Major Fred Harrison, Royal Engineers

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, PE, MInstRE
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(July 2020)

Researching Captain Harrison’s life and military service was a challenge. It started with the acquisition of his 1914 Star medal, which he received for service in the Great War of 1914-1918. The medal was purchased in 1984 and it was not accompanied by the British War Medal and Victory medal, two medals to which he would have been entitled for his service. Very little was done to research his life and service until just recently. What made research efforts difficult was the naming on the medal which consisted only of:

The lack of a middle initial certainly made things difficult and Harrison is not an uncommon name as I was to find out. What lead to the breakthrough in the research project was the HON in his rank standing for Honorary. By chance I found an Honorary Lieutenant by the name of F. Harrison in the February 1915 edition of the Army List under STAFF FOR ROYAL ENGINEER SERVICES. This find enabled me to produce the narrative that follows.

2. EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION

Definitive information about his early life and family could not be found during this research work mostly because there are very many men named Fred Harrison. Using Ancestry.com and searching for men by this name in the United Kingdom did not produce “reliable” results. Through a research service known as Forces War Records, a hospital admissions record for a Captain F. Harrison, Royal Engineers was located. The record was dated 1917 and it indicated that he was 29 years of age, thus making his year of birth 1888 if this was truly his age in 1917. More information regarding this hospital record will be provided in a subsequent section of this narrative. The information contained in the record was important because it validated other information that was discovered about Harrison.

The 1911 Census of England and Wales shows a young man by the name of Fred Harrison, a 21-year old “Engineer,” living with his parents at 8 York Place on York Street in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Major Fred Harrison would have been 23 years of age in 1911, assuming that his birth year of 1888 is correct, so there is a difference of 2 years in their ages.[1] The only significant link between the men is the profession of Engineer, although the address of Fred Harrison in the census is significant since a man by that name married a woman by the name of Anne Battersby in Halewood, Liverpool, a town only 78 miles to the west of Wakefield. As will be shown in Section 7 of this narrative, there is Fred Harrison with a wife by the name of Anne found aboard a ship bound for New York in 1939. The author realizes that there is much conjecture associated with these links and that they may or may not be links to the main subject of this research; however, they are presented here for the reader to consider and to decide if the two Harrisons are one in the same man.

Harrison was not commissioned in the ordinary manner, nor did he receive any military training before entering the Army. To understand how he came to serve in the Great War one must know something about the unit in which he served; that is, the Works Directorate of the Corps of Royal Engineers.

The Headquarters of the Works Directorate mobilized on the 5^th of August 1914 at the Kensington Palace Hotel in London. It consisted of Brigadier General A.M. Stuart, CB, [2] the Director of Works (D.W.), with two officers and nine other ranks.

Stuart and his headquarters party left London for Southampton on the 9^th of August 1914. Prior to leaving they did a considerable amount of work in collecting information as to the types of buildings likely to be required on the Line of Communication in France. The D.W. had an interview with the Quartermaster General during this period, who instructed him to act, on mobilization, directly under the orders of the Inspector General of Communications (I.G.C.).[3]

Figure 1. Brigadier General Andrew Mitchell Stuart, CB, R.E.
(Photograph courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery)

Stuart’s party arrived at Havre on the 10^th of August 1914. He worked with the French to make preliminary arrangements for the reception of troops of the British Expeditionary Force. These arrangements consisted of the selection of camping grounds, hospitals, field bakeries, remount depots, veterinary hospitals, post offices, offices buildings and billets, as well as provisions for water supply.

