1/5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Harold Leach was born in the second quarter of 1892 in Coberley, Gloucestershire the second son of James Leach and Elizabeth Taylor. His siblings were Frederick George (born 1890), Percy (1894), Oliver (1897), Purley Winifred (1900) and Gertrude Gladys (1902).
In 1901, he was living with his parents, his older brother and three younger siblings, in Cowley village, where his father’s trade was a Stone Mason.
He was still living with his parents at Cowley in 1911, together with his four younger siblings. His trade was given as an Estate Carpenter and he may have worked with his father who was described as an Estate [Stone] Mason.
Harold served in ‘D’ (Cirencester) Company of the 1/5th (Territorial) Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment. The battalion, part of the South Midland Brigade, South Midland Division, was billeted in the Chelmsford area during the early part of the Great War. Harold, who was in training, was billeted at 30 South Primrose Hill (now number 68) in Chelmsford, Essex.
On Saturday 23 January 1915 he was on parade, apparently in good health, and in the afternoon he went for a walk when he was off duty. When he returned, he swept the snow from the garden paths of the billet, and was alright at 1630 hours. However, he went to bed early that evening having complained of a cold. He became worse during the night and early Sunday morning a doctor arranged for him to be removed to Oaklands Hospital in Chelmsford. However, he died at noon in his billet on 24 January; he was 23 years old. Initially it was thought he died from heart failure following influenza or pneumonia, but a post mortem revealed he was one of the first victims of an outbreak of cerebrospinal meningitis (also known as ‘spotted fever’), which struck Chelmsford in the early months of 1915, and at least 11 of his colleagues were victims of the outbreak at Chelmsford during the January-March period.
Preparations for Harold to be buried in Chelmsford Borough Council Cemetery were cancelled when it was decided he would be returned to Gloucestershire for burial. On 28 January, he was buried in the north-east section of St Mary’s Church, Cowley.
His fiancée, Alice Parker of Kempsford, was among the mourners at his funeral.
He is commemorated inside St Mary’s Church on a memorial plaque to eight men from the Parish who gave their lives in the Great War
Research by Baden Russell May 2014
I wish to thank and acknowledge Andrew J Begent for his contribution.