Cole, Henry

Driver

No. T3/030858, No. 2 Depot Company, Army Service Corps

Died of disease on Thursday 1 June 1916 (aged 17)

Buried:

Greenwich Cemetery, London (Screen Wall. 3 ‘C’ A. 63)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

BIOGRAPHY

Henry Cole was born around March 1899 (according to Army records) and he was a son of George and Annie Cole (nee Mills) who were married on 17 April 1882 in Drumgoon Parish Church of Ireland Church, Co Cavan.  George Cole (aged 29), a tradesman from Cootehill was a son of William Cole, an army pensioner.  Annie Mills (aged 25) from Cootehill was a daughter of Joseph Mills, a tradesman.

George Cole worked as a tinsmith and tinker and he and Annie had at least nine children:

Alice (born 20 May 1882 at 21 Church Street, Cootehill, Co Cavan)

Mary Jane (born 17 December 1885 in Bridge Street, Cootehill, Co Cavan; died 3 May 1886)

Maude Elizabeth Charlesworth (born 9 May 1887 in Bridge Street, Cootehill, Co Cavan)

John Charles (Jack, born 16 May 1889 in Bridge Street, Cootehill, Co Cavan)

George William (born 14 January 1891 in Cootehill, Co Cavan)

Harriett (born 1 February 1893 in Cootehill, Co Cavan)

Emma (born 4 January 1895 in Cootehill, Co Cavan)

Alfred (born 10 August 1897 in Cootehill, Co Cavan; died 9 January 1898)

Henry (born around March 1899 in County Cavan)

In 1901 the Cole family was living in Athenry, Co Galway and George Cole described his occupation as a naturalist.

Their father George died of phthisis in Cavan County Infirmary on 27 April 1904 (aged 50).

In 1911 Henry Cole was living with his sister and brother-in-law, Alice and George Gilliland, in Milberry, Caledon, Co Tyrone.  George Gilliland and Alice Cole were married on 7 October 1905 in Belfast Registrar’s Office.

In 1911 Henry’s mother Annie was working as a cook and domestic servant for William and Christina Wyse who lived at 90 Clifden Road, Bangor.

After leaving school Henry Cole worked as a baker’s apprentice and in 1914 he was living at 50 Gray’s Hill, Bangor.

Henry Cole enlisted in Belfast on 20 November 1914, after his widowed mother gave her written authorisation for him to be enlisted as a Trumpeter in the Army Service Corps.  At the time she gave Kensington, Bangor, Co Down as her address and it was noted in his papers that Henry had a brother called Jack and a sister called Alice.

In his attestation papers Henry was described as a schoolboy and it was noted that he was 15 years 8 months old and he was 5 feet 1¼ inches tall.

Driver Henry Cole (No. T3/030858) was discharged from the Army Service Corps on 26 May 1916 because of disability (tuberculosis).  It was noted that he was 5 feet 6 inches tall and unfit for service because of total permanent incapacity.

Driver Henry Cole (No. T3/030858) died in the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich, London on 1 June 1916 and the cause of his death was tuberculosis.  He was buried in Greenwich Cemetery, London.

In 1916, and in 1922, his mother Annie was living at 2 Mountain Bush, Cavehill Road, Belfast.