The only units of the Royal Engineers placed at the disposal of the D.W. at this time were the 20^th Fortress Company and the 29^th Works Company.[4] A number of R.E. officers were attached to the Works Directorate to superintend the work to be carried out. At one time shortly after Stuart set up his headquarters in France he had as many as 15 senior officers and 20 junior officers of the Royal Engineers at his disposal. However, owing to the heavy casualties at the front, most of these officers, and especially the junior ones, were drawn upon to fill vacancies in field companies and other R.E. units in Corps and Division areas.[5]

Since few R.E. units were available to do the work required by the Works Directorate it was necessary to contract the work out to British and French firms. The lack of Regular Army officers of the Royal Engineers to supervise the work of these contractors also was a problem. Therefore, for supervision of the contract work professional men, civil and mechanical engineers, architects and surveyors all with experience in civil life were selected by the War Office and commissioned under the designation “Temporary Inspectors of Works.”[6] These men would receive direct commissions as Honorary Lieutenants and would not receive any military training before going to France. They would form what was to be known as the Staff for Royal Engineer Services.[7] Fred Harrison was one such professional man. He was appointed an Honorary Lieutenant, Inspector of Works on the 15^th of November 1914. The details of his professional qualifications are unknown, but he must have been an engineer or in a profession associated with construction or other technical services in order to be designated an Inspector of Works.[8]

The first Director of Works Staff Officer to disembark in France was Honorary Captain Samuel Roberts, Inspector of Works. He arrived on the 15^th of October 1914. Roberts was 40 years old at the time that he arrived in France and unfortunately he died on the 6^th of December 1914.[9]

The first batch of Honorary Lieutenants, Inspectors of Works, five in number, arrived in France on the 26^th of November.[10] The date of Harrison’s arrival is open for some debate. His Medal Index Card (M.I.C.) indicates that he arrived in France on the 21^st of October; however, the R.E. medal roll for his 1914 Star shows his date of disembarkation for eligibility to receive the medal as the 21^st of November 1914. There are nine other Inspectors of Works listed on the same roll with a date of disembarkation of the 21^st of November, so it is obvious that the handwritten date entry on Harrison’s M.I.C. is in error. No medal roll has been found to substantiate the entry in the book Work Under the Director of Works that indicates that the first five Honorary Lieutenants arrived on the 26^th of November. The other officers who arrived in France on the same date as Harrison were:

Another officer, Honorary Lieutenant and Quartermaster W. Reid, 29^th Works Company, also disembarked on or about this date.

The services of these officers proved invaluable to the efforts of the Works Directorate in France. Additional officers followed at short intervals making a total of 20 and by the spring of 1915 there were 40 Inspectors of Works in France.

Some mention has already been made regarding the types of facilities for which these officers were responsible. Work Under the Director of Works provides a comprehensive list of these facilities and the technical responsibilities of the Directorate, to include the following:

The area of accommodation for troops was an important responsibility and mainly involved the design and erection of structures known as “huts.” The Great War brought about much innovation in this area and a number of engineer officers designed portable buildings that were used during the war and long after the war. Captain R. G. Brocklehurst, R.E.S.[12] was responsible for the design of two such huts generically known as light portable buildings. Brocklehurst was the officer in charge of the Design Branch at the Director of Work’s Headquarters. His design was considered to be the standard pattern light hutting suitable for latrines, ablutions and small cook-houses. They were constructed of timber and corrugated metal sheets in the workshops of the District Engineers and sent out to bases throughout France and Belgium as needed. Brocklehurst also was responsible for the design of “Forest” huts to provide living quarters in forest camps. This hut, which was 26 feet by 13 feet, was turned out in large numbers by French contractors.[13]

“Liddell Huts,” or the Liddell Portable Hut, was designed and patented by a Works Officer, Major Guy Liddell, R.E. This hut consisted of self-contained panels of boarding or corrugated iron on a timber framework.[14]

