Harry Chalmers

Military Information

  • Date of enlistment:
  • Place of enlistment:
  • Service no: Clyde Z/3102
  • Rank: Petty Officer
  • Service Occupation:
  • Awards:
  • Regiment/Service: Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
  • Unit/Ship: Nelson Battalion, R.N. Div
  • Place of Death: France
  • Age at Death: 21
  • Date of Death: 13.11.1916
  • Burial Country: France
  • Cemetery: Ancre British Cemetery, Beaumont-Hamel
  • Grave/Mem Ref no: III.E.17.

Personal Information

  • Date of Birth:
  • Place of Birth:
  • Address: 24 Baldovan Tce, Dundee
  • Occupation: Clerk, Manhattan Works, Dundee
  • Mother:
  • Father:

    James Chalmers, 24 Baldovan Tce, Dundee

  • Siblings:

    Robert, George,  James and John

  • Spouse:
  • Children:

More about Harry Chalmers

Harry Chalmers   CZ/3102 Nelson Bn Royal Naval Division

Mr James Chalmers, 24 Baldovan Terrace, Dundee, has received official intimation that his son, Petty Officer Harry Chalmers, of the Royal Naval Division, has been posted as missing.  Petty Officer Chalmers, who is twenty-one years of age, was employed as a clerk with Messrs F. S. Sandeman & Sons, Manhattan Works, Dundee, prior to enlisting in January of last year.  Mr Chalmers has two other sons with the colours—Sappers Robert and George Chalmers, Royal Engineers—and both had seen service at Gallipoli.  His son-in-law, Mr Peter Ritchie, is also a petty officer in the Royal Naval Division.

Dundee Courier 6th December 1916

CHALMERS—Previously reported missing now officially reported killed on 13th November, Petty Officer Harry Chalmers, Royal Naval Division., aged 21, youngest son of Mr Jas. Chalmers 24 Baldovan Terrace, Dundee—deeply mourned.

Dundee Courier 21st December 1916

Harry Chalmers was the son of Mr James Chalmers of 24 Baldovan Terrace, Dundee. As a boy he attended Stobswell School and continued studying Textiles and Jute Spinning at the Dundee Technical College (Student number 3198). He was employed as a Clerk at the Manhattan Works in Dundee. Two of his brothers, James and John, later served in the American Forces according to the Peoples Journal of 17 November 1917. Harry Chalmers volunteered to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve for service in the Royal Naval Division enlisting onboard HMS Unicorn in Dundee on 12 January 1915. After initial Naval training at the Crystal Palace he was retained there for administrative or training duties, being advanced to leading Seaman in April and Petty Officer in September 1915. In February 1916 he was sent to Blandford Camp in Dorset for advanced military training after which he joined the Nelson Battalion in France in July 1916. In November 1916 the Nelson Battalion took part in the attack on Beaucourt, the last action of the Somme battle. Harry Chalmers was killed but his body was later recovered and he is buried in the Ancre British Cemetery, Beaumont Hamel. One of the first day’s objectives of the British attack on 1 July 1916 was the capture of the village of Beaucourt just to the west of the River Ancre. It was finally taken on 14 November by the men of the 63rd Royal Naval Division. This was the first major operation by the RND in France and established a reputation for being a “Can Do” Division. However, the casualty list was very high and over 30 local men were killed and countless more wounded. This was the worst ever day for Dundee’s Naval forces in the First World War.

Iain Stewart and Iain Birnie

Additional information kindly supplied by Michael Caldwell.

Further information supplied by Iain Stewart and Iain Birnie

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