Name
Harold George Gurney
1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/01/1918
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
202983
King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
2nd/5th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
MERVILLE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
III. B. 32.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, Not on the Boxmoor memorials
Pre War
Harold George Gurney was born in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead in 1894, the son of Sarah Gurney. He was one of three children born to Sarah who was listed on the 1891 Census as single and a laundress.
His mother married Henry Priest in 1899 in Hemel Hempstead and on the 1901 Census the family were living at 92 St John's Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead where his stepfather was working as a Farrier.
In 1906 his mother died and on the 1911 Census he is listed as an inmate at the Houseboys Brigade House, at 31 & 33 Elizabeth Street, Pimlico. London, an establishment which rescued destitute or homeless boys from the street and trained them in useful pursuits so they could earn a living.
He was said to be living in Maidenhead on enlistment.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in London and initially served with the 2nd County of London Yeomanry as Private 2349, later transferring to the 2nd/5th Battalion, King's Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment under reg. no. 202983.
He died of sickness in France on 9 January 1918 and is buried at Merville Communal Cemetery Extension, France. (Merville was a billeting and hospital centre from 1915 to 1918).
Additional Information
His Aunt Helen Eliza Elkins (nee Gurney) received a war gratuity of £14 and pay owing of £14 10s 2d. She ran a grocery shop in St John's Road, Boxmoor.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild
