- See Harold Ernest Neal’s entry on the Board of Trade’s Ancestry public tree.
- This information updates the group’s previous research published on the former DTI website (now archived by the National Archives).
- Do you have any more information about Harold Ernest Neal? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: H. E. Neal
Born: 11 October 1898 in Mile End, London, England
Date of Death: 23 March 1918
Age at death: 19
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: King’s Royal Rifle Corps
Unit, Ship, etc: 1st Battalion
Enlisted: East Ham
Rank: Rifleman (Service No: R/42218)
Decorations: WW1 Service Medals (Victory Medal and British War Medal)
War (and theatre): WW1 (France and Flanders)
Manner of Death: Presumed Dead
Family Details: Son of Mrs C. S. Neal, 10 The Crescent, Blenheim Avenue, Ilford, Essex
Residence: Manor Park, London
Home Department: Board of Trade – Patent Office
Civilian Rank: Boy Clerk
Cemetery or Memorial: Lebucquiere Communal Cemetery Extension, Pas de Calais (Special Memorial A); Board of Trade War Memorial; Patent Office Memorial 1914-1918 (now at Concept House, Newport, Wales); King’s Royal Rifle Corps Memorial, Winchester, Hampshire, England;
Biography:
Harold was born on 11 October 1898 in Mile End, London. His father was Edward Neal (1856-1936) and his mother was Catherine Sarah Platt (1859-1944). He was baptised on 6 November 1898 at St Paul’s Church, Bow Common, Tower Hamlets in London. He had four sisters – Catherine Sarah Grace Neal (1880-1952), Charlotte Elizabeth Neal (1883-1992), Grace Neal (1884-1969) and Florence Emily Neal (1888-1970) and had two brothers – Edward Henry Neal (1890-1894) and William Thomas Neal (1894-1984). His father was a ropemaker.
In the 1901 census he is recorded aged 3 living with his parents at 51 Ropery Street, Mile End Old Town, London and then 10 years later in the 1911 census he is recorded living at 6 Tredegar Terrace, Bow, London.
As a youngster, we know that he was a pupil at Malmesbury Road School (now Malmesbury Primary School), Mile End where he is first listed in the school records aged 7 on 27 August 1906.
Prior to the war he worked as a Boy Clerk for the Patent Office, which was then based in London and part of the Board of Trade.
Harold enlisted in East Ham and served in the 1st Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps which was an infantry rifle regiment originally raised in British North America.
Harold was only 19 when he was presumed dead (and later officially accepted to have died) on 23 March 1918. Since his military service record has not survived we don’t know exactly when he joined the regiment overseas in France. Given his age, and knowing that he was not awarded the 1914-15 Star, we know that he did not serve in France until either at least 1916 or 1917. If he served in France from 1917 then its likely he would also have fought in the Battle of Arras (November 1917) and the Battle of Cambrai (November 1917).
Harold’s death took place during the German Spring Offensive on the same day as fellow Board of Trade colleague, Edwin Thomas Charles Head. This offensive which started on 21 March 1918 lasted until 17 July 1918. It was a massive and decisive moment in WW1, as the German’s endeavoured to break the stalemate of the previous two years, in a push westwards towards Amiens using cracktroops or “storm-troopers” in a wave of offensives starting with “Operation Michael” and the Battle of St Quentin.
Harold is commemorated at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Lebucquiere Communal Cemetery Extension in the Pas de Calais region of France. The cemetery contains 774 Commonwealth burials from WW1. 266 of those burials are unidentified. The cemetery also contains special memorials to 20 casualties who are known or believed to be buried among the unidentified grave.
Harold’s name is also remembered on the Board of Trade War Memorial and on the Patent Office War Memorial. He is also remembered by the King’s Royal Rifle Corps Memorial located in Winchester, Hampshire. his memorial is in the form of a bronze statue of a soldier holding a Lee-Enfield rifle which was designed by John Tweed.
Board of Trade War Memorial 