Name
Harry Leonard Hourd (Stevenson)
1899
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/09/1918
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
57712
Worcestershire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
FIVE POINTS CEMETERY, LECHELLE
A. 4.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
Harry Leonard Stevenson (Hourd) was born in Hickling, Notts in 1899, the son of Agnes Winifred Stevenson. and baptised on 22 November 1901 at St Luke, Hickling.
On the 1901 Census he was living with his mother Agnes and widowed grandmother Caroline Stevenson, in Hickling Village, Notts. His mother married Robert Hourd in 1906 and they had two daughters in 1908 and 1910, but his stepfather died in 1911 and on the Census he was at school and living with his widowed mother, sisters Norah and Dorothy and widowed grandparents William Hourd and Caroline Stevenson. His mother married again in late 1914 to James Guthrie but she died only two years later at the age of 38.
Prior to enlistment Harry was working as a Footman in the London household of Gaby Deslys in her Kensington home, near the Royal Albert Hall. She was a famous French dancer and a popular star in the theatre and early cinema. She died in Paris on 11 February 1920 from a severe throat infection caused by the Spanish Flu. Her estate was valued at 12 million francs and she left all of her property in Marseilles to the poor of Marseilles. Harry was said to have been living in Manchester on enlistment, although he went to London to enlist.
His mother having died, he gave his next of kin as his two uncles John Edmondson and John Stevenson. (N.B. John Thomas Stevenson was born in Hickling, Notts and was living at the Christchurch Parsonage, Hemel Hempstead when he died in 1924).
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of war Harry was too young to enlist, but did so as soon as he reached the age of 18. Although he was said to be living in Manchester, he enlisted in London and initially served as Acting Corporal with the 19th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (Reg. No. 96429) and was sent for basic training to Aldershot. In March 1918 he was sent overseas and was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment as Private and was initially in the front line fighting around Ypres, Belgium and later in France.
He was seriously wounded in September when the 2nd Battalion when attacking operations were hampered by heavy enemy shelling. He was sent for treatment but died from his injuries on 24 September 1918 and is buried at Five Points Cemetery, Lechelle, France. (N.B. This cemetery was used by the 53rd Field Ambulance and 18th Casualty Clearing Station)
Additional Information
His uncles John L Edmondson and John T Stevenson shared in equal parts his war gratuity of £4 and pay owing of £2 9s 6d. Both his sisters are listed on the 1939 register as nurses.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.tribalpages.com/Hourd, www.hemelheroes.com.