“Nissen Bow Huts” were designed by Captain Peter Norman Nissen, DSO, R.E. (6 August 1871 – 2 March 1930). Nissen was a Canadian-American-British mining engineer and inventor. He held a number of patents for his inventions and developed the Nissen hut prefabricated shelter during the Great War. He was the Officer Commanding the 29^th Advanced Park Company, R.E. when he completed the design. These huts were 27 feet by 15 feet, semi-circular in shape and covered with bent corrugated iron sheets. The floor of the hut consisted of 1-inch boards on 4-inch by 2-inch joists made up in panels measuring 4 feet by 6 feet 9 inches. The whole structure rested on a foundation composed of 7-inch by 4-inch sleeper joists. Many improvements were made by Captain Nissen in the hut from time to time, but the changes did not materially affect the original design.[15]

Figure 2. Nissen Talking to Acting Company Sergeant Major Frederick T.E. Skinn, 29th (Advanced Park) Company, R.E. in Front of a Nissen hut in 1917.
(Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia)

Another notable design was the “Rootham” Steel Aeroplane Shed by Captain H.W. Rootham, R.E.S. while he was employed in the Director of Works Headquarters office. This was a light steel shed with a 60-foot span intended principally for housing aircraft.

The rather lengthy list of Works facilities and services above makes it clear just how essential the Works Directorate was to the support of the Army in the field. The Inspectors of Works were spread far and wide supervising the construction and maintenance of these various facilities and inspecting their operations. Primary bases where they were posted include Amiens, Rouen, Boulogne, Havre, Etaples, Calais and Paris with many smaller bases located throughout France and Belgium. Without access to Harrison’s service papers it is not possible to know precisely where he served. Even with his papers only the major bases to which he was assigned might be known without ever knowing which smaller bases he might have worked at. It is thought that he was posted to the base at Le Havre. The reasoning behind this assumption will be explained subsequently. Details of the works undertaken at the base at Le Havre may be found in Annex C at the end of this narrative.

Apparently Harrison performed his assigned duties in an exemplary manner. He was promoted Honorary Captain (except for pay and allowances) on the 24^th of January 1916.[16] In the London Gazette dated 4 January 1917 he was mentioned in the 13 November 1916 despatch of General Sir Douglas Haig for distinguished service and devotion to duty. This despatch was written at the conclusion of the major, but very costly, offensive on the Somme.

The Works Directorate controlled many units on the Line of Communication in France and Belgium (see Annex A). Some of the major units employed were Artisan Works Companies. The personnel of Artisan Works Companies were unarmed. They were well over military age but fit for general service. They were all artisans and received no military training. The companies were formed slowly owing to the problems of recruiting. By the end of 1916 only 2 Officers and 80 Other Ranks had arrived in France to form the nucleus of the 51^st and 52^nd Artisan Works Companies. In the spring of 1917 it appears that Harrison may have joined one of these companies on a temporary basis.

The London Gazette of 13 May 1917 contained an entry indicating that Temporary Inspector of Works and Honorary Captain F. Harrison was transferred from the Staff for Royal Engineer Services to be Temporary Captain. This entry appears to indicate that he left the R.E. Services Staff and was posted to an R.E. unit in the field. On the 11^th of September 1917 he was admitted to the 2^nd General Hospital (officers) at Le Havre with colic.[17] His admission number was 1035 and his age on the admission form was noted to be 29 years.[18] The form also indicates that his had three years of service and that his number of months with the Field Force was 36. His unit is indicated on the admissions form as Artisan Works Company. There were two Artisans Works Company in France at the time working under the Directorate of Works; the 51^st at Havre and the 52^nd at Boulogne. He had probably been posted to one of these companies on temporary duty; hence, the 13 May 1917 London Gazette announcement of his transfer out of the R.E. Services Staff. He was discharged from the hospital and returned to duty on the 21^st of September 1917[19] and probably returned to the Artisan Works Company in which he had been serving. Since he was in hospital at Le Havre and this is where the 51^st Artisan Works Company was located in 1917, it is most likely that he returned to this unit.

