People on board

BARLOW, Henry Sherlock

Henry Sherlock Barlow was born in Tarporley, Cheshire on the 5th of November 1876 to James Barlow and Jane Sherlock, their only child. He was baptised in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Tarporley the following month. In the 1881 census the family was living in Chester where James Barlow was a Grocer. In 1891 they were in Chorlton in Lancashire where James was a Cab Driver. In the 1911 census he gave his occupation as ‘Innkeeper’, presumably at the Crown Inn, Norley, described as a “Grocer’s Shop with Off License” in a letting notice in 1914.

Henry Sherlock married Mary Robinson, daughter of a farmer, in October 1906 and a daughter, Rhona Phyllis was born that year. A son, James Robert was born in 1909. The whereabouts of Henry and Rhona in the 1911 census has not been established but Mary, using her maiden name, and James Robert were in South Manchester.

Henry enlisted in the Yorkshire Hussars Yeomanry at Northwich but it is not known when. However he wrote a Will on the 7th of July 1918 which is annotated as being written “while a soldier in actual military service”. This Will was not probated until February 1920, its authenticity obviously challenged. In his Will he left everything to his wife Mary except a £100 Government War Loan which would go to his children when they reached the age of twenty-one. He left £141 14s 1d in total. At that time his family were living at Maddock Lodge, Tarporley Road, Sandiway.

In October 1918 Henry Barlow was with the 2/1st Yorkshire Hussars, a training and reserve brigade which had moved to Ireland in April 1918. Presumably returning home on leave he travelled on RMS Leinster on the 10th of October. He did not survive the sinking nor was his body recovered. His name is recorded on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton as well as on the Tarporley and Weaverham War Memorials. A notice appeared in the Runcorn Guardian on the 10th of October 1919 “In Affectionate Remembrance from his Sorrowing Wife and Family”.