Henry Wilson enlisted in the Pals on the 21st September 1914 stating his age to be 40 years and 9 months, although Census records showed he was born in Caton near Lancaster in 1869.
His enlistment papers showed that he had served for three years in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment’s Volunteer Battalion, being given the number of 11/7434 with the Pals. Henry was wounded in his right leg by shrapnel at Serre on the 1st July 1916 and saw one of the Chorley Pals officers, 2nd Lieutenant Kohn killed. He was shipped back to England for treatment at the 3rd Southern Hospital at Oxford, being discharged from the Army on the 27th August 1916 as “being no longer physically fit for war service”. A medical board had met two weeks previously on the 12th August and concluded that Henry was suffering from “Arteriosclerosis, depression and a degree of mental confusion, not the result of but aggravated by active service”; he was eventually granted a gratuity of £37 and 10 shillings.
Henry married Rachel Carter at St. James’ Church in Chorley during 1891, eventually having five children. The 1901 and 1911 Census records showed he lived at 4 Houghton Street but by 1914 Henry lived at 9 Back Mount in Chorley, working as a Labourer and worshipping at St. Laurence’s Church. Henry returned to his wife in 1916, then living at 13 Back Mount.
Other Information: The information about children was taken from the Lancashire BMD database. One of the children, Florence (born 1894) was not on the 1901 Census and only Leopold was with his parents in Chorley on the 1911 Census.
