DAVID ARTHUR HARPER
Registered at birth – DAVID ARTHUR WALL
Born: 23rd January 1888, at 48, Norwich Road, Ipswich.
Died: 21st July 1918, age: 30; died of Extravasation of Urine and Toxaemia, at Ranelagh Road Military Hospital, Ipswich.
Informant – Kate M. Harper – widow, of 31, Granville Road, Colchester.
Residence: 31, Granville Road, Colchester, Essex.
Occupation: Canteen Manager at Hyderabad Barracks, Colchester.
Rank: Driver; Service Number: 209983.
Regiment: Royal Field Artillery, 62nd Reserve Battery.
Grave Reference:
O.1.86.
Essex.
CENSUS
1891 48, Norwich Road, Ipswich.
David was 4 years old and living with his mother at the home of his maternal grandparents, and aunt.
Arthur Rivers, 61, a Plumber, born Ipswich.
Rachel Rivers (nee Emmerson), 60, a Laundress – own account, born Oldham, Suffolk.
Edith Rivers, 17, a Staymaker, born Ipswich.
Sarah Jane Wall (nee Rivers), 22, a Staymaker, born Ipswich.
1901 8, St. Stephen’s Lane, Ipswich.
David was 12 years old and living with his mother at the home of his maternal aunt, uncle & cousins; his widowed maternal grandfather also lived with the Cook family.
John Henry Cook, 36, a Bus Driver, born Ipswich.
Emmeline Cook (nee Rivers), 36, born Ipswich.
Harry Felix Cook, 12, born Ipswich.
Arthur Victor Cook, 10, born Ipswich.
Rachel Lena Cook, 9, born Ipswich.
Lilian May Cook, 7, born Ipswich.
Ida Madge Cook, 6, born Ipswich.
Arthur Rivers, 72, a House Painter.
Sarah Jane Wall, 33.
Father: David Wall, born 1865. A Bombardier for ‘M’ Battery, 1st Brigade. Later a postman.
David’s mother, Sarah Jane Wall left her husband, and in 1892, Ipswich, married Robert Harper, born 1855, Barton Bendish, Norfolk. A Master Provision Dealer – own account, of 32, Norwich Road, Ipswich and 13, Orford Street, Ipswich.
David begins to use the surname Harper.
On the 5th December 1914, Colchester Register Office, Essex, 26 year old, David Harper, a Canteen Manager at Hyderabad Barracks, Colchester, married 23 year old, Kate Miriam Cole, of Thistledene, Alresford, Essex, born January 1891, Colchester – daughter of William Cole, a Market Gardener.
Kate and David had one daughter:
Kitty Gwendoline Cole Harper, born November 1913, Colchester.
Soldiers’ Effects to Kate M. Harper – widow.
David is also remembered on the war memorial at St. Matthew’s Church, Ipswich.
Evening Star – Friday, 26th July 1918 – MILITARY FUNERAL – On Thursday afternoon the remains of Driver David Arthur Harper, R.F.A., of 31, Granville Road, Colchester, were laid to rest in Colchester Cemetery. The deceased died in a military hospital at Ipswich. The coffin, covered with the Union Jack, was borne on a gun carriage supplied by the R.F.A., the firing party and band of the Warwick Yeomanry also being present. The service at the graveside was conducted by the Reverend Spencer, vicar of St. Botolph’s Church. Three volleys were fired over the grave. The deceased leaves a widow and one child. There was a large number of floral tributes. The entire funeral arrangements were carried out by Messrs. Hastings and Son, of Berners Street, Ipswich.
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