Henry George Butcher was born on 29th September 1900, the middle of five children to Henry and Sarah Butcher. Henry Sr was a labourer in a nursery and the family were born and raised in his and Sarah’s home village of Merriott, Somerset.

Henry Jr followed his father into agricultural labouring when he finished school. When war was declared, he was too young to enlist and, seeing his older friends head off to glory, he must have been desperate to play a part before it was all over.

Henry’s chance finally came when, on 2nd September 1918, he joined the Royal Navy. His service records show that he was 5ft 2.5in (1.59m) tall, had brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. As he was under-age when he enlisted, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class, and sent off to HMS Powerful, a training ship in Devonport.

Naval and army barracks were crowded places, and brought together boys and men from all over the country in a way that had never happened before. The cramped nature of the billets meant that disease would run rampant once it took hold, and it could prove fatal. In the last week of September 1918, seventeen boys from HMS Powerful died from a combination of influenza and pneumonia and, on Friday 27th, Boy 2nd Class Butcher was to join that list. He was two days from his eighteenth birthday, and had been in the Royal Navy for just 25 days.

Henry George Butcher’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of All Saints’ Church in his home village of Merriott.

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