People on board

BURRELL, Harry Varley

Harry Varley Burrell was born in Burnley, Lancashire in 1892 to Matthew Burrell and Mary Ellen Varley, the youngest of their four children. Matthew was a ‘Tape Sizer’ in a cotton mill, a job that involved adding polymers and wax to cotton yarn, making it less likely to break while being woven. Sizers were regarded as being amongst the most skilled workers, able to command relatively good wages and conditions.

In the 1911 census Harry, aged eighteen, gave his occupation as Clerk, while his older sister was a Weaver and his brother was a Rate Collector. The family lived in the Brierfield area of Burnley, in 1911 on Reedley Road. In 1915 Harry Burrell married Margaret Buckham and they had one child, Matthew, in March 1918, but he only lived thirteen days.

Harry enlisted in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and in October 1918 he was with the 3rd/4th Reserve Battalion which had moved to Ireland in April 1918. Presumably returning to England on leave he travelled on the 10th of October on RMS Leinster with three others from the Regiment. He did not survive the sinking, nor was his body recovered.

Harry Varley Burrell’s name is recorded on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton and also on the Roll of Honour of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.