Name
Harold Osler
5 Sep 1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/05/1918
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
28270
Bedfordshire Regiment
386th Company, Labour Corps.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Searched but not found
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ABBOTS LANGLEY (ST. LAWRENCE) CHURCHYARD
413. (N.E. Plot).
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
He has no family inscription on his Headstone.
UK & Other Memorials
Abbots Langley Village Memorial,
Church of Ascension Memorial, Bedmond,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial Home Park Mill, Kings Langley
Wartime Service
Biography
Harold was born on 5th September 1890 at Bedmond. He was the younger of two sons of (David) George Ostler (Sometimes recorded as Hostler), a labourer and Elizabeth Diana (nee Stanley). There were an older son, Melbourne and two daughters, Evelyn and Lucy. Harold’s mother died in 1909. On the 1911 Census Harold a gardener’s labourer and was living with his widower father and sister Lucy in Bedmond. Harold married May Matilda Hatch on 17th June 1914, at West Hyde, and a son was, Lewis Henry was born on 2nd December 1917.
Harold attested on 30th November 1915 while working at at Leavesden Asylum working as a Kitchen Porter on 30th November 1915. He undertook a Medical Examination at the Asylum and was described as “being of good physical development”. He was posted to the Army Reserve, and was sent home, until mobilised on 8th April 1916, and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment as Private 28270. On 10th April 1916 he was posted to Landguard Fort, just outside Felixstowe.
He had contracted tuberculosis whilst serving and had been admitted to hospital several times from July 1916 whilst he was based in the Felixstowe area. He spent periods in hospital at Felixstowe between 9th July and 27th September 1916, suffering from tuberculosis of the lung. Later, after leaving, he was posted to the 29th Middlesex, which was also based at Felixstowe, on 7th November 1916. He was once again in hospital from 5th March 1917, this time at the Cliff Military Hospital at Felixstowe, where tubercular disease of the right elbow was diagnosed. Harold’s Medical Record noted that the condition developed whilst he was employed digging trenches in February 1917, the ground being at the time frozen hard. He had used a pick axe which when hitting the hard ground had jarred his elbow and had produced a swollen, painful condition. This condition had persisted ever since and he had been unfit for any military acts. On 18th May he was transferred to a Labour Battalion, and on 16th June 1917 went before a Medical Board at Felixstowe. The Board concurred that “the right elbow joint is swollen and painful, and there is still a considerable amount of fluid in the joint. After prolonged treatment in hospital with little beneficial result, he was considered “quite unfit for any duty”. He was posted to 386 Labour Corps on 29th June 1917, and was then discharged at Nottingham as “No longer physically fit for War Service” on 7th July 1917.
Harold Osler died of illness, on 18th May 1918, and his wife and child were awarded a pension of 20 shillings and 5 pence per week (just over £1 in more modern money), from 3rd August 1918.
The June 1918 edition of the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine reported: “A Bedmond man - Harold Osler, of the Beds Regiment (sic), was discharged from the Army after a service accident about a year ago. He then developed phthisis, and after three months at a sanatorium he died on May 18th, as truly giving his life for his country as though he had died upon the field of battle. He leaves a wife and one little child, who may be assured of the real sorrow which is felt for her and with her”.
The Roll of Honour in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine recorded Harold serving with the 3rd Bedfordshire’s throughout the War. However his Service and Pension records confirmed that he served with other units. His brother, Milbourne Osler, also served from July 1916, as Private 30820 Bedfordshire Regt. and survived the War.
Harold Osler was buried in the churchyard at St Lawrence Church, Abbots Langley, and was commemorated on the Abbots Langley War Memorial. He was also commemorated on the War Memorial at the Church of the Ascension at Bedmond.
Additional Information
Formerly 28270, 29th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, Bedfordshire Regiment,
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne, Neil Cooper
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
