Oxfordshire town adds female WW1 casualty to memorial

An Oxfordshire town’s single female casualty of the First World War has finally been officially remembered, over 100 years after her death.

Lucy Harris, from Witney, was a member of the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF) and died on 1 November 1918 from Spanish influenza.

She was buried alongside her mother at St Mary’s church, on the town’s eastern edge, although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) now lists her grave as “unmarked”.

Jeff Clements, a local historian, had campaigned to have Mrs Harris’ name added to Witney’s war memorial after discovering her story while researching a book about the town’s First World War casualties. His request received unanimous backing from the town council.

Unfortunately, the ongoing coronavirus lockdown meant that Mrs Harris’ name was inscribed on the memorial without the previously planned ceremony taking place.

Mayor Duncan Enright said: “It’s absolutely right that Lucy Harris has been added to our memorial, and very fitting that a young Witney woman who died in the last pandemic one hundred years ago is honoured in this latest time of trial.”

Photo: © Imperial War Museum