Merritt, Robert Henry

Age: 22
Date of birth: April 1895

Parents: Robert Henry and Mary Ann Merritt
Wife:
Address: 96 West Street

Occupation: Soldier

Robert was born in April 1895 in Hardingstone, Northampton and was baptised at St. Mary’s Church, Far Cotton, Northampton on 8th June 1896. He was the youngest of five children. He had two brothers, Horace and a brother also called Robert Henry, who died aged 5 months in 1889. His two sisters were Violetta and Rosanna. Violetta died in 1906 aged 20.

By the 1901 census the family had moved to 12 Wallace Street, Warwick (Wallace Street no longer exists but was part of Saltisford). Robert’s father. also Robert Henry, worked as a wood sawyer at a mill. According to the 1911 census Robert, aged 15, was stationed at the Royal Horse Artillery Depot at Woolwich, London.

Robert’s mother died in 1921 aged 60 and his father died in 1932 aged 69.

Military Service

Rank & Number: Sergeant, 63374
Regiment/Service: A Battery, 107th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
Brigade/Division: 107th Brigade
Date of death: Saturday, July 21, 1917
Cause of death/Battle: Killed in action
Commemorated/Buried: La Clytte Military Cemetery, Belgium
Awards: Military Medal, 1914 Star and ClaspBritish War Medal, Victory Medal
Commemorated locally at: St Pauls Church

Details of Robert’s Military Medal can be found in the London Gazette 18th July 1917

This item in the Local War Items in the Warwick Advertiser of 1st September 1917 includes an excerpt from a letter from an officer who provided details of his death and commending him as an NCO

Contributors

  • Unlocking Warwick Research Group
  • Warwick Advertiser excerpt courtesy of Warwickshire County Record Office

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