BROWNSELL, Harry

Addresses:
1890 Cuckoo’s Hill, Hanslope
1891 9 Back [Gold] Street, Hanslope
1901 21 Gold Street (Peach View), Hanslope
1911 2 Peach View, Hanslope*
1918 4 Peach View, High Street
1939 21 High Street
1963 41 Aylesbury Street, Wolverton
*Nb during their lifetimes, members of the Brownsell family occupied different houses in Peach View, a small terrace built between 1891 and 1901.
http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/hdhs/visitorPages/buildingResult.php?buildingID=913

Parents: Charles 1848–1922 and Elizabeth Brownsell (nee Woodland) 1858–1949

Harry born: October 6 1887 Hanslope; baptised August 26 1894; died March 7 1963 in Northampton General Hospital. Probate: Effects £2,680.8d

Employment before war: [Railway] Warehouseman

Family information:
1891 Census:
Charles Brownsell Head age 43 Agricultural Labourer
Elizabeth Brownsell age 40
Frederick W. Brownsell age 18 Carriage Trimmers Labourer
Arthur Brownsell age 15 Agricultural Labourer
Walter Brownsell age 13 Agricultural Labourer [burial May 20, 1893 age 15]
Albert Brownsell age 11 Scholar
Rosannah/Rosana Brownsell age 8 Scholar
Sarah Brownsell age 6 Scholar
Harry Brownsell age 3
Alfred Brownsell age 0

1911 census:
Charles Brownsell age 62 Waggoner on Farm
Elizabeth Brownsell age 60
Sons still living with them:
Arthur Brownsell age 35 Bricklayer’s labourer
Albert Brownsell age 31 Farm Labourer
Harry Brownsell age 24 Warehouseman
Alfred Brownsell age 20 Gardener’s Assistant

(HDHS)

Army Career: Number: 190973, Rank, Gunner, later Corporal in 145 Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery.
Harry originally enlisted at Bletchley on December 15 1915 at and was placed on the Army Reserve List.
Medical records him as being 5ft 7inches tall; chest when fully expanded 35 ½ inches. Another record in February 1918 states his girth was 36 inches; weight 138lbs; physical Development – Good; Vision, both eyes – 6/6 Grade One.
His one ‘Slight Defect’ was defective teeth. On March 5 1920 Buckinghamshire Local Committee wrote to the Army Records Office asking for his medical history sheets in order that they might ascertain whether he was entitled to treatment at the public expense. There is no information as to whether this application was successful.

He was not mobilised until February 1918 as a Gunner in the RGA. In October 1918 he qualified as a signaller at Winchester and sent to France. The following September he was promoted to a temporary Corporal and was by then with the 145 Heavy Battery. However, by the end of March he had been sent back to the UK via Calais, proceeding to a Concentration Camp ready for dispersal in September.

Ancestry.co.uk

Medals: Victory; British

Remembered: on the new Roll of Honour with his brother Albert. Arthur, the eldest, is assumed to be the ‘A Brownsell’ recorded on the original Roll of Honour. Both Rolls hang in the porch of St James Church, Hanslope.

Post War Information:

Marriage: on May 12 1913 Harry aged 25, married Frances May Crick aged 26. He was then a labourer, she was a housekeeper. Frances died January 15 1950 aged 63 when they had been married 36 years.

Remembered: new Roll of Honour, St James Church porch, Hanslope