Name
Harold Cecil Round (DSO, MC)
7/05/1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/08/1917
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Rifle Brigade
6th Bn., attached 9th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross, Mentioned in Despatches
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 145 to 147.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Matthew’s Church Memorial, Oxhey, Herts. Oxhey, Herts, War memorial. All Saints Church Witham, Essex. Marlborough Collage WW 1 Memorial.
Pre War
Harold Cecil Round, born in Godstone, Surrey, in
1896, was the youngest son of the Francis Richard Round CMG and his wife
Frances Emily Round (nee Tufnell). His father, a high-ranking civil servant in
the Colonial Office, received the CMG, the Order of St Michael and St George,
awarded to men and women who rendered extraordinary or important non-military
service in a foreign country.
Harold was baptised on 24th June 1896,
at St Nicholas’, Godstone, Surrey.
He and his wife had seven children and in 1901
the family home was Sutton Court, Sutton, Surrey, where he employed a governess
and four servants.
By 1911, he had retired, was a JP for Essex and
the family had moved to ‘Avenue House’, Newland Street, Witham, Essex. In 1911,
Harold was 14 and a pupil at Marlborough College in Wiltshire.
Wartime Service
When war broke out, he gained a commission with
the Rifle Brigade and served as a Second Lieutenant. He was awarded the
Military Cross for exemplary gallantry and, after a later engagement, when he
held out with his men and got back safely, he was awarded a DSO for conspicuous
gallantry and devotion to duty. The citation states: ‘When our troops were
forced to withdraw, he collected a few men and made a strong-point within 70
yards of the enemy trench. This position he held for two days without supplies
of any kind. He was finally able to get a valuable report through before being
ordered to withdraw.’
As a Captain, Harold Cecil Round DSO, MC was later
killed in action on 24 Aug 1917, aged 21. He is remembered with honour at Tyne
Cot Memorial in Belgium.
He and his brothers,
Auriol Francis Hay Round and James Murray Round, are all commemorated on the
memorial at St Matthew’s Church, Oxhey. The reason for this is that Emma
Margaret Round, who married John Wilfred Lewis, by 1915 the vicar of St
Matthew’s Church, Oxhey, was their cousin. Her sister, Lucy Frances Round,
married Major Charles Ernest Higginbotham, who is also commemorated at St
Matthew’s.
His brothers: Auriol
died on 5th September 1914 and James died on 13th November 1916.
Additional Information
The value of his effects were £140-3s-1d, which went to his Father Francis Richard Round CMG. Son of Frances Emily Round, of Avenue House, Witham, Essex, and the late Francis Richard Round, C.M.G. His brothers Auriol Francis Hay Round and James Murray Round also fell. Also see ‘Additional Information’ provided with kind permission of Bushey First
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
