Henry William James Shuttlewood came to Chelmsford from Great Waltham as a boy. He was grocer by profession, managing a store in Suffolk in 1911 and later working at another in London. He married in Chelmsford in March 1915. Later he served in the army and died from wounds in France in April 1918.. His parents lived in Victoria Crescent.
SHUTTLEWOOD, HENRY WILLIAM JAMES,
Lance Corporal, "B" Company, 1/20th (County of London) Battalion (Blackheath and Woolwich)
Henry subsequently lived at Islington, Middlesex and enlisted at Highbury, Middlesex. He died from wounds on 7th April 1918 while serving as Lance Corporal 633307 (formerly 6521) in B Company, 1/20th (County of London) Battalion (Blackheath and Woolwich). He was aged 27.
On 19th April 1918 the Essex Weekly News carried the following family announcement:
“Shuttlewood. - Died of wounds in France on April 7th, Lance-Corpl. Henry W. J. Shuttlewood, London Regt., Lewis Gun Section, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. H. Shuttlewood, 27, Victoria-crescent, Glebe-rd., Chelmsford, aged 27.
On day’s Essex County Chronicle reported:
“L/-Cpl. Henry W. J. Shuttlewood, London Regt., Lewis Gun Section, is reported to have died of wounds at a casualty clearing station on April 7. He was the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. H. Shuttlewood, 27 Victoria Crescent, Chelmsford.”
Henry was born in Great Waltham in 1891, the eldest son of the coleman Henry Shuttlewood and Elizabeth Ellen Shuttlewood (nee Ketley). His father had been born in 1871 in Chelmsford; his mother in 1872 in Great Waltham. The couple had married on 29th March 1890 at the Church of St Mary and St Lawrence in Great Waltham. At the time Henry’s 19 year-old father was a coal porter living in Chelmsford; his mother, also 19, lived in Great Waltham.
Henry’s six siblings, all Great Waltham-born, included Amy May Shuttlewood (born in 1892, died in 1953), Florence Annie Shuttlewood (born in 1892, died in 1894), Cyril Shuttlewood (born on 13th November 1893, died 15th July 1971), Christopher Reginald Shuttlewood (born in 1900, died in 1975), Ivy Gladys Shuttlewood (born in 1900, died in 1973) and Leslie Clifford Shuttlewood (born in 1901 in Chelmsford, died in 1976).
The 1901 census listed Henry, aged ten, living with his parents, four siblings and a visitor at 20 Victoria Road, Chelmsford. Henry’s father was a foreman for a coal merchant.
A decade later Henry’s parents, five surviving siblings and an uncle were recorded by the 1911 census at 27 Victoria Crescent in Chelmsford. His father remained a coal porter. Meanwhile Henry, aged 20, was boarding with Ernest and Florence Mills at 5 Westbourne Terrace, Needham Market, Suffolk where he was a stores manager for Kearley & Tonge.
Aged 24, Henry married Emily Bartholomew on 29th March 1915 at St. Mary’s Church, Chelmsford (today’s Cathedral). At the time he was a grocer, living at 21 Wetherton Road, Highbury, London. His 25 year-old bride was the daughter of the engineer James Bartholomew, and lived at 27 Victoria Crescent, Chelmsford.
Henry is buried at Gezaincourt Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme in France (grave: I. K. 17). Most of the burials were carried out from casualty clearing stations and, in June to August 1918, from the 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital.
Henry is commemorated on the Civic Centre Memorial, Chelmsford and by the Chelmsford Parish Great War Memorial in Chelmsford Cathedral. He was entitled to the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
The 1918 register of electors listed Henry’s parents at 27 Victoria Crescent, Chelmsford. His
father died in 1943, aged 72, two days after his home, 27 Victoria Crescent, was badly damaged by a German parachute landmine which claimed the lives of eight other residents in the street. Henry’s mother in 1958, aged 85. Both now rest in grave 5504 at Chelmsford Borough Cemetery.
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