Henry Mitchell was born in the summer of 1892, the second of three children – and the only son – to George and Selina Mitchell. George was a gardener from Saltford, Somerset, and this is where he and Selina raised their young family.

By the time of the 1911 census, Henry had finished his schooling, and had followed his father into gardening for work. War was calling at England’s shores, however, and he was soon to take up a post in the army.

Full details of Henry’s military service are lost to time, but from his gravestone it is clear that he enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment as a Private. From other documents it is possible to determine that he joined up by April 1917, and that he did not serve overseas. Instead, while his battalion – the 1st – fought at the Somme, Messines and Ypres, Private Mitchell was assigned to the regiment’s depot.

Henry seems to have been based in London, and he was certainly here in the summer of 1917. He was admitted to a hospital in Bethnal Green, and it was here that he breathed his last. He died on 14th October 1917, through causes unknown. He was just 25 years of age.

Henry Mitchell’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the graveyard of the Blessed Mary Church in his home village of Saltford.

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