H. W. Penn
Service no. 22577
Private, King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), 8th Battalion
Killed in action on 16 June 1917, aged 34
Born in Clapham; enlisted at Lambeth
CWGC: “Son of William and Lucy Penn, of 74 Hargwyne Street, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France, and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

Henry Penn enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment on 11 November 1915, and was later transferred to the Lancasters. Not much survives in his service file, but gives us an indication of how he looked (he was 5 feet tall and had a 34-inch chest, which he could expand by 2½ inches, and had a squint in his left eye).

In June 1916 he was wounded in the face and right arm. About a year later, he was killed in action. His effects were sent to his mother, Lucy Penn: photograph, a small bag, four identity discs, a notebook, a letter case, letters, safety razor and blades, a pipe and tobacco pouch, a silver cigarette case, a metal mirror, a regimental book cover, buttons, a farthing, a card and two cap badges.

Information from the censuses

Henry (or Harry) William Penn lived at 74 Hargwyne Street with his parents, William Kenward Penn, 62, a boiler stoker born in Clapham, and Lucy Mary Penn (née Harris), 57, from Marlow, Buckinghamshire. The family had three rooms. There were two other siblings. In 1901 the family lived at 121 Hargwyne Street.