On the 15^th of August 1918 Harrison was appointed Deputy Assistant Director of Works (Class BB) and Temporary Major while he was so employed in this position.[20] Posting to this position indicates that he probably was serving in a 1^st or 2^nd Class Engineer District in the Works Directorate in France, again, probably at Le Havre. The Commanding Royal Engineer (C.R.E.) of these districts was a Lieutenant Colonel and as the Deputy Assistant Director Major Harrison would have been second-in-command. The staff of the 1^st and 2^nd Class Engineer Districts consisted of the following personnel:[21]

The units operating under 1^st and 2^nd Class Engineer Districts included the following:[22]

Harrison worked as a Deputy Assistant Director of Works until the 1^st of January 1919 when he was appointed Assistant Director of Works (Class X) and Temporary Lieutenant Colonel, while so employed.[23] In this position he could have served as the C.R.E. of a 1^st or 2^nd Class Engineer District as described above or as the C.R.E. of a 3^rd Class Engineer District. The 3^rd Class Engineer District was composed of the following elements, similar to the 1^st and 2^nd Class Engineer Districts but on a smaller scale:

On the 8^th of March 1919 Harrison was given a new job. He was assigned to the Disposal of Surplus Stores with the rank of Temporary Captain (Temporary Lieutenant Colonel), retaining the higher temporary rank while so employed.[24] The war had been over for four months and there were all sorts of equipment and stores that were now considered to be surplus to the needs of the Army. Like all armies everywhere and at any time, the cost of returning equipment and supplies home was always compared to the value of the items in question. Obviously this was also true for the British Army in France and Flanders, true to the point where a special agency was formed to dispose of surplus stores.

Harrison worked on the disposal of surplus stores for almost a year and on the 11^th of February 1920 he relinquished his rank of Temporary Lieutenant Colonel and reverted to the rank of Temporary Captain. Apparently he was demobilized sometime in 1920.

Harrison was awarded the 1914 Star on the 28^th of May 1920.[25] Since he was not under fire during the period in 1914 when the Star was authorized, he was not entitled to the “Mons” bar.[26] He was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal on the 8^th of October 1920.[27] The roll authorizing him these last two medals shows his rank as Major, so presumably he was promoted just prior to demobilization with an honorary rank.

The following sections are presented in tabular form to summarize Major Harrison’s promotions, appointments, and qualifications and the medals that he was awarded during his time in the Army. They are provided to give the reader easy access to these aspects of his military career.

Date of Promotion or Appointment	Rank or Position
15 November 1914	Appointed Temporary Lieutenant, Inspector of Works, Royal Engineer Services.
24 January 1916	Promoted Temporary Captain, Inspector of Works, Royal Engineer Services.
13 May 1917	Appointed Temporary Captain, Royal Engineers.
15 August 1918	Appointed Temporary Major, Deputy Assistant Director of Works.
1 January 1919	Appointed Temporary Lieutenant Colonel, Assistant Director of Works.
8 March 1919	Appointed Temporary Lieutenant Colonel, Disposal of Surplus Stores.
11 February 1920	Reverted to the rank of Temporary Captain.
1920	Promoted to the rank of Major.

Major Harrison is believed to have received the following medals, awards and decorations during his time in service.[28]

The 1914 Star is Harrison’s original medal. The British War Medal and Victory Medal in the author’s collection are replica replacements for the originals. The whereabouts of the original medals is unknown. Harrison’s name appears on the Royal Engineers medal roll for the 1914 Star prepared at General Headquarters, 3^rd Echelon, in France on the 12^th of December 1917. The roll shows the date of issue of the medal as indicated in the table above. He was authorized the British War Medal and Victory Medal on a Royal Engineers roll that lists him as a Major with the authorization dates as shown in the table. His Mention in Despatches was announced in the London Gazette of 4 January 1917 and is shown below. He is mentioned along with two Honorary Lieutenant Colonels, Superintending Inspectors of Works, another Honorary Captain and an Honorary Lieutenant, Inspector of Works, a Military Foreman of Works and an Engineer Ledgerkeeper and Storeman Quartermaster Sergeant.[29] All are listed under the ESTABLISMENT FOR ENGINEER SERVICES.

