BUSH, Henry Christopher [of Farndon]

Royal Fusiliers

By George Harper

Private Bush’s family originated from Rolleston but moved to Farndon and lived on Hawton Lane.

Relatives of his still live in Farndon and from them I have obtained some delightful family photographs. Chis, as he was generally known, was only 17 years old when war was declared and was employed by a Mr Hollingsworth at Edwinstowe.

His father was Mr Henry Bush, his mother was Mary Lizzie Bush and he had a sister Hilda and 2 brothers Charles and Thomas. He enlisted in the army in the July of 1915 and was posted to France in the November of that year without having had any leave. He served with the Royal Fusiliers but, was sent home to the UK twice on sick leave – once with bullet wounds and once with trench fever.

Then in 1917 he was posted out to East Africa, a reminder that the Great War covered many parts of the globe. Early in 1918 he was back again in the UK this time suffering from malaria. In August 1918 he returned to the Western Front and as late as October wrote home saying he hoped to be home by Christmas which was a sentiment a lot of the troops were sharing, but it was not to be.

With only a few weeks of the war left he was shot in the stomach and died of his wounds on October24. He lies buried in Awoingt military cemetery and the poignant family insert in the ‘Newark Herald’ read as follows:-

“He sleeps beside his comrades in a hallowed grave unknown, but his name is written in words of love in the hearts he left at home”