Harry Hewitt Harry Hewitt was a resident of Coronation Street from 1921 to 1964 . He grew up in the Street , and , with wife Lizzie and their daughter Lucille , they were the second successive generation of Hewitts to inhabit No . 7 . Harry was a bus driver and later inspector , and Lizzie a clippie . In January 1959 , Lizzie died in a road accident , and , unable to cope with Lucille himself , Harry put the girl in an orphanage . In 1961 , he married Concepta Riley , a barmaid at the Rovers Return Inn , the local pub at which he was a regular . Lucille returned to live with the family and in 1962 Harry and Concepta had their own child , Christopher . Although Lucille preferred to stay in Weatherfield , Concepta was always pushing Harry to move to her native Ireland , and when he eventually relented in 1964 , Lucille stayed behind and moved into the Rovers with Jack and Annie Walker to finish her education . On a return visit to Weatherfield in 1967 to attend Elsie and Steve Tanner ' s wedding , Harry was killed when he was crushed while repairing a van . Biography . 1922 - 1959 : Early life . Harry Hewitt was the second of Thomas and Mary Hewitt ' s children , born on 24th February 1921 . Like his older sister Alice , he was educated at Hardcastle ' s Factory School , which later became Bessie Street School , before going out to work at fifteen and landing a job as a clippie on the newly - established Weatherfield Bus Service . Harry and Alice both suffered from Mary ' s mental problems . During the Depression , Thomas had been so desperate for work that he joined a raid on Elliston ' s Raincoat Factory , only to be caught by the police and imprisoned . By the time he returned home , Mary had changed into resentful and angry woman , but her problems went ignored until the night Harry returned home from a pub crawl after receiving his first wage from the buses . As he stumbled into the house blind drunk , Mary came charging down the stairs in her nightgown , a carving knife in her hand , and started slashing at her son in a psychotic episode . While the neighbours held her down , the doctor was called and Mary was carted off in a van . She spent the rest of her life in a mental asylum , passing away in 1936 . Harry , who had sustained cuts to his arms in the attack , didn ' t attend the funeral . Thomas Hewitt was not particularly close to either of his children , and after war broke out , was ashamed of Harry not being accepted into service ( due to foot problems ) . In June 1940 , Alice ' s husband Sam Burgess was killed in battle , and Thomas shamed his son into enlisting . Harry rarely visited Weatherfield during his leave from service , preferring to stay with his sister , but returned briefly for his favourite cousin Sally Todd ' s wedding . Living with his father after the war , Harry returned to the buses , where he was promoted to conductor . One of the new clippies was Nellie Briggs , with whom Harry arranged a double date , with his mate Len Fairclough and her friend Lizzie Harding making up the numbers . Harry and Len quickly realised they were both after Nellie and Harry ended up going for Len when he made a play for Nellie first , only to be knocked to the floor by Len . It was only when Lizzie leaned down to nurse his bloody nose that Harry noticed that she wasn ' t bad either , and arranged a date ! Harry and Lizzie were married in 1948 , and in 1949 their daughter Lucille was born . With Thomas ' s passing in 1947 , the Hewitts stayed on at 7 Coronation Street , now the third generation of their family to inhabit Coronation Street . The Hewitts led a peaceful life in the Street until the cold winter of 1959 , when Lizzie was hit by an out - of - control bus which had skidded on the ice . Harry latterly comforted the driver , before being informed by Ena Sharples that it was his own wife who had been hit in the crash . Harry tried for some months to look after Lucille on his own but , despite help from his neighbours , he realised he was unable to properly support her alone and so he applied to the council to take her into care . When the day arrived for Lucille to go to the children ' s home , Harry was almost as distressed as Lucille , feeling the sense of loss from his daughter ' s departure almost as much as he had with Lizzie . 1960 - 1963 : The returns of Lucille and Concepta . Lucille , unwilling to spend Christmas in the orphanage , walked all the way to Coronation Street in late December 1960 , convincing Harry to let her stay at least until after Christmas . Harry arranged for his neighbour Esther Hayes to look after Lucille when he was away at work . For a short while the following year Harry ' s sister Alice moved into his home to help look after Lucille , but neither party enjoyed the arrangement and shortly afterwards Alice left to take a housekeeping job elsewhere . Harry was not short of female attention though , as local shopkeeper Florrie Lindley and one of his colleagues Eileen Hughes fought over his attentions . Harry was not romantically attracted to either lady . The barmaid of the Rovers Return , Concepta Riley , also returned to Weatherfield from her native Ireland in 1960 . A flirtation sprang up between Concepta and Harry , with Harry taking Concepta to the Bus Depot Dance . Whilst on a coach trip to Blackpool Harry proposed to Concepta , who accepted . Despite her family ' s initial reservations due to Harry being a Protesant , Harry and Concepta were married on 1st October 1961 in a Catholic ceremony , with Concepta ' s parents ' blessing . The couple honeymooned on the Isle of Man . Harry did not settle down easily into his second marriage . Arguments over furniture and Harry ' s tendency to spend the evenings drinking with Len Fairclough followed . Concepta found she was pregnant and Harry found himself father to a son , Christopher . During a party to celebrate the first wedding anniversary of Harry and Concepta , Christopher went missing while in Lucille ' s care . His disappearance sparked a police search , and the empty pram was discovered on waste ground . After being questioned by the police , Lucille admitted to Harry that she ' d left Christopher with a girl from her class , Brenda Cowan , while she was in Gamma Garments . Elsie Tanner eventually found Christopher alive and well with Joan Akers , whose own baby had died , and convinced her to return the baby to the Hewitts herself . Throughout the crisis , Harry remained a tower of strength and supported Concepta and Lucille . In 1963 , when Harry became ill with a chesty cough , Concepta began considering a move to the Irish countryside , making a living by buying her father ' s garage - cum - grocers . Harry was immediately won over and handed in his resignation at work , but when faced with Lucille ' s refusal to move , he changed his mind . Concepta threatened to move on her own , but after a row with Harry and Lucille , she backed down and resigned herself to a life in Weatherfield . After a month on the dole , Harry got a new job as a a chauffeur for Amalgamated Steel . 1964 - 1967 : Ireland and death . The following August , Concepta ' s father ' s failing health forced him into retirement , and Concepta once again pushed Harry to move to Ireland to take over the business . History repeated itself as Harry was caught between two women , with Concepta and Lucille equally stubborn in their opposing positions . However , Harry realised that Concepta wasn ' t going to let the matter drop a second time , and made preparations to emigrate . Annie Walker , Concepta ' s former employer at the Rovers , offered to take Lucille in as the Walkers ' ward so that she could finish her schooling in Weatherfield , an offer graciously accepted by the Hewitts . Although Harry was unsure about leaving Lucille behind , Lucille ' s acceptance of her new situation did much to allay his fears . Harry returned to Weatherfield the following year to escort Lucille to her new family home only to find that his daughter , now a young , independent woman , had a job and no intentions of leaving Lancashire . Harry decided to respect her wishes and for the time being she remained with the Walkers . The Hewitts returned to Weatherfield one last time in September 1967 , to attend the wedding of Elsie Tanner to Steve Tanner . After the wedding , Harry and Len went to visit an old mate in Len ' s van . En route , the van broke down , and Harry tried to repair it himself , jacking up the van with bricks . While underneath , the bricks slipped and Harry was crushed . He died in hospital . Personality . Harry was an old - fashioned family man ; as the man of the household , he saw it as his duty and his alone to provide for his wife and children , with similarly traditional views of a woman ' s role in a marriage , especially when the children were very young . However , he was also a caring and attentive husband and father , who would usually bow to Concepta or Lucille ' s wishes to avoid rows . This did not usually help as Concepta and Lucille were always on different sides ! Despite sharing most of his time and interests with his drinking buddy Len Fairclough , Harry was more sensible than his friend , and when a fight threatened to break out , Harry would usually act at the voice of reason . Hobbies and interests . Harry was always fond of dogs and had kept a pair of whippets when he lived alone . Concepta , who thought them smelly and dirty , ordered Harry to get rid of his beloved whippets . He swapped them for a greyhound , Lucky Lolita , who initially did very well at the Dog Track , winning several races . With the residents of Coronation Street backing her heavily , Lolita lost an important race at White City . Background information . Harry Hewitt was Ivan Beavis ' s first full - time acting job . Before being cast in " Coronation Street " , Beavis was an audit clerk , accountant and company secretary . In the early 1950s , he joined an amateur dramatics company and , in 1957 , got his first TV role in Granada sitcom " The Army Game " . The character of Harry was not present in either dry run and Beavis made his on - screen debut in the part in Episode 2 . An early controversy involving Harry was his marriage to barmaid Concepta Riley . The characters had been courting since the beginning of the series , and in 1961 the writers decided that they would tie the knot . It was at a story conference when writer Vince Powell pointed out that they hadn ' t given thought to the fact that Harry and Concepta were , respectively , Protestant and Catholic . The issue was discussed by the writing team and it was decided to carry on with the union , and explore all the attendant difficulties of such a situation . Writer H . V . Kershaw : " We were assailed by letters from Protestant and Catholic alike all complaining that we had shown a strong bias towards ' the other side ' . It ' s difficult to win under such circumstances but at least we knew we hadn ' t taken the easy way out . " " ( " The Street Where I Live " , Book Club Associates , 1981 ) " In the course of working on the programme , Beavis and Doreen Keogh fell in love and got married " ( " Coronation St . " , Octopus Books , 1985 ) " Harry ' s biggest storyline was the abduction of baby Christopher in 1962 , which drew the series ' highest ratings up to that point . Beavis : " Harry was a something and nothing character and because of that everyone liked him and I found I had mates all over the country . " " ( " The Coronation Street Story " , Boxtree Limited , 1995 ) " Along with Anne Reid as Valerie Barlow , Beavis appeared in the most episodes of " Coronation Street " in 1963 , with 91 appearances . In 1964 , incoming producer Tim Aspinall decided on a number of cast changes , including writing out the entire Hewitt clan . He was talked out of axing Lucille due to her being the only child in the programme , but for Harry and Concepta , his decision was final . Harry made his last appearance in Episode 385 , when he and Concepta emigrated to Ireland , leaving Lucille in Jack and Annie Walker ' s care . Moving onto other acting work , Beavis soon discovered the pitfalls of his character being " rested " , as casting directors continued to link him with " Coronation Street " . He made a brief return to the " Street " for two episodes in 1965 , in which he expressed a desire for Harry to be killed off to stop the confusion . In 1967 he got his wish ; when he and Keogh were asked to return for Elsie and Steve Tanner ' s wedding , scripts included Harry ' s accidental death . The scene called for a van to be jacked up by bricks , only to slip and crush Harry to death . With recording about to begin , the stuntman refused to lie under a van jacked up only by bricks . Beavis was to play the scene with a strong jack off camera , but it was only when recording started that he noticed the jack was missing : " I thought it ' s not worth stopping now , so we did it . I wasn ' t under there for very long . Then I came out and they put the dummy under . And this van just went bang , and split the dummy ' s head in two as fast as that . And all I could think was " That could have been me " . " " ( " The Coronation Street Story " ) " Harry and Dot Greenhalgh are cousins ; their mothers were sisters . Quotes . " ' Fraid she ' s frettin ' , love . " ( First line - to Annie Walker ' s enquiry after Lucille ) . " Right . " ( Final line , taking a spanner off a Lorry Driver ) .