Figure 5. The Medals of Major Fred Harrison, R.E.
(Photograph from the author’s collection)

Figure 6. The Medal Index Card of Fred Harrison (front side)
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

Figure 7. The Medal Index Card of Fred Harrison (back side)
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

The front side of the Medal Index Card shows the authorization of the three medals. It also lists two ranks; Lieutenant and Lieutenant Colonel. This is curious as he only held the rank of Temporary Lieutenant Colonel from the 1^st of January 1919 until the 11^th of February 1920. He is not shown as a Lieutenant Colonel on the medal rolls for the British War Medal and Victory Medal, but apparently the Director of Works forwarded the medal rolls to the Deputy Adjutant General, 3^rd Echelon France, indicating that Harrison’s rank was Lieutenant Colonel. The Quarterly Army List ending 31 December 1919 (War Services of Officers of the Army) shows his rank as Temporary Captain; however, this list does not cover the period in 1920 when he was Temporary Lieutenant Colonel.

The Medal Index Card also is incorrect, as previously explained, where it indicates Harrison arriving in France on the 21^st of October 1914 when actual date of disembarkation was the 21^st of November 1914. The reverse side of the card indicates that Harrison could be reach through Lloyd’s Bank in Worcester. Unfortunately no more precise address is available for him after he left the Army.

Figure 8. Medal Card Showing Captain Harrison’s Mention in Despatches.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

There is a possibility that he was married and that his wife’s name was Anne. Banns of Marriage were located for one Fred Harrison, bachelor, of St. Nicholas Parish in Halewood, Liverpool and one Anne Battersby of the Parish of Roby, a suburb of Liverpool. The Banns were announced between the 21^st of September and the 5^th of October 1913. This Fred Harrison would have been 25 years of age at this time if he had been born in 1888. In 1917 he would have been 29 years old, the same age as the Captain who was admitted to hospital in Le Havre. The connection between Fred and Anne will be discussed again in Section 9 below.

Major Harrison appears to have been demobilized in 1920, although a precise date is not known. He was given a temporary commission in November of 1914 and he served at least until February of 1920, so his total service can be reckoned at as least 5 years and about 3 months or more.

Only one piece of evidence regarding his post service life was uncovered and even that is not a certainty. The Cunard White Star Limited ship Mauretania left Liverpool on the 17^th of June 1939 bound for New York. The passenger list for this voyage contains the name of Fred Harrison who is a 51-year old “Engineer” traveling with a group of people from Autocheques Ltd, London, S.W.1. His occupation is correct as is his age in 1939, again assuming that he was born in 1888. Listed below him is Anne Harrison, his wife, 46 years of age.

There are 27 individuals listed in the Autocheques group, including three other engineers. Autocheques was a company that provided discount travel accommodation for members of many of Britain’s leading car clubs. Given the date of the voyage it is quite possible that the group was heading for the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows New York. The fair was held from the 30^th of April 1939 to the 27^th of October 1940.[30]

Over many years I have researched medals of Royal Engineers who have served in the Establishment for Engineer Services, Royal Engineers Services, Military Engineer Services and in the Directorate of Works during the Great War. Most of these men have been Warrant Officers or senior Non-Commissioned Officers. The work I did on Major Fred Harrison is the first work dealing with an officer, Inspector of Works, who spent his entire time in the Army working in the Works Directorate. I have had a copy of The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914-1919; Work Under the Director of Works (France) in my personal library for many years and I have referred to it on numerous occasions to understand more fully the work being done by the Warrant Officer or NCO that I was researching at the time. Fred Harrison’s story required much more than just a peek at some of the pages in the book. It required an in-depth study of the functioning of the Directorate, its composition, organization, personnel and areas of work. I was amazed at what I found.

