Harold Augustus Boardley

A Lieutenant with the 8th Battalion, Harold died on 26th of September 1917 at the age of 20. 

Harold was born at Lowestoft on 29 May 1897, a son of Henry Robert and Agnes M. Boardley. In 1901 his family lived at 186 Denmark Road. From 15 September 1908 Harold attended Lowestoft School of Science, and his family lived at Sunnyhill, The Avenue, Lowestoft. In 1911 Harold was a patient at Lowestoft Sanitorium, Rotterdam Road. 

Harold was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry on 10 September 1915. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 July 1917. 

Harold had served with the 8th Battalion in Macedonia. On 13 June 1917 he arrived at London on S.S. Nore. He was then posted to the 7th Battalion in France, joining them on 27 August. 

At 5.50 a.m. on 26 September the 7th Battalion began an attack at Barastre, Brandhoek, near Ypres. The battalion war diary records that objective were attained and severe fighting ensued. 

The battalion’s casualties for 26 September were 11 officers and 250 men killed, wounded or missing. Harold was killed in action on 26 September.   

In June 1918 a brass tablet, in Harold's memory, was erected at Lowestoft United Methodist Church. 

Note: Commonwealth War Graves records and Soldiers Died in the Great War incorrectly give Harold’s unit as the 8th Battalion, which is impossible as the 8th were in Salonika when Harold was killed.