Henry’s occupation and marital status on enlistment was detailed as a labourer, who was single.
- Date of Birth – 4 August 18911NSW Birth Death and Marriages, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/ Birth – 29561/1891. Parents Henry and Esther, Registered in Queanbeyan. Accessed 20 May 2024. in Araluen.2University of NSW AIF project https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=127357. Accessed 20 May 2024.
- Parents – Henry Harman and Esther Elizabeth Gabriel, with his mother noted as Mrs Bessie Harman, Bayswater Road, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, upon his enlistment.
- Enlisted –1 November 1916 in Goulburn, New South Wales. Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A72 Beltana on 25 November 1916.
- Regimental Number – 45523National Archives of Australia. https://www.naa.gov.au/. NAA: B2455, HARMAN Henry William, Item ID – 4932857. Accessed 1 May 2024.
- Aged at embarkation – 244Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1970669. Accessed 1 May 2024.
- Military service – 30th Infantry Battalion, Rank – Private5Virtual War Memorial Australia, https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/292519. Accessed 1 May 2024. Henry served on the Western Front and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
- Returned to Australia on 31 March 1919.
- Died – 18 March 1969 in Newtown Sydney.6NSW Birth Death and Marriages, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/ Death 14204/1969, aged 76 years Mother Gabriel, Registered in Newtown. Accessed 20 May 2024.
The Goulburn Evening Penny Post7Goulburn Evening Penny Post (NSW : 1881-1940), Thursday 7 December 1916, p 1. reported in December 1916 on Goulburn recruiting, detailing ‘The following have enlisted locally … Henry Harman, Araluen; … A. J. Shepherd, Araluen’.
The Braidwood Dispatch8Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1889; 1895; 1897-1954), Friday 25 April 1919, p 7.recounted in April 1919, ‘Another of our soldiers is to arrive home shortly is Private W. Harman, who enlisted in 1916 and who served in France with the Australian Forces almost continuously till the end. He arrived in Sydney recently, and is undergoing the necessary quarantine regulations. He will also be accorded a welcome home by the residents of the Valley.’
In August 1919, the Braidwood Dispatch9Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1889; 1895; 1897-1954), Friday 29 August 1919, p 2. reported ‘The welcome home to the Araluen soldier boys on Tuesday night last in the Federal Hall was a brilliant success … evidence in itself that Araluen is proud of its khaki heroes, and knows how to “spar up” when a warrior comes home … The soldiers present were: Sergt. C. J. Batty, Gunner A. Collins, and Ptes. W. Harman and J. J. Hush. The mothers present (Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Collins) occupied seats on the platform beside their soldier sons … About 3 a.m. the last of the dancers streamed from the hall, and thus ended one of the most successful welcome home functions ever held at Araluen.’
Henry was the eldest son of Henry Harman (1845-1909) and Esther Gabriel (1869-1948). They had six children following their marriage in 1889 – Alice; Henry; Ruth; Harriett; Harold and Augustus.
Henry married Caroline Gosbell (1895-1951) in 1925 in Sydney and they had four children – Jeanette;10Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954), Tuesday 12 September 1944, p 10. Betty; Dorothy and Henry William.11Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910-1954), Sunday 20 March 1932, p 3. The 1949 electoral roll lists Henry as a fettler at Paddington, NSW.
A death notice was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 22 March 1969, advising of the death of Henry William Harman, on 18 March 1969, late of Dulwich Hill and aged 76.12Ryerson Index, https://ryersonindex.org/. Accessed 20 May 2024.