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1880 - 11/11/1918

Place of birth: Bromley, Kent
Last known address in Bromley: 16 Chatterton Road

Military information

Regiment/Service: Australian Field Artillery
Battalion/Ship: 6th Bde
Rank: Bombadier
Number: 8477

Family information

Parents: Edward Charles & Margaret Elizabeth Harpers (nee Colget)
Parents' occupation: Carpenter, tobacconist
Siblings: Edward Thomas Bannister, Ernest Henry, Bertie William, Margaret Elizabeth
Wife: Annie Leach
Marriage date: 02-04-1904
Children: Sydney Thomas (d), Phyllis Elvina

Census information

1891
Address: 10 Masons Hill
1901
Address: Army
1911
Address: 16 Chatterton Road
Occupation: Storeman

Extra details

Sydney was the fourth of Edward and Margaret's five children. He was baptised on 28th November 1880 at St Peter & St Paul's Church. Sydney's mother died in 1884, shortly after the birth of his sister Margaret. His father married Emily J Pearce the following year. His father died in 1893.Sydney attended Aylesbury Road School before enlisting in the East Kent Regiment, from which he purchased his discharge.

Sydney enlisted in the Royal Horse Artillery on 28th November 1898. He saw action in the South Africa Campaign, he was awarded the South Africa 1899 medal and clasps for the Relief of Mafeking, Orange Free State, Transvaal and South Africa 1901.

Returning home Sydney was put on the reserve in 1904 and took a job as a storeman in an electrical works. He married Annie Leach on 2nd April 1904. There is a Mr S Harper on the passenger list of the Indrapura which sailed from Tilbury on 14th October 1913 bound for Melbourne, Australia. His obituary in the Bromley & District Times states that he had been in Australia for 6 years when war broke out but the dates do not fit. His brother Bertie had emigrated in 1912. Sydney must have worked on the railways while in Australia as he is remembered on the Adelaide South Australian Railways WW1 & WW2 Honour Boards

Sydney enlisted in the Australian army on 21st September 1915 in Adelaide. He was 5ft 6½ins tall, weighed 146lbs, had hazel eyes, dark brown hair, a medium complexion, and tattoos both arms. He arrived in Suez on 21st December 1915 then proceeded to Tura, India. On 17th March 1916 he left Alexandria, Egypt, arriving in Marseilles on 23rd. He was able to go home on leave from 31st August to 10th September 1917. On 30th October 1917 he was hit by shrapnel in his right shoulder which resulted in him being returned to England for treatment at Bath War Hospital on 7th November. After two weeks leave he was fit to report to the Depot at Sutton Veny on 29th November 1917, returning to the Front by 7th February 1918. He was wounded again on 9th October in his left knee and treated in the General Hospital at Touville. He was transferred to the Australian Convalescent Depot on 22nd October.

Sydney's body was recovered by the French Water Police at the Quai d'Southampton, Harve, he had drowned. He had last been seen alive on 11th November - Armistice Day.