Harry Etherton was born in Ansty, near Cuckfield, West Sussex on 3rd April 1872. The oldest of five children, his parents were Edwin and Louisa Etherton. Edwin was an agricultural labourer, and this was work in which his son followed his father.

On 29th April 1899, Harry married Annie Eliza Pennifold, a labourer’s daughter who was also from Ansty. The couple set up home in Cuckfield, and went on to have five children. Harry was, by this point, working as a road labourer for the local council, and this was a job he was to continue doing until the outbreak of the war.

Harry enlisted in 1915, joining the Royal Sussex Regiment as part of the National Reserve. As Private Etherton, he was then transferred across to the Labour Corps, and was assigned to the 409th Labour Coy. which was based at the Infantry Depot in Lincoln.

It was while Private Etherton was here, in the spring of 1918, that he contracted meningitis, and was admitted to the Northern General Hospital in the city. Sadly, he was to succumb to the disease, passing away on 30th June 1918, at the age of 46 years old.

Harry Etherton’s body was brought back to West Sussex for burial. He was laid to rest in Cuckfield Cemetery, not far from where his widow and children still lived.

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