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G. P Harrold
Died 1st July 1916

LANCE CORPORAL GEORGE PHILLIMORE HARROLD
[1897-1916] KIA
AND HIS FATHER
SERGEANT GEORGE PHILLIMORE HARROLD [1866-1937]

This photograph from September 1914 shows George Phillimore HARROLD and his son
George Phillimore HARROLD, Junior (born 1897) after enlistment in Hull in the 10th Service Battalion (a 'Pals' Battalion), Yorks & Lancs. Regiment during WW1 - a regiment in which several other Harrold members had previously served.

George Snr. was already 49 years of age, his earlier service in the Yorks & Lancs. having already earned him the rank of sergeant. In 1911, and living at Preston, East Yorkshire, his son had left Craven Street Secondary School in Hull, where he gained the highest marks ever awarded a scholar, before becoming apprenticed at Fenners Leather Works, in Marfleet, where his father was already employed. Father and son served alongside each other in France until George Snr. was wounded at the Battle of Loos in September of 1915 and eventually returned to England to the Northern Military Hospital. In the summer of 1916 he was discharged, returning to the family home at 28 Lower Ings Road,
Barton on Humber, just the day after their son had been killed in action on the Somme.

It was Lance Corporal George Phillimore Harrold's19th birthday when he lost his young life on the 3rd July 1916 at Fricourt. The news was to devastate the rest of the family too, with George's brother, Arthur Harrold, a 13-year-old telegraph delivery lad, immediately running away to Hull with, we feel with hindsight, the intention of enlisting. Young George is commemorated on the War Memorial inside Barton's St. Peter's Parish Church, on the Cenotaph on Barrow Road and on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.

It is wondered whether the two Georges had left their employ across the Humber before volunteering, with their move over to Lincolnshire signifying employment at Hall's Rope Works, situated close to their home. Rope and Belt making was the family trade, with the Harrold Rope and Belt Works in Dursley, Gloucestershire, founded by George Snr's father in the mid 19th century, and still operating today. Eventually George and his wife moved their remaining family of two daughters and surviving son Arthur to Lincoln, where he took up the position of Factory Manager at the belt-making works of James Dawson, bringing with him his family firm's invention of the 'endless belt'. However, sadness was still to play its part, as their only daughter to marry was to die young, leaving two small daughters, whom George and Eliza helped to bring up.

The great grandson of George Snr. and great nephew of George Junior, who also has an army background, would be very pleased to have any further information, which might help to fill in gaps in the family's history during these early years of the 20th century. Please make any initial contacts via info@bartonuponhumber.org.uk