Harry Grantham was born on March 10, 1890 in Ashton under Lyne to Joseph and Ellen Grantham (née Gaskell). He was the oldest of three boys, brothers William and Joseph, and the younger brother of Adelaide Grantham. His father was a cotton minder when Harry was born but later became a labourer on the railways.
On March 11, 1906, when he turned sixteen years old, he joined the 3rd Volunteer Battalion Manchester Regiment which was re-designated the 9th Battalion, Manchester Regiment, Territorial Force in 1908. Appointed Lance Corporal in May 1910 he was promoted to Corporal in July 1911, when he was 21 years old. In June he was one of the less than 30 men of the Ashton Territorials selected to attend King George V’s coronation in London as a member of the composite battalion representing the East Lancs Division. In his civilian life he was living with his family in Ashton and working as a piecer at a Cotton Mill.
By 1914 he had switched employers and was now working for Messrs. R.A. Barrett and Co. a mineral water business owned and run by the Makin family, two of the brothers being officers in the 9th Battalion. He was also a Primo of Victory Lodge, The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (R.A.O.B.) being one of the largest fraternal movements in the United Kingdom. In the Territorials, he was by now a Sergeant in A Company, one of whose officers was his employer, Lieutenant Frederick Arthur Makin.
At the outbreak of war, the 9th Battalion, Manchester Regiment was mobilised and on August 20, 1914 they marched into Chesham Fold Camp, Bury. Throughout August around 100 new recruits were added, many of whom had previously served with the battalion in the pre-war years. On September 1, 1914 another 100+ men were added, many of whom were friends and family of the existing members of the battalion. On Wednesday September 9 the battalion entrained to Southampton and at midnight the following day sailed for Egypt. In Egypt the men were drilled, trained and worked hard to build their fitness and endurance.
The battalion landed at Gallipoli under shell fire on Sunday May 9, 1915 and at that time Harry Grantham was a 24-year-old Sergeant in A Company.
On the evening of July 10, 1915 Lieut. Oliver Jepson Sutton, on his own initiative, conceived the idea to make a reconnaissance, and voluntarily undertook to carry out this highly dangerous duty. He was accompanied by Sergeant Harry Grantham. They discovered that the Turks were digging to the S.E. of trench G.12 and reported their findings. They were asked to repeat their reconnaissance the following night to verify their observations, which they duly did. In Harry’s own words:
“Lieut. Sutton and myself went out two nights in succession, July 10th and 11th. We each took a piece of rope with us, attached to our wrists and to the parapet of our trench. We pulled it along with us until we reached the Turkish trenches, and so were able to measure the distance between our trenches and theirs. The Turks saw us, but we ran about five or ten yards, and then lay flat on the ground among dead Turks. It was somewhat exciting, especially when they fired at us, but luckily we were missed. Both General Prendergast and General Douglas congratulated us.”
The September 15, 1915 London Gazette carried the following citation:
969 Sjt. H. GRANTHAM 1/9th Bn. Manchester Regiment, TF
For conspicuous gallantry and ability south of Krithia, Gallipoli Peninsula, on 10th and 11th July, 1915, when making a reconnaissance of the enemy’s new trenches under very dangerous circumstances. He gained valuable information and located the hostile positions.
On August 8, 1915 the battalion took part in the Battle of Krithia Vineyard. Lieut. W.T. Forshaw won the Victoria Cross and three N.C.O.s won the Distinguished Conduct Medal. As a Sergeant in “A” Company, Harry was necessarily involved in the Battle of Krithia Vineyard and the October 16, 1915 Ashton Reporter carried an interview which described what happened to him in the Vineyard Trench:
“Sergeant Grantham was shot in the neck by a bullet in the ‘Vineyard’. He can just remember being taken on a stretcher to a French hospital ship, and thence on another hospital ship to Alexandria, and from there to the New Zealand hospital at Port Said. Although the bullet was extracted soon after the injury, the poison from the bullet got into his gums, and caused a number of abscesses, and he had to undergo an operation and have the abscesses treated, and five teeth extracted. He arrived at Devonport last week. He was taken on to Birmingham, where he arrived on Wednesday night, and was given permission to return home on Saturday.”
The No. 1 New Zealand Stationary Hospital, New Zealand’s first overseas hospital in the war, arrived in Port Said on 1 July 1915. In mid-1915, there were no antibiotics and sepsis (also known as blood poisoning) was a significant post-surgical risk, especially with battlefield wounds. Treatment was rather basic; antiseptics were used to clean the wounds and deep surgical incisions were used to drain the pus from infected parts of the body. In Harry’s case, since he was hit in the neck the blood poisoning manifested in his mouth and the only viable treatment was to surgically remove the affected teeth and drain the abscesses. It cannot have been a pleasant experience.
