Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of George and Emily Walker, and one of seven children; Ada born 31st March 1893, Fanny 11th January 1898, Frederick 1st July 1900, Herbert 6th November 1903, Emily 8th September 1905 and Arthur 18th January 1910. Henry, always known as Harry was a miner at South Leicestershire Colliery at Ellistown, he was also a chorister at the local church and attended Sunday school. Harry enlisted in the first week of the war into the 1st/5th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment. In the early hours of 2nd July 1915 Harry narrowly avoided death in the infamous Trench 50 near to Hill 60 in the Ypres Salient, when a whizz bang landed and only the zig zag nature of the trench saved his life. It was a shock nevertheless. The Germans were able to keep their batteries a mere 180 yards behind their frontline, and pinpointed some area of the Battalion frontline to be hit every three hours. Because the batteries were so close the men heard the “bang” before the “whizz,” so there was little opportunity to escape. A few hours afterwards, Harry lost his life. It was early morning and, as always, even in this perilous area, the birds were in chorus, when the sudden crack of a rifle silenced them for a few minutes. Harry, on guard duty had raised his head a little too far and he slumped to the bottom of the trench. Friends rushed to help him but it was evident that he had died within seconds. Harry had written to his cousin in Ravenstone the day before he died:- “I received your welcome letter. We have not done a lot this last fortnight but they will soon have something in store for us. This is our second day in these trenches and we are getting on fine but we do get shelled a lot. Two of us went out on our hands and knees to see what we could find and ran into a German trench. We did scuttle! One chap let his horse run away the day before we came here, so he came with us and got killed the next day. We have just had a fresh lot to reinforce us. Girls who write letters out here have caused many a chap to get killed. They write asking for this and that and the chaps go out to try and get them and many a one never comes back. We are about a thousand yards from the Germans now, because we took this trench off them and they had to fall back into a wood.” The War Diary for today records. ZILLEBEKE. Normal. Enemy shelled trenches north of 4. with high explosive.

Source: Leicestershire War Memorials Project.
Coalville Times article - Friday July 16th, 1915:

"ONE OF THE COALVILLE FIRST FIFTY"

ANOTHER TERRITORIAL KILLED

Another of the first fifty Territorials, 5th Leicestershire Regiment, to leave Coalville some months ago, has, unfortunately been killed in action. This is Pte. Harry Walker, of Ravenstone, who would have been 29 years of age in August. He is a son of Mr George Walker, who works for the Coalville Urban District Council on the Kelham Bridge sewage farm and resided in Main Street, Ravenstone, and before the war the deceased soldier was working for the South Leicestershire Colliery Co., with one of their carts. He was a former Sunday school scholar and chorister at Ravenstone Parish Church.

Pte. Walker was in Sergt.-Major Roland Hill’s (Coalville) company, and the sad news that he was killed in action on July 2nd was conveyed in a letter from one of his comrades, Pte. Arthur Congrave, son of Thomas Congrave, also of Ravenstone. Writing to his parents on July 2nd, Congrave states:

“I am quite well and am writing today as I may not have a chance tomorrow, as we expect a big do on. We had a very heavy shelling last night and I am pleased to say that very little damage was done to our trenches, but I am sorry to say that one of the lads from Ravenstone, Harry Walker, got killed. He was shot at six o’clock this morning and died almost straightaway, thus suffering no pain. I expect it will put his mother about a lot, but it can’t be helped. He died for his country. I am going to write to Mr Dowling today and let him know. I expect you have heard of the honour that our regiment has won out here. The Royal Leicesters now, Good old Tigers! The Germans don’t like the Leicesters at all. One shouted over to us the other day that they were going to pull the Tiger’s tail. But it was the other way about. They made a mistake that day. They have not pulled the Tiger’s tail yet and don’t look like doing so.”

In the letter which Congrave wrote to the Rev. S. Dowling (rector of Ravenstone) he says they buried Walker in the battalion graveyard on the evening of July 2nd and he asked the rector to convey to Mrs Walker the sincere sympathy of himself and Pte. William Kendrick, another Ravenstone soldier. The homes of the two latter are both in Wash Lane.

Pte. Walker’s last letter was written the day before he was killed, to his cousin at Ravenstone. He said, “I received your welcome letter. We have not done anything the last fortnight. I expect they have something in store for us. This is our second day in the trenches. We are getting on fine, but we get shelled very heavily. Two of us went out on our hands and knees to see what we could find, when we ran into a German trench. We did scuttle. One chap let his horse run away the day we came here, so he had to come with us. He got killed the next day. We have a fresh lot to reinforce us. Girls who write letters out here have caused many a chap to get killed. They write asking for this and that and chaps go out to get them and many a one never comes back. We are about a thousand yards from the Germans now. We took this trench off them, so that they had to fall back into a wood.”

