Name
Harold King
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/05/1916
18
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
5156
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BETHUNE TOWN CEMETERY
V. D. 49.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Royston Town War Memorial, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Harold was the son of W. J. and Esther King, of King St., Royston.
Wartime Service
On the 26th May1916 the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment were located in frontline trenches on the outskirts of the village of Festubert, in Northern France.
One of the positions being garrisoned was location named Island 30. At 6.00am on the morning of the 26th May 1916, a group of six German soldiers crawled through the long grass which had grown in front of the British positions. They leapt up and surprised the men who were located in the post, killing two and wounding Harold King and Charles Badham.
The two wounded men were taken to the 134th Field Ambulance at Bethune. Harold King died the following day from his injuries. 2950 Lance Corporal Reginald Frank CHATFIELD aged 21 of Watford, Hertfordshire – Killed. Buried in Grave III. F.32 at Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L'avoue, France. 3145 Private Herbert Vincent CAIN aged 32 of Whitwell, Hertfordshire – Killed. Buried in Grave III. F.33 at Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L'avoue, France. 3401 Private John PAYNE aged 20 of Letchworth, Hertfordshire – Killed. Buried in Grave III. F.31 at Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L'avoue, France. 5156 Private Harold KING aged 18 of Royston, Hertfordshire – Died of Wounds 27/05/1916. Buried in Grave V. D. 49 at Bethune Town Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
Harold is mentioned in a very thorough biography for Jack Alfred Willmott by Paul Johnson, which appears in the website’s Archive section at: http://www.hertsatwar.co.uk/archives/hertfordshire-men-women-individuals-stories/jack-alfred-willmott-biography/
Acknowledgments
Paul Johnson, Jonty Wild
