Harry Patch

Henry John (Harry) Patch, served with the DCLI from 1916-1918. As a combat soldier he saw action with the regiment, at the Battle of Passchendaele. He was part of a four-man Lewis gun team, of whom he was the only survivor after an explosion, which killed the rest of the crew and left Harry wounded. He returned to Britain injured in 1917, returning briefly to the battlefield in 1918. He would not serve as a soldier again, though he served as a Fireman in Bristol during WWII. In later life Harry, having come to terms with what he had been through, would become vocal about his own objections to war. Harry is most famous for being “the Last Survivor of the Trenches” living to the grand old age of 111, this bust, on display in the museum, is a resin cast of a bronze bust produced by the sculptor Alan Dun, who cast the original for Bath Abbey, giving this bust to Harry, whom later donated to the museum.