The Works Directorate consisted of an enormous logistical tail that supported the British Army in the field in France and Flanders. One realizes this when one examines the technical facilities and responsibilities for which the Directorate was responsible. Some things come as complete surprises, things like Fat-Extracting Plants and Pig and Goat Farms, for example. Who would have thought that these facilities came under the purview of the Royal Engineers? And then there are the number of Works bases and sub-bases established in France and Flanders to support the Field Armies, the Corps and Divisions. It was truly a remarkable organization consisting of many units and many people as seen in Annex A below.

The work on Major Harrison’s military service was truly a splendid learning experience for me.

Between 1914 and 1918 the Works Directorate in France eventually came to control the following units, or elements thereof:^(*)

(*) In many cases only headquarters, half companies or detachments of the units shown were under the control of the Works Directorate. Royal Engineers and Infantry Labour Battalions were sometimes employed by the Works Directorate but were never a part of it.

At the beginning of 1917 the newly formed Directorate of Labour took over control, administration and allotment of all labour except Royal Engineers technical units, which included Artisan Works Companies. The Directorate of Labour principally employed:[32]

Figure 10. Passenger List of S.S. Mauretania, 17 June 1939.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

If Fred Harrison spent the majority of his time in France working at the base at Havre, then he would have been involved in the following projects, at least to some extent. These projects span the time from November of 1914 when he was an Honorary Lieutenant to February of 1920 when he was a Temporary Lieutenant Colonel.

Havre Base was the principal base of the British Expeditionary Force for supplies and ordnance. It was located on the coast of France and consisted of a roughly triangular area with a base approximately 30 miles long and a height of about 30 miles. It included the city of Havre on the western point of the triangle, the town of St. Valery at the northern point and the town of Caudebec on the eastern point. The base of the area was bounded on the south by the River Seine and Havre harbor.

Figure 11. Unloading a Locomotive at the Havre Base Depot, 23 May 1917
(Photograph courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)

Initially the base consisted of large dock hangars, a remount depot for 2,500 horses and a veterinary hospital for 1,000 horses. A field bakery with Aldershot ovens, was established near the docks. A hospital and post office[33] came next along with improvement to the water supply and a military prison. The housing scheme for the winter of 1914/1915 called for winter accommodation for 9,000 men and 3,600 horses.

Figure 12. Aldershot Ovens in a Field Bakery.
(Photograph courtesy of the Imperial War Museum.

In September of 1916 two floating pneumatic elevators and an extensive system of conveyor and pilers (devices for piling loose materials) were constructed. This equipment was required by to handle the bulk unloading of oats for horses. Other work consisted of the completion of winter accommodation, construction of ammunition depots, stores depots, jetties and improvement of port facilities, the construction of new camps and the extension of forestry, quarrying and engineer store operations.

In 1917 the 51^st Artisan Works Company, R.E. was posted to the base at Havre. Work during the bitter winter of 1916/1917 continued with the construction of facilities that had been already started along with a winter hutting program, hospital extensions and camp improvements. It was during this period that Captain Harrison appears to have worked with the 51^st Artisan Works Company.

By the summer of 1918 Harrison was a Temporary Lieutenant Colonel with much more responsibility than that of an Inspector of Works. At Havre he had to oversee the construction of an Officers’ Training School that included sleeping and messing accommodation for officers under training including the provision of lecture rooms and the separate accommodation for a large instructional staff. Also included in his projects was a large wagon repair shop together with a covered wagon park of light shedding. He also had to undertake the construction of an ordnance demobilization depot and vehicle reception park covering about 10 acres. In October a further large extension of the depot was ordered.

From August of 1918 until March of 1919 as a Deputy Assistant Director and then an Assistant Director of Works Harrison continued his duties in the Works Directorate at Havre. Work continues on the officer’s training school and a new saddler’s shop at Havre. Following the Armistice the work involved the construction of a 3,500-man reception camp, three dispatching camps (for a total of 7,500 men) adapted from existing camps and fully hutted. One delousing camp was required to accommodate 3,500 men per day as well as one hutted “concentration camp” for 2,000 men for the use of local troops being demobilized. In addition, the ordnance depot at Havre was required to be cleared of munitions so that the port facility could be turned back to the French.

