Royal Navy – HMS Endymion
Harold Wilfrid Ellis was born in Worcester on 2 July 1898, the eldest of five sons and one daughter born to Henry (Harry) and Mary Ellis. His father was an estate labourer. In 1916 the family lived at Park Road, Blockley but appear to have moved to 8 Cromwell Terrace, Blockley by the early 1920s, when the CWGC Register was compiled.
Harold originally joined the Royal Navy (RN) as a Boy Second Class at Portsmouth on 25 February 1915, having previously been a general labourer. In 1915, on his 17th birthday, he signed on for 12 years service in the Royal Navy, whilst serving aboard HMS Endymion, an Edgar Class cruiser, completed in 1894. He served on this ship from 18 June to 10 December 1915. He had been promoted to Boy First Class and was serving on HMS Endymion at the Dardanelles when he contracted a chill and was evacuated to a hospital in Malta. From there he was repatriated on 11 December 1915 to the RN Hospital, East Stonehouse, Plymouth where he died on 3 April 1916 from empyema (lung infection), aged 17.
He was buried in Blockley Church Cemetery, his home churchyard, where a CWGC headstone marks his grave.
Researched by Graham Adams 5 April 2014 (revised)