Harrison, Francis ‘Frank’ Edwin – Born: Sudbury, Suffolk on 23.9.1888.[1] Parents: George James Harrison (Gardener) and Ellen [née Rudland].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Albert Isaac Harrington [b1885], Charles Walter Harrington [b1889] and Harry Harrington [b1898].  Home: 11 Newton Road, Sudbury, Suffolk (1901), 73 Cross Street, Sudbury (1911).  Occupation: Greengrocer’s Assistant to C. King of Gregory Street, Sudbury (1911) to [1917].  Married: Laura Harrington of Long Melford in 1916.  Laura re-married in 1920 to William Pawsey [b1887] [see elsewhere in this database for his military details].  Service Record: Frank was conscripted in November 1916 as Pte.242532 with 1/5^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, was posted to Palestine and saw action at the Third Battle of Gaza which began on 27.10.1917.[2] Died: Frank was killed in action on 2.11.1917, during a pre-dawn attack on Turkish positions near Sampson’s Ridge.  The Battalion history records the loss of Private Harrison, which was reported thus in the local press ‘He had advanced 300 or 400 yards from the front-line trench when he was (fatally) wounded’.[3] Private Harrison is buried in Gaza War Cemetery [grave ref: VIII.G.1], Palestine and commemorated on the Long Melford War Memorial.[4]

[1] Date of birth taken from the Baptism Register 18.11.1888 for St Peters Church, Sudbury, Suffolk.   [2] For details 1/5^th Suffolk’s time in Palestine see War Diary [WO 95/4658] and Service Medal and Award Rolls, Capt. A. Fair [MC] and Capt. E. D. Wolton [compiled by] “The Suffolk Regiment”: the history of the 1/5th Battalion [London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1923] pp.53-83.  [3] Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War, Silver War Badge [WO 329], p.76.  See also Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [4] For the report of his death see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 12.12.1917.  See also his Commonwealth War Graves Commission record, British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 621254].