| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Harold was born in Beverley in Apr 1890. He spent his early life in Beverley, living on Keldgate. He was the youngest of at least seven children born to George Scaife (1850-1933) and his wife Ellis (1853-1902) (nee Milbourn). George, a tanyard labourer, came from Scotton in North Yorkshire; Ellis came from the Lund area. They had married at St Mary’s on 10 Oct 1874. Harold’s widowed father was recorded as being a road sweeper in the 1911 census.
Initially Harold worked as a farm worker, recorded in the 1911 census as a horseman on a farm at Swine near Skirlaugh. However, in 1912 he moved into Hull and joined the North Eastern Railway (NER) as a ganger. By the time of WWI, he was working as a freight shunter at the Hull Goods warehouse. In early 1914 he was married at Hull Registry Office. His wife was Sarah J Bailey, a domestic servant, born in Hull in 1893. Their first child, Harold, was born on 22 Jul 1914; their second child, Marguerita, died in infancy in 1917. The couple lived on Jane St., Hull. Harold’s father continued to live alone at 42 Keldgate in Beverley.
Harold enlisted for army service at York on 11 Nov 1915. He initially joined the 17th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers. They were referred to as the “Railway Pals” and their role was to construct railways and infrastructure near the Western Front. Whether Harold served for long with them is not clear as he seemed to have moved to various infantry battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers and the Durham Light Infantry, finally in the 18th Battalion of the Fusiliers. He had received gunshot wounds to his arm in Sep 1916. On 27 Sep 1918, at age of 28, Harold was mortally wounded as the Allied forces pushed eastwards across northern France. He is buried at Chapel Corner Cemetery, Sauchy-Lestree, on the road from Arras to Cambrai. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals. He is commemorated on the Hengate Memorial in Beverley and on the East Riding Memorial in the Minster. His name is also on the NER Roll of Honour. |