King Edward’s School and the Great War

Memorial Roll of Honour 1914 - 1918

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Harvey, Walter Herbert

Corporal ▪ Machine Gun Corps, Royal Warwickshire Regiment

Walter Herbert Hartley, born on 5th June 1898, was admitted to King Edward’s School in January 1909, and was awarded a Foundation Scholarship in September 1910. Walter’s father was a drysalter (a trader in salts, chemicals and dyes), and the family, including Walter’s mother, Hannah, and his two older sisters, lived at 6, Botteville Road, Acocks Green.

There is very little in the School records concerning Walter and his activities at School, probably because he transferred to the School at the age of fourteen and left a few years later.

In 1915, aged only seventeen, Walter enlisted as a Private Soldier in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. The following year, he progressed to the rank of Corporal in the Machine Gun Corps. He was on active service in France for about two and a half years before he was killed in action on 11th August 1918, aged twenty. He is commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial.