Merton Court History

Private George Harry Larner

SN: 63097 7TH Battalion Middlesex Regiment

Case file written by Ellie Grigsby

For Mr. Donald Larner, an evening of him hunched over his desk easel, busily sketching with the blunt end of a piece of charcoal under the dim lit working space from a wax dripping candle, was most probably quite the regular routine. Donald Larner was an architect, a significant occupation much like today, which would have most definitely drawn a considerable wage. Donald Larner was able to offer his wife Nellie, and son, born on April 1st, 1899, George Harry, a fairly affluent life-style. The Larner family were living in the town of Leek, Staffordshire, at the time of George’s birth, but were not to plant roots for long. The family’s movement and relocation over the decade following George’s birth was considerable and most probably as a result of Donald’s career. George can be found on the national census of April 1911, residing at Merton Court School, whilst his parents were then currently residing at home in Staffordshire; thus, Larner was a boarder-pupil. Whilst receiving his education at Merton Court, Nellie and Donald made several trips to the U.S without their young son. After Merton Court, at 14 years of age, Larner went on to have a brief career at University College School (UCS); it is here, Larner apparently showed a considerable taste for chemistry.

The UCS roll of honour appears to inform us that Larner was only studying with them from 1913-1915 as he ‘suddenly enlisted into the Border Regiment,’ highlighting he performed ‘garrison duty in England,’ prior to mobilisation to France. Of which battalion of the Border Regiment Larner was serving with, we are unsure, but it seems he was not with them for a long. We know Larner was transferred to the 3rd North Staffordshire Regiment before he first served overseas, but again we are unsure of the exact date. But, the UCS roll of honour, gives us a pin-point location for Larner in July 1915; so, we can attempt to loosely track his movement. The UCS roll of honour states: ‘whilst on garrison duty at herm in the Channel Islands… he sent a book on ‘coins’ to the history bureau library at UCS.’ Looking at the locations of where the 3rd reserve battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment were, around mid-May 1915, we can see they were in Seaham (county Durham) which of course, does not coincide. But, interestingly, the 4th (extra reserve) were stationed at Fort George in Guernsey at the time of Larner posting his book. Fort George, situated in St. Peter Port, was built to become the main island military HQ, and to protect barracks to house the island garrison for the British Army. Herm, a tiny island, is just 3 miles from Guernsey; the only way to arrive, even today, via boat. Getting from A to B, in as little as twenty minutes. If, Larner was somehow here with the extra reserve it would concur with the roll of honour’s information which is precious considering the lack of it for this Private, but of course, we cannot be certain. Frustratingly, we have limited certainty on what Larner’s wartime story was actually like. The majority of British WWI soldier’s Army Service records went up in smoke when the War Office warehouse (the army records centre where they were stored), was hit by a German incendiary bomb in an air raid in early September 1940. For researchers of the Great War, this is catastrophic. It is estimated that as much as 60% of the soldier’s service records were irretrievably damaged or lost completely as a result; it is believed Larner’s service record file perished that very week.

Given that the ‘North Staffs’ was a reserve battalion, Larner proceeded to France with another battalion. This was the Middlesex Regiment, of which Larner was attached to the 7th London Regiment. Given the absence of Larner’s service record, we are unable to establish the exact date of Larner’s arrival on the western front but, we know Larner did not go to France before January 1916 because before this date there is nothing in the ‘star’ column on his medal roll card. The ‘star’ refers to either the ‘1914 star’ or the ’14-15 star’ and any soldier who went to the front before December 31st got one or the other. This means if we use the UCS roll of honour verbatim, Larner did not see overseas service until he was 19 year of age.

The Arnside Street fire changed historical narrative forever, and so, to attempt to gain an understanding of what life may have been like for Larner, it is of immense value to look at another soldier’s story who had the same journey from reserve to overseas deployment, as Larner’s. Private Noah Lysons was a member of the North Staffordshire regiment 3rd battalion, and then transferred, along with 81 other men to the 7th battalion Middlesex regiment – one of those 81 men could have been Larner. Given that Lyson’s service number is in the same ‘batch’ as Larner’s, it is reasonable to assume that George was too amongst this cluster of soldiers who crossed from Dover to Calais on the night of August 7th, 1918.

The war diary of the 7th battalion London Regiment fortunately exists and so we can try and trace Larner’s final footsteps as he first joined his battalion as a reinforcement on the Somme. In a summary of the days leading up to August 25th of 1918 the ‘new comers’ (of which it is highly likely Larner was one of) the soldiers were subject to inspection by the medical officer. On the 16th/17th, those new arrivals, and those who had survived fighting at Malard Wood and Chipilly Ridge, were allotted bath-times at Franvillers, enabling them to have a ‘good wash and shave.’ We can envision a young Private Larner, transitioning from a teenager to a young man whilst at war, trying to barge past the other boys for his spot in front of the mirror to shave away that last piece of foam and stubble from his cheeks.

