Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of William and Eliza Harris. Other sources show his place of residence as Walton le Wolds, Leics. The War Diary for today records. RED MILL. Accidental gassing of C Coy by ROYAL ENGINEERS, cylinders of gas fell in our line. Casualties 3 officers and 91 other ranks of whom 22 died. An account of the incident referred to in the War Diary was written by Captain J. D. Hills M.C., Croix de Guerre of the 5th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment, he writes, HILL 65, 13th June ~ 4th July 1917; Our second night in the line was disastrous. During this fighting round Lens, any progress made was the result of minor operations, raids and even patrol fights, and there was seldom a large scale battle. It was naturally difficult to keep all units informed of the latest progress, and this difficulty was particularly great in our case, when trying to maintain liaison with the Canadians. The Souchez river was the boundary between the two Corps, and made it impossible to visit their front line troops. We had therefore to rely on Division and Corps headquarters keeping each other posted as to the latest progress, and on more than one occasion this liaison broke down, and we suffered very heavily.
At dusk on the 21st we received a message, and at once warned all ranks, that the Special Brigade Royal Engineers were going to carry out a gas bombardment of the mine buildings of Fosse 3. Projectors would be fired by a Company operating with the Canadian Corps, from whose front the buildings could be best attacked. The wind was satisfactory, and the buildings were at least 150 yards away from our nearest trenches, so there seemed no need of any special precautions. "C" Company occupying Boot and Brick trenches, heard the familiar explosion as the projectors went off, and waited to hear them fall in the buildings. Instead they fell in our trenches, several hundred of them; in a few seconds, and before any warning could be shouted the trenches were full of phosgene, the deadliest of all gasses. Officers and men worked hard to rouse those resting, and in particular, 2nd Lieutenant Banwell taking no heed for his own safety, went everywhere, rousing, rescuing and helping the badly gassed. But it was too late, and all through the night and next morning casualties were being carried out to Lievin and down the line. 2nd Lieutenant's Craggs and Macbeth both went to England, and, almost the last to leave the slagheap, 2nd Lieutenant Banwell. His great strength had enabled him to survive longer than the others, but no constitution could stand all that phosgene, and during the morning he suddenly fainted, and had to be carried down. By the time he reached Lievin he was almost dead, and the Doctors held out no hope of his recovery. However, fed on oxygen and champagne he lasted a week, and then, to everybody's surprise, began to recover. The greatest surprise of all was when this marvellous man refused to go to England, but preferred to remain in Hospital in France until fit enough to rejoin his own Battalion. With the exception of Captain Moore, who was fortunately on leave at the time, "C" Company was wiped out and temporarily ceased to exist. Twenty four died from the poison, and in all sixty-two others of the Company went to Hospital. Most of these found their way to England, though one or two, such as Sergeant Needham and Lance Corporal Tookey, both fighting men, preferred to remain and return to us. "D" Company also had their losses, and Sergeant Sullivan and nine others were gassed, ten others wounded. The rest of the Battalion escaped untouched. The following night the 8th Battalion Sherwood Foresters came into the line, and we went back to Marqueffles Farm.