A
short biography of Harold Elsworth
Harold
Elsworth was born in Leeds on 27th August 1891, the elder of two children to Henry and Mary Louisa Elsworth. He
had a sister, Amelia, who was five years his junior. At the time of Harold’s death the family lived on The Avenue in
Scholes.
Harold
attended the Leeds Boys Modern School and from there he joined his father’s printing company before going up to Lincoln
College at Oxford University in October 1913.
While
at Oxford University, and probably after the outbreak of war, Harold joined the Officer Training Corps unit to prepare him
for a commission in the Army. He served as a Private in the Signal Service for a year. It was from the Senior Division of
the Oxford University Officer Training Corps that Harold joined the Army and took a commission on 25th January
1915, in the 5th (Cumberland) Battalion, the Border Regiment, Territorial Force.
On
11th July 1916 Harold Elsworth was transferred to the 4th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers, however at the time
of his death in action on 21st August 1918 he had been attached to the 1st Battalion of the same regiment.
Harold
Elsworth was a bachelor and intestate when he died, leaving his father to administer his estate. He was just six days shy
of his 27th birthday.
