| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Harry Widdas was born the 13 Dec 1895, the son of Charles Arthur and Christiana (nee Stubbins) Widdas. Harry worked as a horseman on a farm at Bishop Burton.
Harry enlisted in the Royal Navy on 8 Dec 1913, signing on for 12 years. He served on HMS Implacable, Olivia, Victory, Queen Mary, Dido and Woolwich amongst many others. He saw action, and was wounded, at the battle of Heligoland in Aug 1914. His record reports him as being a diver and Able Seaman with three scars on the top of his head and with both forearms tattooed, the left with crossed hands over a heart and the right with a horses head, a horseshoe and a whip.
Harry married Hannah Elizabeth Rhinds of Hull at St Matthews Church, Hull on 7 Aug 1919, he was described as a widower but no trace of his previous marriage has been found. The couple lived in Hull.
Harry died at the Royal Hospital, Chesterfield on 27 Mar 1955. He was killed after a 30 foot fall from a steel ladder at a coal carbonization plant where he had been working as foreman steel erector. He was aged 59.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |