Harry was born on 1st April 1894 in Burton Lazars and was still living there in 1901, with two older brothers and a younger brother and sister. His father, Henry, was an agricultural labourer and his mother was called Mary.

Soon after 1901, the family moved to Holwell and Mary had three more children, one girl and two boys.

By 1911, aged 17, Harry was working as a waggoner in the plaster mines at Barton in Nottinghamshire.

He joined the Northumberland Fusiliers on 2nd September 1914, the same day as Bertie King and Charles Cecil Barlow, both also from Holwell and who died in the War. Harry transferred to the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 7th September 1914.

His Navy records lists him as a miner, 5’5” tall, with light brown hair and blue eyes. His chest measured 36” and he bore a surgical scan from appendicitis. His religion was C. of E. He was rated A.B on 1st March 1915 and his character recorded as very good.

In early May 1915, he was wounded near the Dardanelles in the Gallipoli Campaign. With a wound to his right foot, he convalesced in the Kasr El Aini Hospital in Cairo, Egypt, returning to his unit a fortnight later.

KX/190 Able Seaman Harry Pepper was wounded in the Battle of the Somme on 13th November 1916 and died in the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station from his wounds three days later on 16th November 1916. He is buried in Puchevillers British Cemetery on the Somme in France.