Harry Bernard Lowe

Harry Bernard was the son of Samuel and Ellen Lowe (née Mitchell). Samuel was born in Cuckney Nottinghamshire, the son of William Lowe, a groom. Ellen was born in Cockfield, Suffolk, the daughter of James Mitchell, a labourer. Samuel and Ellen were married at Marylebone church, London, on 27 July 1874 and had at least seven children: William James b. Retford 23 December 1875 bap. Retford St Swithun 27 February 1876; Rose Helen b. Retford 1887 d. 1892, Samuel George b. Holbeck Woodhouse 28 February 1879; Harry Bernard b. Holbeck Woodhouse 1881; Charles Mitchell b. Belph Derbyshire 2 April 1884 bap. Whitwell 11 May 1884; Horace Eugene b. Belph bap. Whitwell 23 May 1886 and Florence Agnes b. Belph 23 November 1887 bap. Norton Cuckney St Mary 1 July 1888. In 1881 Samuel, an agricultural labourer/cowman, and Ellen (36) and their three children, William (5), Rose (3) and Samuel (2) were living with Samuel's widowed mother, Sarah Lowe, in Holbeck Woodhouse, near Worksop. Also in the household was Sarah's widowed son George (39) and grandson Frederick (11). The family was still living in Holbeck Woodhouse in 1891. In the household were three boarders as well as six of Samuel and Ellen's seven children: Wiliam, Samuel, Harry (9), Charles (8), Horace (5) and Florence (3). Their eldest daughter, Rose Helen (13), was a domestic servant at Woodhouse Hall, Worksop, in the household of William Jamisson, a wood steward, and his wife and family. Rose died aged 14 the following year, 1892 (A/M/J Worksop). Samuel snr. probably died in 1896 and his widow Ellen married John Smith, a farmer and milk dealer, in 1899 (A/M/J Worksop). The same year as his mother's remarriage, Harry Bernard attested in the Royal Army Medical Corps (12723) on 20 November (1899). He joined at Aldershot the following day, serving in No. 5 Company. Harry was discharged from Netley on 19 June 1900 as medically unfit for further service having served for 212 days. He was discharged to his mother's address, Holbeck Wood House, Cuckney. By the time of the 1901 census only four of the seven surviving children, William a bricklayer, Charles a colliery screen labourer, Horace a milkman and Florence, were still living with their mother Ellen (57) and stepfather, John Smith (71), at Holbeck Woodhouse and by 1911 only the youngest child, Florence, remained in the home. Ellen Smith may have died in 1929. Harry Bernard has not yet been traced on either the 1901 or 1911 Census and it is possible he had already emigrated to Canada. He married Florence Mary Anne Lowe (b. 8 March 1882) in Ontario. The CWGC record gives her address as 620 Ontario Street, Toronto, Ontario. Florence died on 7 November 1972. Of Harry Bernard's five surviving siblings: William James, a mason and bricklayer was living in Norton Cuckney in 1911 with his wife Emily (b. 31 December 1878); they had been married for seven years and had had one child who had died. In 1939 they were living in Holbeck Woodhouse with their son Henry J. (b. 8 September 1918) a joiner and carpenter. William probably died in 1944 (J/F/M Worksop). Samuel George probably married Millicent Hornby on 30 November 1906 in Chorlton Register Office, Manchester, and in 1911 they were living with their two children, Samuel George (b. 25 May 1907) and Millicent Ellen (2), in Didsbury, Manchester, where he was a bowling green gardener. Samuel and Millicent probably had at least four more children: Wiliam E b. 1 April 1909, Florence Janet b. 7 June 1912, Charles H b. 20 April 1920 and Arthur E b. 1923. Samuel attested on 11 November 1914 in the Army Service Corps (24651) and was posted to the East Lancs. Division ASC. He was demoblized on 23 April 1919 to 12 Ladysmith Road, Didsbury. In 1939 he and Millicent were living in Ardwick, Manchester; both were fish fryers, probably in their own business. Samuel died in 1952 (A/M/J Manchester). Charles Mitchell has not been traced in the UK after the 1901 Census and probably emigrated to Canada before the war. There is a record of a Charles Mitchell Lowe sailing from the UK, serving in the Canadian Forces in the war, on the Ontario marriages register and the 1921 Census of Canada (transcriptions not sighted). Horace Eugene emigrated to New Zealand, sailing from London to Wellington onboard SS Corinthic on 24 July 1907. There is a registration of the death of a Horace Eugene Lowe in New Zealand in 1962. Florence Agnes married Arthur Wensley (b. 4 August 1890) in 1912 (A/M/J Worksop) and in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled was living in Pickering, Yorkshire, with her husband Arthur was clerk of works for the Forestry Commission. She probably died on 30 September 1966 (Probate, residence Hampshire).