Sergeant Henry (Harry) Page
306677 1st/8th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment)
Henry was born in 1897 in Jacksdale, Notts son of George Sydney Price an ironworks labourer originating from Keysoe, Bedfordshire and his wife Fanny Frances Beeby, born Sheffield, Newhall. In 1901 the family was living at Stone Row, Jacksdale but by 1911 had moved to Albert Avenue.
Henry’s parents had 14 children, of whom 12 had survived by 1911. Children were Samuel, George, Joseph, Ruth, John Thomas, Henry, Lily, Charles, Albert, William, Frank and Frances. His mother Frances was a Red Cross nurse in WW1 and his sisters Ruth and Lily were also nurses. On the 1911 Census, Henry was working as a shop assistant.
Henry enlisted on 11th February 1915 for the duration of the war and joined up in January 1916 aged 19 years and 150 days. He was 5 feet 6 inches tall and of moderate build, weighing 125 lbs. He gave his occupation as grocer’s assistant and his last employer as the Codnor Park Co-Operative. He was rated as medical category A1. Henry’s service records have not been found but his pension record mentions that he had served in France for two years. On his discharge from the Army in February 1919 he was paid a gratuity of 6 shillings and sixpence for a period of 26 weeks. However, just a few weeks later in March 1919 he started to suffer from occasional pain in the lower part of his back and down his right thigh which on occasion was so bad he couldn’t sit down. His sciatic nerve was inflamed and he had also started to suffer from bad nerves. The Army found him less than 20% disabled and expected his nerves to improve in 3 months and his back in 12 months. In September 1919 his pension was extended until August 1920.
Henry is listed on the 1918/1919 Absent Voters Roll as being absent from Main Road, Jacksdale. He was a recipient of the British War and Victory Medals. He was one of 6 brothers who served and survived WW1, 4 of whom are named on the Jacksdale War Memorial.
In 1922 he married Dora Smith and they lived in Franklin Road, Jacksdale. In 1928 they had a daughter named Betsy. After the war Henry was a manager at the Ironville & Codnor Park Co-Operative store at Brinsley, later moving to their Ironville branch to work in the grocery department.