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1895 - 03/05/1917

Place of birth: Bromley, Kent
Last known address in Bromley: 22 Plough Cottage Cherry Orchard Road,

Military information

Regiment/Service: York & Lancaster Regiment
Battalion/Ship: 2nd/4th Bn
Rank: Private
Number: 201676

Family information

Parents: Henry Robert James & Elizabeth Mary Harris (nee Harris)
Parents' occupation: House decorator
Siblings: Elizabeth Sarah, Ethel Mary (d), James Thomas, Henry John, Francis George, Arthur Charles, Cecil Ralph (d)
Wife: Caroline Knight
Marriage date: 1914
Children: Eugenia Florence

Census information

1901
Address: 47 Oakley Road
1911
Address: 70 Bromley Common

Extra details

Roland was the youngest of Henry and Elizabeth Harris's surviving children. He was baptised on 4th July 1895 at Holy Trinity, Bromley Common. Roland was an old boy of Holy Trinity Schools. He had various small jobs before joining one of his brothers at Sir Robert Hadfield's steel works in Sheffield. It was here that he met his wife Caroline Knight.

Roland enlisted in the Northumberland Fusiliers on 22nd September 1914 but was discharged, medically unfit, on 20th October due to valvular disease of the heart. He was recorded as being 5ft 8½ins tall, having a fresh complexion, blue eyes, light brown hair and a scar on his right shin.

He then enlisted in the York and Lancaster Regiment on 9th April 1915. He had several incidents of being absent without leave and on one occasion was recorded as having deserted and was sentenced to 56 days detention. Roland went to France on 14th January 1917. He was in hospital from 10th to 15th March with inflamed fingers and again from 30th march to 5th April with diarrhoea. Roland was reported wounded and missing on 3rd May 1917. A friend said that he had seen Roland shot in the head but had then been wounded himself. Another soldier reported that he had seen Roland's grave.