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.
