Name
Harold Charles Montague
13 Nov 1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/07/1916
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
3053
London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
1st/4th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 9 D and 16 B.
France
Headstone Inscription
No Report
UK & Other Memorials
Bushey Town Memorial,
St James’ Church Memorial, Bushey,
St Peter’s Church Memorial, Bushey Heath Town Memorial,
Elstree Town Memorial,
Church of St Nicholas Memorial, Elstree
Pre War
Harold Charles was born in St John’s Wood, London on 13 Nov 1896 and was baptised on 14 Feb 1897 at St Mary, Kilburn. Harold Charles Montague was the eldest son of Charles and Lucy Jane Maude (nee Meylan) Montague. The family was living at 40 Cotleigh Road, Kilburn at that time and his father was working as an agent.
His parents were married on 23 May 1896 at All Saints, St John’s Wood, Westminster, London. Charles was employed as a ‘Collector’ and was living at 31 Crawford Street and Lucy was living at 10 Augustus Street.
At the 1901 Census, Harold was 4 years old and living with his parents and 2-year-old sister, Phyllis, at Eton Cottage, London Road in Bushey Heath. Charles and Lucy are aged 28 and 27 respectively and Charles is working on his ‘own account’ as an organist and music teacher. The birthplaces are given as Sunninghill, Berks for Charles, London (Middlesex?) for Lucy and St John’s Wood for both children.
By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had moved to ‘Claremont House’, Bushey, near ‘The Warren’. Harold was aged 14 and was now one of six children. His siblings were Phyllis Maude, Sydney Edward, Cecil Norman, Frank Stuart and Enid Muriel, and they were 12, 7, 5, 2 and 1 years old respectively. The birthplace of the four younger children was given as Bushey Heath. Charles was still working as an organist and music teacher.
Wartime Service
Harold enlisted at Shaftsbury Street in London as Private 3053 with the London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), initially with the 2nd/4th Battalion and subsequently the 1st/4th Battalion. His initial posting overseas was to Malta until the battalion transferred to Egypt prior to landing on Gallipoli on 10 Oct 1915. The Battalion was evacuated to Egypt on 20 Jan 1916 before transferring to the Western front He served on the Western Front in Apr 1916 where he was killed in action, aged 19, on 1 July 1916, during the Diversionary Attack at Gommecourt as part of the first day of the battle of The Somme.
He is remembered with honour on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing. He is also commemorated on the Bushey town memorial, on the memorials in St James’ Parish Church and at St Peter’s, Bushey Heath, and on the Elstree Town Memorial and Church of St Nicholas Memorial in Elstree.
The Register of Soldiers’ Effects names his father as the recipient of his War Gratuity of £7 10s together with arrears of £2 15s 2d, and his pension record card gives his mother Lucy as his dependant with an address of 46, Falconer Road, Bushey, Herts.
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer, Neil Cooper
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
