Son’s final resting place is a home to remember

GRIEF and remembrance took many forms as families came to terms with the loss of loved ones in World War I.

James and Elizabeth Petterd chose to honour their youngest son Harry’s memory by giving the name St Benin to their home in Charles St, Moonah, after his final resting place on the other side of the world.

Harry was an 18-year-old carpenter when he joined up at Claremont in January 1916. Despite his young age he’d had 3½ years with the army cadets.

His parents were living at Roope St, New Town, and he had their written consent to enlist as a driver with the field artillery. Notes on his service record show that he was in Victoria the following month and was transferred to a howitzer brigade.

He sailed from Melbourne that May and arrived in England in July. He was posted to France at the end of 1916 and was classified as a gunner the following month.

After a year of active service in France, he was given three weeks’ leave in England.

Returning to the front, Harry was killed by a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

He was buried in the St Benin Communal Cemetery, France.

The town of St Benin had been captured by British Empire forces on May 10 and in the local cemetery’s northwest corner are the graves of four Australian and six British soldiers who fell that month, including Harry Petterd.

Personal items including souvenir coins, photos, postcards and two threepenny pieces were returned to his parents who were now living at Moonah.

Driver Harry Augustus Petterd is remembered at tree 508 on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue and on the Glenorchy War Memorial. His name is also inscribed on his parents’ graves at Cornelian Bay Cemetery in Hobart.