Story
HAROLD GEORGE BRYANT Harold Bryant enlisted as a soldier then had to wait three years before he was mobilised. And, soon after, he was transferred to a hospital isolation unit having been found to be a carrier of a form of meningitis. He attested, stating his willingness to join the Army on 29 November 1915 at the age of 23, just two days after getting married. At the time his address was given as his parent's home at 5 Beech (or Beecher) Terrace, Bournemouth Road, Parkstone, though, soon after, it was recorded as being Bayonne, in Bourne Valley Road. Harold, who was a railway parcel porter at Bournemouth West Station before serving, stood at just over 5ft 9ins, had a 34ins chest, weighed 8st 12lbs and had dark hair. He was medically examined again at Dorchester in June 1917 where his physical condition was found to be good and his vision by now was marked down as 6/9. He also reported fainting fits but these had never occurred when on duty. His heart was also 'quite sound'. In the early summer of 1918 he was examined again. His physical condition was recorded as 'moderate', his complexion 'sallow', his hair dark and his eyes brown. His vision now was put down as 6/2, though 6/6 when wearing his glasses He also complained of lumbago, though the doctor could find no sign on examination. Harold George Bryant was finally mobilised on 31 August 1918. Shortly before, his employer, the station master at the London and South Western Railway's Bournemouth West Station, wrote a 'To Whom It May Concern' letter. It said: 'The bearer, who has been released for military service (although the application was first submitted at the outbreak of war) has a knowledge of telegraphy and has had considerable experience in the handling, checking and dispatching of traffic. In my opinion, his services would be a valuable asset in the Railway Operating Corps or the Inland Waterways and Docks section of the service.' That did not happen. Instead, Harold Bryant joining the Tank Corps and was given the number 312259. After about three weeks with a reserve unit, he was transferred to the Tank Corp's 19th Battalion. Private Bryant's medical condition originated at Worgret Camp on the Isle of Purbeck and he was sent to the Wareham Military Hospital diagnosed with influenza on 29 October 1918. However, on examination he was found to be a carrier of cerebro-spinal fever, a form of meningitis, even though he never showed any sign of the disease himself. Lance Corporal Bryant – he had been promoted – was promptly sent to the isolation unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley near Southampton, where he would remain for five months. In a statement on his own case, Lnc Cpl Bryant confirmed that he had not suffered from the neurological condition of being a CSF carrier before joining the Army and said that he was insured by the Ancient Order of Foresters. He remained at the hospital until he was demobbed. His medical examination before leaving stated that he never showed any sign of the disease, and he was now free from the infection. (Three post-nasal swabs at weekly intervals had all been negative.) No further treatment was required. It added that his medical condition on joining up had been A1 and he was now in pre-war health. His old employer, the London and South Western Railway Company, sent in a letter to the Army to say that they were prepared to offer him employment again as a parcel porter. Harold George Bryant was born in the summer of 1892 in the Bournemouth area. He came from a family with strong links to the railways. His father, William G. Bryant, who had been born in Poole, was a railway porter and the family lived at the time at the Bournemouth West Railway Station in Queens Road. (The station had opened in 1874.) Harold's mother, Sarah, came from Dorchester and would have six children. In 1901, the family also had a lodger, a widow, who worked as a railway waiting room attendant. By 1911, the family had moved to 5 Beech (or Beecher) Terrace in Bournemouth Road, Parkstone. Father William still worked as a railway porter; Harold's older brother, also William, was a railway telegraphist and his younger brother Charles a railway messenger. Harold, now 18, had already stated working as a parcel porter. (The family by now had a milkman for a lodger.) The war broke out in August 1914 and, just over a year later on 27 November 1915 at the age of 23, Harold married. His bride, Annie Louisa Stacey, was a 20-year-old shop assistant at a pawnbroker's who lived with her family at 12 Purbeck Road, Bournemouth. Annie's dad, Frank Stacey, was a steel maker or worker who had also previously worked on the railways as a railway carriage examiner. Her mum, Louisa, came originally from Burton in Dorset. Annie had been born in Basingstoke on 3 June 1895 and the family subsequently lived at Torrington in Devon. Just two days after the wedding, which took place at All Saints Church, Branksome Park, with conscription likely to come in in the New Year, Harold volunteered to serve in the Army. He wasn't mobilised until more than two years later. By then, Annie had given birth to their first children, twins who came in to the world on 2 August 1916. They called them Doris Lilian and Harold Ronald. By the time Harold joined, the Bryants had moved to a house called Bayonne in Bourne Valley Road, Poole and he was still living there, registered as a Dorset elector in 1921. The year before, a daughter Phyllis was born and another sister, Gwendoline came a year later. The couple would go on to have other children. At the start of the Second World War, Harold and Annie and several members of their family were living at 79 Sandbanks Road in Poole, at a house called Pendennis. (They had been there for several years, having previously lived, the 1920s, in a house called Bayonne (like their previous home) in Castledene Road off Sandbanks Road.) Harold was now working as a railway motor driver. Two of his daughters worked in a laundry and another daughter was a cinema usherette. Harold George Bryant, of 55 Sandbanks Road, Poole, passed away on 20 February 1970. His wife Annie Louisa (or Louise) Bryant died less than a year later on 4 January 1941. Please contact us if you wish to suggest an amendment or have additional information.