He left Port Said for the UK on September 16, 1915 onboard the hospital ship Runic and by mid October he was back in Ashton. A few weeks later was sufficiently recovered from his wounds to attend the event at Ashton Town Hall when Lieut. W. T. Forshaw, V.C. was granted the freedom of Ashton. Sgt. Grantham subsequently spent time with the 3/9th Battalion at Codford camp for several weeks prior to rejoining the 1/9th Battalion in Egypt. embarking the H.T. Aragon at Devonport on April 4, 1916, rejoining the battalion at Suez on April 21st. After serving in Egypt for almost a year he deployed with the battalion to France in March 1917. On July 6, 1917 Company Sergeant Major (CSM) George Newton was accepted for a commission and left the battalion for officer cadet training in the UK. Harry was appointed acting CSM (Warrant Officer Class II) to fill the gap. He was promoted to WO II and appointed CSM a month later.
On August 1, 1918 he left for England as a candidate for a commission. Arriving in Ashton he did not waste any time and married his long-time fiancé Annie Victoria Norton on September 1st.
He then attended No 2 Officer Cadet Battalion at Cambridge commencing November 5, 1918. And, having been demobilised, on March 13, 1919 the April 26, 1919 London Gazette carried the following announcement regarding his commission:
The undermentioned Cadets to be temporary 2nd Lieutenants under the provisions of the Royal Warrant dated 30 December 1918, promulgated in Army Order 42 of January 1919: —
Manch. R.
17 Mar. 1919.
Harry Grantham, D.C.M
Although Harry was awarded a commission, he was attending his training course when the armistice occurred on November 11, 1918 and was consequently swept up in the terms of “Army Order 42 of January 1919”. This allowed the officer training cadets that successfully graduated to serve as officers but made it clear that these were not regular commissions since they carried with them no pay, allowances or pensions normally granted to officers.
Army Order 42 of 1919 states:
Whereas We deem it expedient to regulate further the future grant of commissions to officer cadets during the period of the present war, Our Will and Pleasure is that such cadets as, on or after January 1, 1919, have completed a satisfactory course of training, may be granted Special Reserve, Territorial Force, or temporary commissions, but that they shall not be entitled to any outfit allowance, gratuity, pay or any other emoluments as officers in respect of the grant of such commissions. On leaving the Army, or on being demobilised, they shall receive such gratuities as they would be eligible for as warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and men had they not been granted a commission.
In February 1920, Harry was awarded the Territorial Force Efficiency Medal having more than surpassed the requirement of 12 years continuous service, (where embodied service counted double). And in October that same year, the 9th Battalion Manchester Regiment was re-formed and many former Officers, NCOs and men of the 1/9th Battalion re-joined.
Outside the military, on August 1, 1921 his first son, Harry Grantham Jr., was born. Two years later on November 13, 1923 his second son, Joseph Grantham, was born and named after his grandfather, who sadly died three years later.
Having resigned his temporary commission, Harry rejoined the 9th Manchester as Sergeant on February 20, 1925 and was promoted to his old rank of Company Sergeant Major (WO Class II) on February 21, 1928. On May 16, 1930 a small contingent of officers, warrant officers and non-commissioned officers from every regular and territorial battalion of the Manchester Regiment paraded at Buckingham Palace to mark the appointment of His Majesty King George V as Colonel-in-Chief of the Manchester Regiment. Harry Grantham was selected to be one of the eight representatives of the 9th Battalion.
On March 20, 1934 he was appointed Regimental Quarter-Master-Sergeant (R.Q.M.S.) upon the retirement of R.Q.M.S. Lee. In 1937 he became eligible for the Territorial Efficiency Medal for another 12 years of continuous service and his medal group, held by the Museum of the Manchester Regiment, shows that he was awarded it.
During the inter-war years, Harry became heavily involved with the 9th Battalion, Manchester Regiment Old Comrades Association and on May 11, 1937 the London Gazette carried the following announcement concerning Harry with regard to an award for services to the Territorial Army:
The KING has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of His Majesty’s Coronation, to give orders for the following promotions in, and appointments to, the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. To be Additional Members of the Military Division of the said Most Excellent Order: —
No. 3520365 Warrant Officer Class II, Regimental Quarter-Master-Sergeant, Harry Grantham, D.C.M., 9th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, Territorial Army.
He was now Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant Harry Grantham, M.B.E., D.C.M. and just entering his 32nd year of service with the Territorials. I January 1938 he was granted the right to continue in the Territorial Army up to the age of 50, under authority of the 42nd East Lancs Division. In June 1939 he was under canvas with the 9th Battalion again at their annual summer camp at Aldershot, one year short of his mandatory retirement from the service at 50 years of age.
At the outbreak of World War 2, Harry was mobilised with the battalion and deployed overseas with the British Expeditionary Force in France on April 15, 1940. 47 days later he was one of 68,014 men evacuated from Dunkirk on Friday May 31, 1940 at the peak of Operation Dynamo.
Back in the UK he continued to serve in an operational role, thus earning the 1939-45 Star and associated WW2 medals, and the Defence Medal for non-operational home service. In fact he was posted to Ireland from April 3 to October 7, 1941 before returning to England. He was finally demobilised and discharged from service on September 8, 1943.
After the war, Harry continued his work with the Old Comrades Association. Harry Grantham, M.B.E., D.C.M. died in Ashton in 1959. He was 69 years old.
On October 30, 2000 a Blue Plaque commemorating him was unveiled in Ashton under Lyne by Joe Grantham. The plaque indicates that Harry wanted to be remembered for his commitment to the care of ex-serviceman.