Coalville Times article - Friday October 29th, 1920

RAVENSTONE WAR MEMORIAL

UNVEILED BY MAJOR HATCHETT, J.P.

IMPRESSIVE SERVICE

Few villages, perhaps in proportion to population, suffered more heavily in the war than Ravenstone, where on Sunday afternoon the unveiling took place of a memorial to 28 men of the parish who made the supreme sacrifice. The memorial consists of a cross of Weldon stone, 12ft high, with steps at the base and three panels in Swithland slate bearing the names of the men, and on the front panel appears the inscription

“In glorious memory of the unreturning brave 1914 – 1918”

The names of the fallen are as follows:

L.-Corporal J. C. Andrews, Pte. H. Walker, Corporal P. L. Smith, Pte. G. T. Andrews, Pte. J. Martin, Pte. W. Brooks, Corporal C. Fairbrother, Pte. J. Nicholls, Gunner A. Prew, Pte. S. Poole, Seaman W. Potter, Corporal J. Sinfield, Pte. C. T. Colver, Corporal J. Curtis, Pte. H. Congrave, Corporal J. Collier, L.-Corporal F. Marlow, Pte. J. Watson, Pte. R. Bodle, Pte. W. Glover, Pte. A. R. Brooks, Pte. G. Yates, Pte. J. Knifton, Pte. W. Hill, Pte. C. H. C. Wilson, Rfn. W. Knight, Sergt. J. Hancock and Pte. A. Fowkes.

The cross was designed by Mr T. H. Fosbrooke, architect, of Leicester, whose brother is the Squire of Ravenstone Hall, and it was executed by Mr J. H. Morcomb, also of Leicester. The cost was about £150, which has been defrayed by public subscription.

The memorial stands in a most eminent position in the picturesque churchyard, by the side of the pathway leading to the main entrance of the church, and the unveiling ceremony by Major Hatchett, J.P., in the autumn sunshine, with a huge concourse of people gathered around, formed a very impressive scene.

THE SERVICE

The proceedings commenced with a service in the quaint old church, which was packed to the doors, many, in fact, being unable to get in. The uplifting strains of the hymn, “O God, our help in ages past,” formed an appropriate commencement, and then followed a form of service, led by the Rector (the Rev. S. Dowling) in which proper Psalms (21 and 121), lessons (Wisdom iii, 1 – 9 and Rev. 21 1 – 7) and prayers were fittingly mingled, each serving to emphasise the leading note of the day. The anthem beautifully rendered by the choir, was taken from the words of the special lesson. “The Souls of the Righteous,” and the sermon was preached by the Rev. J. D. C. Wallace, the Master of Ravenstone Hospital, whose text was Philippians Ic 22v “With Christ, which is far better.” He said that for many centuries in peace and war time that church had stood at Ravenstone, but never before in its history had it seen what stood in its shadow to-day – a beautiful memorial inscribed with the names of nearly 30 Ravenstone boys who gave their lives in the war. Never before was there such a war, and never before was Ravenstone called upon to make such a sacrifice. “We need no monument,” he said, “They are our boys; we know their faces, know their generous dispositions and the fine spirit which sent them forth. All that is enshrined in our memories and nothing can deface it. We need no monument, but there is one outside because there will come after us generations who knew not out boys, and that monument will tell them in years to come what Ravenstone boys did in the hour of England’s peril.”

The memorial, he continued, was a symbol of their faith, of the greatest sacrifice of that Eternal Son of God, Who came from Heaven. It was that supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross that inspired their boys to make their sacrifice upon the altar of patriotism, and it would be acceptable to God. There would be sad thoughts that day, but he asked them to let proud thoughts prevail over the sad ones. They should be proud because they were the parents and friends of such boys – proud because they were not found wanting in the crucial hour, and because a new glory had come to their homes whether it was castle or cottage, the glory of their boys. Then their thoughts should help them to look forward, because the boys had only just passed on before them, called to a nobler work, and presently they would follow them. Let them not also forget the boys who came back. They went to stop the cruel evil and oppression which was threatening the people of this country from abroad. They wanted to ensure a peaceful and happy life for those here at home, believing them to be worthy of it. It was for them to prove that worth during the rest of their lives. If they were to keep up their jealousies and petty grievances the boys would have fought in vain, and there would be no better England. The boys taught them charitableness, unselfishness, and through love to serve one another. Let them take up the task and as they stood around the memorial solemnly pledge themselves before God and their boys that they would fight uncharitableness and selfishness among themselves and try to be more brotherly men and more sisterly women, to stand together for peace and good-will at home as they stood together in awful peril of the war. “That,” he concluded, “is the best tribute we can pay to those gallant boys, and when they see and know that, they will know that they have not died in vain; that we are worthy for whom they did such great things, and they will rest in peace and possess their souls in patience until that glad day when we and they shall meet again in the blessed presence of that one God, the Father and Saviour of us all.”

After the sermon the hymn, “Ten thousand times, ten thousand,” was sung, during which a collection for the memorial fund realised £13/8/3.

THE UNVEILING

A procession was then formed of the choir, clergy, wardens and members of the Memorial Committee, which proceeded to the cross, singing the hymn, “Through the night doubt and sorrow.”

Relatives of the fallen were given a place prominence around the memorial, and the service of dedication, conducted by the Rector, opened with the singing of “When I survey the wondrous Cross.” Having performed the ceremony of unveiling, Major J. Hatchett, J.P., said, “Several years ago, the Rector called a meeting, which appointed a committee to consider and report upon a suitable memorial, to do honour to the memory of the men who died for their country in the great war. The committee were fortunate in having the kind advice and assistance of an eminent architect, who was a native of Ravenstone, and took great interest in the memorial, the result being the placing here of this beautiful monument. The architect’s name is Mr Thomas Fosbrooke, of Leicester, and we have to thank Mr Fosbrooke very much for what he has done. We have today taken part in a solemn service in that venerable church in which so many generations of our fathers have worshipped, and we now are privileged to be assembled here in this acre of sacred ground, the resting place of so many of our beloved dead, for the purpose of discharging the honourable duty of assisting at the dedication of this memorial erected by the people of Ravenstone to the blessed memory of 28 brave men, who loved their country, and gave their lives to save English men, women and children from tyranny and oppression. We all desire to show our unstinted appreciation and our unbounded admiration of the courageous spirit of those fearless men, who, when their country was wantonly attacked, considered it to be a sacred duty to defend it; and this memorial, which has been raised as a tribute of respect, will remind us and those who came after us, our children and our children’s children, of the undaunted courage and the undying fame of those men of Ravenstone who, whilst upholding the honour of the British flag, and sustaining the reputation of the British soldier, sacrificed their lives. We owe an eternal debt of gratitude to the men who went forth in full health and strength, leaving home, comfort, friends and relatives, to take their places in the battle line to fight in the righteous cause of freedom and justice, against the most cruel, vindictive and treacherous foe the world has ever known. Our sincere, straight-forward, unassuming, determined men, were unafraid and undismayed, although they knew that the Angel of Death was hovering over their path. Their loyal and valued services were very helpful to their country in the hour of her need. We had hoped to witness their return to receive a grateful nation’s recognition and thanks, but the inscrutable degree of Providence ordered it otherwise. They faithfully and manfully performed their duty, they died glorious deaths, they died for England, they died for all of us and the places on the field of honour, where they lie in warriors graves, are hallowed and sanctified by a nation’s grief, and watered by a nation’s tears. We deplore their loss; their splendid examples will remain; their glorious memories will endure. We thank God for such men; and if England’s sons maintain the courage, the devotion and the unselfish patriotism displayed by them, we have no fear for the independence of our race, or for the position of our country and empire amongst the nations of the world. We tender our sincere sympathy to their relatives, trusting that God’s blessing will rest upon them and lighten the burden of their bereavement. Ravenstone is proud of the ever-living memories and the noble deeds of her unreturning immortal heroes, who without fear faced the foe and walked into the valley of the shadow of death, to save the lives, the honour and liberties of those they left behind. These brave British soldiers sill live in our hearts and will not be forgotten; their name liveth for ever. We shall always mention with respect and reverence the names inscribed on this memorial stone, which has been raised to protect their memory, and preserve their story, and remain a lasting monument of their glory. Duty impelled them and they never faltered. There was no need for her to call them twice. The end they saw not, nor would have wished it altered. They took the cross, and made the sacrifice. God grant that we may be found worthy of them, in the days that are to be!”

The dedication of the monument was solemnly performed by the Rector and prayers were followed by the singing of the Doxology.

Two buglers then stepped to the front of the memorial and sounded the “Last Post” and whilst this was in progress, there flew up towards the heavens four homing pigeons released from the hands of the Rev. J. D. C. Wallace, beautifully symbolical of carrying the message of that day’s proceedings.

Many beautiful floral tributes were placed on the memorial by relatives and friends of the deceased men.

Research undertaken and submitted by Andy Murby 22/03/2020.