LevelItem
Finding NoWL/19/60
Extent15 pieces
TitleResearch file number 683 relating to Harry Spivey (1894-1980)
Date2017
DescriptionWork completed by volunteer includes the following information:

Private Harry Spivey, aged 23, of the 10th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment (the 1st Hull Pals), was taken prisoner in the action at Oppy Wood on 3 May 1917. Harry’s service number 22120, indicates he was not one of the original Pals; his medal card also shows he had not served in Egypt with them in 1915-16 so probably joined them in 1916.

A long article concerning Harry’s captivity appeared in the Beverley Guardian of 11 Jan 1919. He was first imprisoned at Fort MacDonald, Lille (nicknamed “the black hole of Lille” for its poor conditions) before being transported by cattle wagon to camps at Dulmen, then Gustrow and finally Gettrof, near Kiel. He was put to work building a railway for the transport of guns to the Baltic Coast, “walking 8 km to work and some men who were obliged to wear clogs had terribly sore feet.” Food was in short supply: “one loaf of bread for twelve men a day.” He alleged that the prisoners’ treatment was “rough” and that “sleeping accommodation consisted of wooden buildings, through which the rain came, and they often found themselves lying in water.” He was repatriated to Hull via Copenhagen and arrived home on New Year’s Eve 1918. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals.

Harry was born in Beverley the 21 Mar 1894 and baptised at Beverley Minster the 9 Apr 1894, the son of John Spivey, a general labourer and Barbara Ann Eccles Roantree, they married at St Mary’s Church in 1885. They lived at 5 Taylor’s Yard between Flemingate and Beckside. Harry was one of seven children.

After the war Harry lived with his mother for a while but then moved to the Pontefract area where he married Marion Hall in 1928. He died in 1980. He is commemorated on the Beckside and Flemingate Street Shrine, along with his younger brother, Harold. Harold served in the 5th Yorkshire Regiment.

Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers
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