Percy Henry Bannister (1899 - 1919)

Born 19 Jun 1899 in Guildford, Surrey, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Died 26 Feb 1919 at age 19 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom

Biography

Percy Henry Bannister was born on 19 Jun 1899 in Guildford, Surrey. He was the son of Charles Henry Bannister and Amy (Hill) Bannister. His birth was registered in the third quarter of the year, in Guildford district.

At the age of seven, Percy was sent to a boarding school in Heaton Moor, Cheshire. His school was called Barnes Home Industrial School. It had 200 places for boys referred by magistrates, and also had voluntary places, so it's unclear which category Percy fell into; but it seems likely if Percy had fallen foul of the law in Guildford that he would have been sent somewhere a bit closer, so either something unfortunate happened on a visit to his father's family, or his family were impoverished and thought this would be a way to feed him and get him an education.

Percy served as a private in the 2nd/4th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment during the First World War. He enlisted in 1915 as a bands boy, when he was only fifteen and a half, with the permission of his school, who were his legal guardians. He was posted to the 2nd battalion in France on 5 Jun 1918. On 18 Jan 1919, he was sent back to England, ill. He died of pneumonia on 26 Feb 1919, aged 19, at East Leeds War Hospital. He was buried in Stoke Cemetery, Guildford, and is also commemorated in the Roll of Glory in Holy Trinity Church.

Sources

• Birth registration listed on https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp

• Death registration https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=x%2Blo1g6Wj6ZRjd1%2FCJnMAQ&scan=1

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 23 May 2020), memorial page for Private P Bannister (unknown–26 Feb 1919), Find A Grave: Memorial #59959806, citing Stoke New Cemetery, Guildford, Guildford Borough, Surrey, England ; Maintained by IWPP Custodial Account (contributor 48586138) .

• http://www.users.waitrose.com/~iannicholls/Holy%20Trinity%20Table.html#Bannister

• https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/401560/bannister,-/

• http://childrenshomes.org.uk/ManchesterBarnesIS/?LMCL=sV33NR

• "England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWSB-2K5 : 13 September 2019), Percy Bannister, Heaton Moor, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1911 England and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 14, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.