Harry Edward Tripp
A Rifleman with 1/5th Bn., Harry died on 25th of January 1917 at the age of 36.
Harry was born at Lowestoft in 1881, a son of Harry Edward and Mary Ann Tripp. He was baptised at Saint Peter's Church, Kirkley, on 25 December 1881. In 1891 his family lived at 80 High Street, Lowestoft, and this was still their home in 1901 when Harry was an elementary school teacher (an ex pupil teacher). Later his parents lived at 137 Saint Peter's Street, Lowestoft.
By 1910 Harry had moved to London. He became a member of the London Institute of Music and was also a member of the London Oratorio Concert Association. Many newspapers reports from 1910 to 1915 tell of Harry's appearances at various concerts in the London area. In 1912, at a concert for the Edmonton P.S.A. Harry sang "At Last" and "The King of Love" - the latter piece being encored. In March 1915 he sang at a concert at Ealing County Council School and 'he sang with all his accustomed skill and feeling - "The Floral Dance", "Santa Barbara", and, finest of all "Friend" (see the Middlesex County Times 4 March 1915). He was also described as 'the popular Alexandra Palace tenor.'
By 1911 Harry was living at 104 Palmers Road, New Southgate, and he worked as an elementary school teacher for Middlesex County Council. Harry married Ethel Vincent in early 1916. They lived at The Limes, Bowes Road, New Southgate, and later Ethel lived at 37, Limes Avenue, New Southgate, London.
Harry enlisted in the Army at Harringay. He joined the London Regiment. He was posted to the 1/5th Battalion, service number 4302, and served in France from 29 August 1916 and would have joined the Battalion, in the field, by mid-September 1916. Harry served with B Company.
The 1/5th Battalion arrived in the Laventie area on 15 January 1917. From 20 January they were at work in the trenches and they held two 'posts', one named Banetand the other Enfield. These posts were often the target for enemy shelling or activity. While we do not known, precisely, when Harry was wounded, evidence from the Battalion War Diary shows that it could only have been on 22 January, two men wounded; 23 January, three men wounded; or 24 January, when 14 men were wounded. An original Commonwealth War Graves Commission document suggest that Harry and Privates Simmonds and Seward actually died on 24 January and it is possible that Harry was wounded in the German attack on the front line posts on 24 January.
Some of Harry's service records give his number as 302557. This was a number issued under the renumbering of the Territorial Force in 1917. Many other records show his original number, 4302.
Harry Tripp
137
St Peters Street
Lowestoft
United Kingdom
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