8th Cadet Wing, Royal Air Force
Joseph Henry Edwin Lewis, known as Harry, was born 20 October 1900, the son of Henry C and Ellen Louise Lewis, who lived in Clermont Road Gloucester. Henry Lewis was a bricklayer but in 1911 the family moved to 178 Barton Street, Gloucester, to open up a fish shop, selling both fried and fresh fish. They had four children, three girls plus Harry.
Harry had a good singing voice and was accepted as a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral and enrolled at the King’s School at the age of 10. Upon completing his education he joined the staff of Lloyds Bank and prior to his joining the Royal Air Force (RAF) he was employed as a clerk at its Dursley branch, where, according to the Gloucester Journal of 5 October 1918, he was ‘held in high
esteem’.
With conscription pending he applied to join the RAF, to train as a pilot. He joined the RAF as a Cadet on 16 September 1918, just short of his eighteenth birthday, reporting to the Cadet Distribution Depot at Hampstead. Having been medically examined and found fit to serve as either a pilot or observer he was posted to Shorncliffe for training with No 8 Cadet Wing, arriving on 22 September. He was admitted to Bevan Military Hospital, Sandgate with pneumonia, on 27 September 1918 and died there on 1 October 1918, just two weeks short of his eighteenth birthday.
He was buried in Gloucester Old Cemetery, where a private stone cross marks his grave, following a funeral service at All Saints’ Church, Barton Street.
Cadet Lewis’s service record is in the National Archives as AIR 76/298.
Researched by Graham Adams 3 April 15 (revised)