Harry Anderton Squier: Wednesday 19th April 1916
When war was declared Harry enlisted into the 18th battalion of the Royal Fusiliers at Westminster, becoming Private 2101 on 3rd September 1914. The fair-haired, brown-eyed 18 year old was 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 115 pounds.
When he applied for a commission on 24th August 1914, he was described as a single man who lived with his parents at ‘Cumbria’, Grove Road in Sutton, Surrey. His commission was eventually approved on the 22nd February 1915, when he joined the 10th battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment.
After officer training, he was attached to the 8th battalion as a 2nd Lieutenant (T) on 20th March 1916 and embarked for Foreign Service on 23rd March 1916. He arrived with the 8th battalion on the front line 28th March. By 16 April his company was on the Ijser Canal. On the night of 19/20 April, three weeks after Harry’s arrival the Germans subjected them to 2 hours heavy bombardment, and attacked, gaining a foothold in British tranches.
After this Harry was listed as missing, 3 officers killed, and 3 wounded, 32 other ranks killed with 97 missing and 65 wounded. Harry’s body was found a few days later and buried in the Essex Farm Cemetery, Boezinghe, Ypres.
Not long before his death, his father moved to 15 Frewin Road in Wandsworth, and initial attempts to inform him of his son’s fate failed until a telegram finally reached his new address 5th May. His father appears to have moved to 16 Wiltie Road Folkestone after the war as this is where his medals were sent.
Harry was born 16th December 1895 in New Cross, Deptford, the son of Harry Squier, a wholesale hosiery warehouseman and Frances. Harry was baptised at St Catherine’s Hatcham on 1 March 1896 when the family were living at 92 Pepys Road and his father was described as a merchant’s clerk. Harry had a sister 6 years older, Frances Alice Mary.