who knew him” inscribed on his headstone. His Captain, Charles Hobson, wrote to his parents saying, “It was our unfortune that he was with the regiment such a short time but I can assure you that during that short time no officer could have gained such popularity and respect with his men as he did, and there was not a minute of his short life that he did not do everything in his power to assist and support me.”
Gillian Fowler