Private Harry Betts (1895-1915)

Service No: 1265 – Australian Imperial Force 8th Battalion

Harry Betts was born in Maxstoke in 1895 to William Betts and Mary Ann Pegg. By 1911 the family had moved to Castle Bromwich and the family were living in 2 Station Cottages with both Harry’s father and brother Samuel working for the railway. Harry himself is recorded as working in a cotton factory. In 1913 William, Harry’s father, died.

Shortly after on the 17^th April 1914 Harry set sail for Australia. He was one of 877 passengers on board the Commonwealth and Dominion Line steam ship “Indrapura” with the passenger list recording his occupation as a farm student. The accommodation on ship for passengers and crew was of a very high standard with continuous hot water service being available day and night and a limited number of state rooms.

Six months after Harry’s arrival in Australia on 8^th October 1914 he enlisted into the Australian Expeditionary Force and undertook basic training at Broadmeadows Camp, Melbourne. On 5^th April 1915 he left Australia with the 8^th Battalion of the Expeditionary Force on board His Majesty’s Australian Transport ship A46 “Clan McGillivray” arriving at Lemnos Island on 11^th April. The crew spent twenty days anchored in Mudros harbour and confined to ship until setting sail with the invasion fleet on 24^th April. On landing at Anzac Cove, they dug themselves in along Bolton’s Ridge.

On the evening of 8^th May 1915 Harry and his fellow soldiers in A, B and C companies were sent to the firing line as reinforcements for the 6^th Battalion. During the ensuing 2^nd Battle of Krithia, 38 men of the 8^th Battalion were killed, including Harry.

Harry’s service record listed his mother as his next of kin. It had originally given her address as Station Cottages Castle Bromwich but been updated after Harry’s death to reflect her marriage to Jesse Congreave in 1917 and subsequent move to Nottingham in 1920.

Harry is remembered on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli, Canakkale, Turkey and locally on the Castle Bromwich war memorial and a plaque in St Mary and St Margaret Church.