By March of 1919 Harrison was employed with duties dealing with the disposal of surplus stores. This appears to have been a staff officer position within the Directorate of Works. Munitions appear to have been priorities items for disposal. The exact nature of his work was not uncovered during this research, but one can assume that anything the value of which exceeded the cost of shipping it back to England, was demobilized. Any stores that did not fall into this category may have been destroyed or left to the population of France and Belgium.

1. INSTITUTION OF ROYAL ENGINEERS. The Works of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914-1919. Work Under the Director of Works (France). W. & J. Mackay & Co., Limited, Chatham, 1924.
2. WILLIAMSON, H. The Great War Medal Collectors Companion, Volume III. Anne Williamson, Harwich, Essex, 2014.

[1] Since no birth certificate has been located for Major Fred Harrison, his birth year as 1888 could possibly be in error by a year or two. Census documents were notorious for inaccuracies and the hospital record showing his age in 1917 also could have been in error.

[2] Later, Major General Sir Andrew Mitchell Stuart, KCMG, CB. Deceased, 28 November 1936.

[3] Work Under the Director of Works, p. 1.

[4] Later re-designated the 29^th Advanced Park Company.

[5] Work Under the Director of Works, p. 1.

[6] By the end of the war there would be 55 Inspectors of Works in the Works Directorate.

[7] According to the February 1915 Army List, men of the Staff for Royal Engineer had a uniform that was described as blue, with bright blue facings and scarlet edgings. The author has never seen a photograph of this uniform.

[8] It is this assumption that led the author to believe that the young man, the “Engineer,” in the 1911 census might have been Lieutenant Fred Harrison.

[9] Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Roberts was the son of the late Samuel and Caroline Roberts of Plymouth and the husband of Florence M. Roberts of 10, Beaumont Road, Plymouth.

[10] Work Under the Director of Works, p. 10.

[11] According to the Institution of Electrical Engineers Journal Wilmot was an electrical engineer.

[12] R.E.S. stands for Royal Engineers Services, a postnominal used to distinguish war-commissioned officers of the Works Directorate from Regular Army Royal Engineers (R.E.).

[13] Work Under the Director of Works, p. 173.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Ibid.

[16] London Gazette of 11 March 1916.

[17] Forces War Records data.

[18] This age in 1917 coincides with a birth year of 1888 as previously noted.

[19] Ibid.

[20] London Gazette, 9 October 1918.

[21] Work Under the Director of Works, p. 57.

[22] Ibid.

[23] London Gazette, 15 February 1919.

[24] London Gazette, 14 July 1919.

[25] R.E. Medal Roll.

[26] This bar was authorized by King George V in 1919 to all who had been under fire during the period from 5 August 1914 to midnight on 22/23 August 1914.

[27] R.E. Medal Roll.

[28] These medals are in the author’s collection.

[29] One of the stranger ranks of NCOs in the Establishment for Engineer Services.

[30] If Harrison was heading for the World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows in New York it makes his story even more interesting for the author. My mother attended that World’s Fair pregnant with me. I also lived within walking distance of those fair grounds from 1954 to 1960.

[31] Work Under the Director of Works, Appendix to Section XX (opposite page 186)

[32] Work Under the Director of Works, p. 185.

[33] Manned by personnel of the Royal Engineers Postal Service.

Date of Issue	Medal
28 May 1920	1914 Star named in impressed upper case letters as follows HON.LIEUT.F.HARRISON R.E.
8 October 1920	British War Medal
8 October 1920	Victory Medal with Mention in Despatches Oak Leaf

2. EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION

Date of Promotion or Appointment

1920