(L to R) British War Medal; Allied Victory Medal
Henry was born in Cardiff in 1897. Henry’s father, also called Henry, was a wood machinist. His mother, Sarah, and older sister, Lillian, were tailors. They lived at 28 Harriet Street in Cardiff. Henry possibly worked for the Western Mail newspaper based in Cardiff, as a ‘Harry Dimery’ is remembered on the staff memorial at their main office.
Henry joined the Army sometime during the First World War in Cardiff but was placed into the 21st Battalion of the Manchester Regiment with the service number 51537. New soldiers were usually placed in local units with other local men, but as the war progressed it was sometimes necessary to replace casualties in other regiments. This seems to have been the case with Henry as he had no links to Manchester.
Henry joined the rest of the 21st Battalion on the Western Front. He was killed in Belgium on the 4th October 1917. He was 20 years old. He is remembered at the Tyne Cot Memorial along with 35,001 others, including 926 men from the Manchester Regiment.
Henry’s medals were donated to the museum collections in 2012.
