Lance Corporal Harvey FITZJOHN
Northamptonshire Regiment 40110
Harvey Fitzjohn was born in Woodnewton on 8th February 1897, and was baptised on the 28th of the following month at St Mary’s Church by the Revd Samuel Bagshaw.
He was just three years old when he started school at Woodnewton Primary School in February 1900. He was given a special exemption certificate so he could leave school at the age of 13 years which meant he was available for work. The 1911 census tells us that he was a farm labourer which could have been on one of the village farms as there were several. However, the 1921 tells us that when he returned after the war, he went to work for John Leonard at Manor Farm.
Unfortunately, his attestation papers are missing, so we can only assume that he joined the Northamptonshire Regiment Rifles, when he was a teenager, during 1915, when a second reserve battalion, designated the 3/4th Battalion was formed at Gibraltar Barracks on 12th February 1915. This Battalion was fortunate not to have been involved in the first six days of the Battle of Somme when much of the worst slaughter took place. However, Harvey was later injured on the Somme, losing the sight in one eye and receiving shrapnel wounds to his leg. (He retained these in his leg for the rest of his life. His son George often played a game of wriggling the shrapnel in his leg).
Back home at Woodnewton, his family had received the news that he had been reported missing and then further news to say he was dead, so they were thrilled to receive a further communication which stated that he had been found but was injured. After recuperating for six days he was deemed fit for frontline duty again and was transferred to the Labour Corps (6798864), but his rank was reduced from Lance Corporal to Private (It was the practice at that time that all injured men became a Private in the Labour Corps, regardless of their previous non-commissioned rank). He then spent the rest of the war digging trenches and carrying out tasks to support the infrastructure of the troops. He received a £1 a week pension for the loss of an eye.
Harvey is not shown on the 1919 Electoral Roll, which would have been compiled in July 1918, so we have to assume that he arrived back in Woodnewton late 1918 or early 1919. On his return he went back to live with his parents Arthur and Julie behind Chapel Cottage, which became 41 Main Street.
Harvey married Isobel Gilbert on 23rd October 1921, who he met in the village, and was working as a farm labourer on John Leonard’s farm at the Manor House. Within the next eight years they went on to have four children: William, John, Rosalie and George. The family lived in a couple of different houses, but by 1939 they had purchases Meadowview, a cottage at the east end of the village. This cottage had been used as one of the two bake houses in the village and the oven was still intact, so it was left as a feature for the duration of the time that the Fitzjohn family lived in the house.
Harvey worked in Agriculture all his working life and ended his career as a miller at Cottestock Mill, a few miles away from Woodnewton.
Harvey and Isobel celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary on23rd October 1971. He died ten years later in Peterborough.
2019 – Written with the help of Marjorie Fitzjohn, wife of the late George Fitzjohn.