Then, on Sunday the 18th August, the battalion attended the 174th brigade church service. This was to be the last mass so many men of the battalion attended; to be given a peaceful space for worship, to express their fears with a supreme being and pray for their safety and health of their loved ones. Perhaps Larner was there, kneeling down, hands clasped, as he asked God to spare him as he knew he would soon be on the field. Intense training resumed and from the 19th until the 21st, the men’s days were filled with drill, attack enactments, and time on the rifle range. The battalion left the Round Wood at 06:00am on the 22nd August, moving forwards over the next two days. First to a ridge north-west of Heilly, then to a point on the road from Albert to Amiens, lastly to their final waiting positions before advancement of attack: shell holes south-west of Morlancourt.

At 01:30am on August 25th, the battalion moved forward from their positions to the north end of the Bols de Tailles. Continuing the advance at 08:00am to a position of readiness, east of the Happy Valley. By 19:00pm that evening, the battalion assembled on the ‘right slops’ of the valley with the 6th battalion in support behind the right flank and the 8th battalion in support behind the left flank.

After two days of waging an advance to take over and establish the ‘old British frontline’ from D Copse, difficulties with communication with the Australian soldiers, and slowed down progress due to a bad thunderstorm as the ‘darkness and blinding rain’ made it difficult to keep in touch with allies, and violent counterattacks of machine gun fire, it made for a tough few days fighting. Although the objective was achieved, the war diarist states it was ‘fine work’ shown by his men as it was by all accounts a perilous mission that inflicted ‘heavy casualties.’

As the operation continued at the early hours of 04:55am on August 27th, by 07:35am as Head Quarters moved forward, the situation on the front was still obscure, but ‘prisoners were coming in,’ signalling the ‘Old British front line’ was ‘firmly established there’ by the 5th and 7th battalions. Military success was obtained, but it was on this very day that 19-year-old Private George Harry Larner fell in action. The nature of Larner’s death is unknown but it would be plausible that he was caught in a spray of machine gun fire, dying on the field.

What exactly happened to Larner on that fateful day, we will never know, although existing records inform us that Larner’s body was recovered from the battlefield and buried with a rough wooden cross, alongside several of his comrades. Burying a friend is an alien concept to today’s youth. Today’s youth have little or no experience of witnessing death. Bodies are rarely seen, apart from the fabricated horror we see projected across the cinematic screen; but that is not a real experience. Encountering the intensely traumatic experience of burying a friend, would be disturbing. Larner’s comrades, wanted to do this for him, but also had to. From the military standpoint, identification and burial were matters of both, accounting, and morale. Soldiers’ related by blood and experience in order to draw strength and these bonds formed were powerful and enabled these young boys to do what we understand today to be unthinkable.

We know Larner was buried by his comrades because his body was discovered by a Graves Registration unit almost a year later, on August 21st, 1919. After the armistice, the war left behind uncleared (recent) dead, isolated graves, and a myriad of accidental inhumation. Unmarked mass graves are a bone-chilling concept and thus three tasks faced the Imperial War Graves Commission and the Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries. Charged with concentrating on an estimated 160,000 isolated graves, concentrating small cemeteries into larger ones and locating and identifying the missing estimated at over half a million, was a complex yet poignant mission. There was an enormous public pressure both during and post-war to ensure the recovery, identification and burial of loved ones. It is important to consider the role of remembrance in mediating grief, especially in relation to the missing and the ripple effects that held socio-politically, effecting generations. Post-war exhumation commenced only a fortnight or so after the armistice, but it proved to be difficult for an array of reasons.

Following the discovery, Larner’s body was exhumed and re-buried at Suzanne military cemetery No.3.The very real prospect that many wives and parents had not accepted, was one of the conditions of a professional soldier’s career: the possibility of an unknown grave in a foreign country. No doubt, Donald and Nellie Larner insistently demanded the fullest information as to the location of where their son was buried but through limitation of knowledge were given no answer for almost a year. The novel phenomenon of mass ‘death at a distance’ forced so millions of parents and wives world-wide to encounter this particular type of grief. The human need when death of a loved one has been traumatic is to have recovery and identification of the body to establish certain death, understand a knowledge of how it occurred and realise a focus for the grief. Nellie and Donald had to survive as they were no doubt crushed by the crippling heartache for their lost son, in more than one sense.