This man is a candidate for addition to Keighley's Supplementary Volume under the proposal to add further names in 2024, the centenary of the original roll of honour.
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Supported by the National Lottery's Heritage Fund, our project intends to submit about 120 names for peer review to add them to the book which is kept at Keighley Library. The unveiling of the book with it's new names is planned for November 2024, 100 years after the unveiling of the original war memorial.

Private. 6th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment. Service Number 41402.

Private Harry Wood.

Early life:

Harry was born in late 1898 or early 1899 and his birth was registered in the town in the first quarter of 1899. His parents were William Henry Wood and Elizabeth Wood née Allsopp who had been married on 24th December 1897 at St. Peter's Church on South Street, Keighley.
William was a Yarn boiler aged 27 living at New Road Side (Halifax Road) and Elizabeth was aged 30 and from Apsley Street.
In 1901 Harry's brother George was born. His birth was registered in Keighley in the first quarter of the year.
A month later was the 1901 census and they were living at 14, Hainworth Road in the East Ward of Keighley, William was a yarn scourer aged 31 and Elizabeth was looking after their young family at home. Harry was aged two and George was just one month old.
By the time of the 1911 census Harry was aged 12 and they were living at 9, Chapel Road in Steeton. William was a worsted yarn scourer and Harry was part time at school and part time as a worsted spinner. George was full time at school. Their mother Elizabeth was a drawing frame minder. The census also records that William and Elizabeth had been married for 13 years and had two children, both of whom were of course still alive.

War service.

When was broke out in August 1914 Harry would have been aged 16 so he was underage for service. He was employed at a dyers and finishers at Dalton Works in Keighley. According to his short newspaper obituary, he enlisted in February 1917 aged about 18 or 19 and he went to France in 1918. He was serving with the 6th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment and served abroad. Harry died of acute appendicitis whilst still in service and was buried in Varennes Military Cemetery and was interred in grave 7 of row J in plot III.
Varennes Military Cemetery was next to the 3rd Canadian and 59th Casualty Clearing Stations from the beginning of September so it's likely that Harry had been evacuated here, where he died and was buried nearby.

Keighley News 21st September 1918 page 3:
KEIGHLEY AND DISTRICT.
Mr. & Mrs. Wood, 24, Plover Street, Keighley, received official news on Saturday, that their son, Private Harry Wood, of the Leicester Regiment, died on September 4 from acute appendicitis. Private Wood joined up in February, 1917, went to France in January 1918, and previous to enlistment was employed by Mr. Herbert Roberts, dyer and finisher, Dalton Works, Keighley.

Harry's mother Elizabeth was his next of kin and sole legatee in his will. She would have received any personal effects. She did receive his outstanding Army pay in two payments of £10 15s 7d on 18th November 1918, and £2 15s 6d on 25th April 1919. She also received a war gratuity payment of £6 10s on 12th December 1919.
Elizabeth would also have received his service medals and these usually arrived in 1920 or 1921. Harry's were the British War Medal and Victory Medal, plus a bronze war memorial plaque and King's Certificate inscribed with his name.
On 18th March 1919 Elizabeth was awarded a dependant's pension of 9s 6d per week. At that time she and William were living at 2, Regent's Place off Halifax Road (New Road Side) having moved from their previous address of 24, Plover Street in the Eastwood Ward of Keighley.

In the 1921 census William and Elizabeth were living at 2, Regent Place off Halifax Road. William was 51 and a cotton dyer for the Bradford Dyer's Association at Stockbridge, Elizabeth was on home duties and aged 55. They also had a boarder called Alice Isabella Harrington who was aged 20 and a textile drawer for J. H. Beaver & Company of Park Road in Bingley.

Elizabeth died aged 56 in late 1922, and William died aged 55 in the third quarter of 1924.

George married Sarah Ann Thompson on 21st March 1925 and they were living at 9, Whitley Road in the 1939 register. They had a daughter Joyce born in 1936 and possibly one other child present at the time.
George died aged 88 in 1989.

Information sources:

West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1813-1935
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
1901 England Census
1911 England Census
National Archives - British Army, battalion war diaries.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library
British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920
World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920
Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929
World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923
1921 Census Of England & Wales
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
1939 England and Wales Register