4th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
The information on Henry William Kitz is rather sparse. It is believed that he was born in Westminster, London in the third quarter of 1886. According to his newspaper obituary he was a chorister for many years at St John’s Church and prior to the war was employed by Messrs Frederick Wright, Tobacconists, High Street, Cheltenham. Evidently he was the son of Joseph August and Harriett Margaret Kitz of 43 Brighton Road, Cheltenham but no entry can be found for Henry or parents in the 1911 Census.
He enlisted into the Gloucestershire Regiment and this must have been quite early in the war as, at the time of his death he had risen to the rank of Corporal. The absence of any Medal Index Card indicates that he probably did not serve overseas. He died of illness on 21 December 1916, aged 30, in the 1st Southern Hospital, Bournebrook, Birmingham, whilst on embarkation leave and was buried in Cheltenham Cemetery, where a CWGC headstone marks his grave. According to a recently released Pension Records Card, the cause of death was a pontine (intracranial) haemorrhage.
He is commemorated on the Cheltenham Town War Memorial and on the memorial at St John’s Church, Berkeley Street (now demolished). Photographs of Henry and his funeral appear in The Graphic of 30 December 1916.
In early 1915 he had married Violet A Burnell at Cheltenham; she was the daughter of Mr and Mrs George Burnell of Albion Street.
Researched by Graham Adams 30 January 2013 (revised 30 July 2021)