Name
Harold King
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
22/09/1918
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
889567
Royal Field Artillery
“D” Battery, 161st Brigade
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TREFCON BRITISH CEMETERY, CAULAINCOURT
C. 7.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Albans Citizens Memorial, Town Hall (old) Memorial, St Albans, St Saviour's Church Memorial, St Albans, Spicer Street Independent Church Memorial, St Albans, Trinity United Reformed Church, St Albans, Not on the Essendon memorials
Pre War
Born in 1898 in Essendon, Herts. Sixth son of Alfred Henry King an Evangelist and Eliza King.
The 1901 census shows Harold aged 3 living with his Parents, 4 Brothers and Sister at 4 Hambury Cottages, Essendon, Herts. and the 1911 census shows Harold aged 13 at School and living with his Widowed Mother, Brother William and Sister May, at 31 Prospect Road, Cheshunt, Herts.
Address later given as 42 Warwick Road, St Albans.
Before enlistment Harold was employed by Nicholson's Raincoat Company at St. Albans. He was engaged to be married to Miss May Phillips, only daughter of Inspector Phillips of the St. Albans City Police.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Ipswich, Suffolk. Harold served with "D" Battery, 161st Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, with the service number 889567.
His Medal Card shows he was previously with the RFAT as Gunner 1686 Harold King.
Upon his death Lieut. F. W. Hook wrote:
"I am writing on behalf of the officer commanding, the officers and N.C.O.'s and men of the battery to express our sincere sympathy at the great loss of your son, who was killed at 4 a.m. on the morning of September 22nd by a hostile shell. Death was instantaneous. He was buried at 9 a.m. on the morning of the 23rd, with military honours, under the supervision of the padre of the division. He was in my section and will be greatly missed by all who knew him, as he was always willing and hard-working, and carried out his duties so thoroughly well, and was liked very much by all."
Additional Information
Son of Eliza King, of 42 Warwick Road, St Albans, Herts, and the late Alfred King. Native of Essendon, Herts. Alfred King died in 1908, was for thirty years an evangelist at Essendon, labouring in about thirty-six villages, and well known at St Albans. As a young man he was a bandsman with the Guards and his six sons followed in his military footsteps. The eldest son, Pt Alfred King, after serving with the Grenadier Guards, was a constable at Kings Langley at the time of Harold's death. Two married sons were at Salonika, and one was in India. His brother Trooper Cecil King, missing in action since October 30th 1914 at the time of Harold's death, was later confirmed as Killed in Action.
Acknowledgments
Derry Warners
Gareth Hughes, Stuart Osborne
