Sarah Lizzie Harris - The Story of a Grave

S. L. Harris grave in Arksey Old Cemetery

14909 Worker

S. L. Harris

Q. M. Army Aux Corps.

26th February 1919 age 26

The Woman With The War Grave

This rather anonymous memorial in Arksey's old cemetery (above) was photographed and recorded with all the other graves in the 'Old Cemetery' section on this blog and barely given another thought. 

That was until I was contacted by Christine Holliday. She was researching WW1 graves in the area for the Owston parish magazine. 

Christine was keen to find out more about S. L. Harris, as she was the first woman she'd found with a CWGC headstone. At that time Christine didn't even know S. L. Harris's Christian names.

Over the following few weeks Christine and I researched S. L. Harris, and found out quite a bit about her. Here is the story of our research and what we found out.

Contents

• Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps
• The Search For Sarah
• Sarah Lizzie Harris 1892 - 1919
• The Arksey Connection

Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps

The first thing to find out was what the term Q. M. Army Aux Corps. meant. This was quite easy to look up and gave an insight into Sarah's role during the war.

Such was the heavy casualty rate during WW1, that the War Office decided there were a great many jobs women could undertake in place of men needed to fight. So began the Women's Auxiliary Corps (later Queen Mary's Auxiliary Corps). 

The women wore khaki uniforms consisting of a small cap, jacket and skirt, the skirt no more than twelve inches above the ground.

The roles included office work, canteen, stores and transport jobs. by 1918 this voluntary force numbered more than 50,000, some of which worked in war zones across Europe.

Recruitment poster

The Search for Sarah

To start a search you first need a name, and the 1911 census was a good place to start. We had her initials, surname, and could date her birth to 1892/3. A search for records in the Doncaster area using this information turned up a Sarah Elizabeth Harris, born in Bolton Upon Dearne, aged 19 and working as a domestic housemaid for her uncle, Joseph Frost, who was a publican at the Plough Inn in Balby. Another niece, Caroline Gilbert was also shown working there.

Christine enquired to Doncaster Cemeteries and they confirmed that a Sarah Elizabeth Harris was interred in Arksey cemetery on the 1st of March 1919. They said she had died at Leeds General Infirmary and also suggested the 'L' might stand for 'Lizzie'. So we finally had a name to go on.

Sarah Lizzie Harris 1892 - 1919

Sarah's birth was registered 'Sarah Lizzie Harris' in the April quarter of 1892 in Doncaster. So, she was never intended to be known as Sarah 'Elizabeth', the assumption that Lizzie was an abbreviation of Elizabeth must account for the confusion in the records.

To find out more about Sarah and her family, a search of the 1901 census reveals that eight year old Sarah's father was William Harris, and her mother was Harriet, both aged 43. The family were living in Bolton Upon Dearne, and William was a coal miner. William and Harriet were from Rotherham and Sheffield respectively.

When I looked for the Harris's marriage, I discovered Harriet had already been married.

William married Harriet Gilbert in the March quarter of 1891 in Rotherham, but a search for the newly weds on the 1891 census threw up a surprise as they were found living with Harriet's parents John and Sarah Allen in Wath, and had a one year old daughter named 'Carrie'.

After more searching it was found that Harriet Allen had married Arthur Gilbert in 1884. Arthur died in the June quarter of 1889. Their daughter Caroline 'Carrie', wasn't born until the September of that same year, meaning that Arthur didn't live long enough to see the birth of his daughter.

The Arksey Connection

While all this research into Sarah's background was useful, it didn't explain how she came to be buried in Arksey.

Christine enquired with Leeds General Infirmary as to Sarah's cause of death, but all they would say was that she did not die of any wounds received in the war. That left us guessing - maybe she had died during the post-war influenza epidemic? There was only one way to find out - send for a copy of the death certificate.

Sarah's death certificate

This is what the certificate revealed. 

When and where died

26th February 1919, Infirmary, Leeds

Name and surname

Sarah Elizabeth Harris

Age

26 years

Occupation

4 Northfield, Arksey, Bentley with Arksey

a general servant, W. A. A. C. (spinster)

Cause of death

Typhoid fever

Informant

C. Frost (sister) 'Northfield, Arksey'

So, from this we could work out that Sarah, having completed her service in the W.A.A.C. returned to domestic work, this time at the home (probably a farm) of her half sister Caroline Gilbert, who had married her cousin Harry Frost in 1913.

According to the 1923 electoral registers 'Northfield' used to stand on Ings Lane, near to the Old Vicarage, however, it seems to have gone from living memory as no-one I have spoken to in Arksey can remember it.

Christine and I are satisfied that we have found out as much about Sarah Lizzie Harris as we can, and although her life was short, she 'did her bit' for her country, this ordinary working-class girl.

Christine lit a candle for Sarah at a remembrance event at St Michael and All Angel's Church, Carcroft, in early August 2014.

__________

A version of this story also appears in the 'Owston Parish Magazine' (Setember 2014 issue), written by Christine Holliday, for a scan of it go to Scrapbook.



Alison Vainlo 

First written 2014, updated 2020