his father remained a police constable. A decade later the 1911 census recorded 12 year-old Harry living with his parents and brother at Brook Street, South Weald. His father was a police constable.
Harry subsequently moved to Chelmsford and worked at teh town’s Hoffmann’s bearings factory.
After several unsuccessful attempts to join the army Harry joined the Life Guards at Windsor late in 1917. He went abroad in the spring of 1918 and was recommended for the Military Medal. He was killed in action on 19th July 1918 at Boiry, France while assisting the wounded as a stretcher bearer and serving as Lance Corporal 30429 in the No. 1 Company 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards. He was aged 19.
He was originally buried at the Willow British Cemetery, south of Arras, but by the third anniversary of his death he was exhumed and re-interred at Douchy-Les-Ayette British Cemetery, near Arras, Pas de Calais in France (grave: II. B. 18).
On 2nd August 1918 the Essex County Chronicle and Essex Weekly News published the following family announcement:
“Myall. - Killed instantaneously, July 19th, while assisting wounded, Pt. Harry Leon Myall, Grenadier Guards, aged 19 years, elder son of Police constable and Mrs. Myall, Broomfield Road, Chelmsford.
‘Greater love hath no man that this’ Beloved by all who knew him.”
MYALL, HARRY LEON,
Guardsman, 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards (formerly of the Life Guards)
The same edition of the paper also reported:
“Pt. Harry Leon Myall, Grenadier Guards, elder son of P.c. and Mrs. Myall, of Broomfield Road, Chelmsford, was killed in action on July 19, aged 19 years. The news reached his home from a comrade, and through his commanding officer and a chaplain, all of whom spoke highly of the deceased’s qualities. The young soldier was formerly employed at the Hoffmann Works, Chelmsford, and was rejected several times at various recruiting stations until, by perseverance, he was finally accepted in the Life Guards at Windsor. He was just over eight months in the Army, and went to the Front on transfer to the Grenadiers. He was killed while assisting the wounded, and had been recommended for the Military Medal for previous good work with the wounded under fire, although he had been at the Front only 15 weeks. Before joining up he was in the Chelmsford Co. of the Volunteers.”
Harry is commemorated on the Civic Centre Memorial, Chelmsford, by the Chelmsford Parish Great War Memorial in Chelmsford Cathedral and on the Hoffmann Manufacturing Company’s War Memorial at Chelmsford Cathedral. He was entitled to the Victory and British War medals.
The 1918 register of electors listed Harry’s parents at 4 Stanhope Terrace, off Broomfield Road, Chelmsford (now demolished).
His father remained with Essex County Constabulary until 31st May 1920 and eventually died in 1964 aged 97. His mother died in 1941, aged 65.
131201
Harry was born at Great Easton in 1899, the son of the policeman Joseph Henry Myall and Florence Lord Myall (nee De Vere). He was baptised at Great Easton on 26th August 1899. At the time his father was a police constable living in Great Easton who had been born on 20th December 1867 in Little Dunmow.
His father had joined Essex County Constabulary on 1st April 1892. His mother had been born c1877 in India and Harry’s parents had married on 6th October 1898 at Great Easton. Harry’s only sibling was a brother, Victor Arthur Myall, (born in Great Easton on 11th November 1901, died in 1984).
The 1901 census found two year-old Harry living with his parents at Great Easton where
Harry Leon Myall was born in rural Essex, the son of a police officer, and moved to Chelmsford before the start of the war. He worked at Hoffmann’s bearings factory and joined the army late in 1917. He had been at the Front for 15 weeks when he was killed near Arras in July 1918 while assisting the wounded. His home was in Stanhope Terrace, Broomfield Road.