Harold Bailey
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
He was the eldest of at least seven children born to George and Sarah Ann (née Marshall) Bailey, who lived at 6 Evelyn Street, Beeston Nottingham. He attended the Nether Street School. In the summer of 1911 Harold, aged 17, emigrated to Canada. He sailed from Liverpool on SS Teutonic, arriving in Quebec in July 1911, bound for Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was the husband of Edith Annie Humphries of Nechells Birmingham.
Bailey was killed during the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). The Canadian Corps was tasked with relieving the exhausted II Anzac Corps, continuing the advance started with the First Battle of Passchendaele and ultimately capturing the town of Passchendaele itself. In the low ground west of the Passchendaele Ridge, three months of constant shelling had blocked the watercourses that normally provided drainage. When rain began falling, the battlefield was transformed into a quagmire of mud, making movement extremely difficult. The mud was to become one of the defining features of the battle for soldiers on both sides, and did a great deal to hamper offensive operations. The Canadian Corps operation was executed in series of three attacks each with limited objectives, delivered at intervals of three or more days. The execution dates of the phases were tentatively given as 26 October, 30 October and 6 November, with a smaller action later executed on 10 November. The attack was successful in capturing the German-held high ground along the Passchendaele-Westrozebeke ridge but the campaign was forced to end just short of Westrozebeke itself. The Second Battle of Passchendaele cost the Canadian Corps 15,654 casualties with over 4,000 dead, in 16 days of fighting. Nine Victoria Crosses, the highest military decoration for valour awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, were awarded to Canadians for actions during the battle.
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