Harold Aaron Priestley
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Harold Aaron Priestley was born on 2nd October 1888 in St Anns, Nottingham and was the son of Samuel a bricklayer and Sarah Jane Priestly née Holmes. His father was born in Loughborough, Leicestershire in 1850 and his mother Sarah Jane Holmes was born in 1848 in Nottingham, they were married in 1871 in Loughborough and their children were Ada b1873 Loughborough, Gertrude b1875 Loughborough, Henry b1877 Loughborough, Albert b1882 Radford, Harold Aaron b1888 Radford. In the 1911 census Harold is shown as being 22 yrs and a lace curtain warehouseman , he is single and is living with his widow mother Sarah Jane 63yrs at 16 Shelton Street, Nottingham, also at the address is a lodger Rueben Gratton 24 yrs a police constable in the Nottingham City Police. Harold married his wife Eva Elsie Barnes at St Marks Church on 2nd August 1913 and they lived at Hickling Road, Mapperley, they had a son known as Sonny born 20th December 1914. Following a bombing raid by a Zepplin in September 1916 the house was left uninhabitable and his wife and child went to live with Harold's sister at 104 Hazelwood Road, Hyson Green where she lived the remainder of her life dying in 1966 aged 78 yrs.
Private Harold Priestley enlisted in Nottingham, he initially served with the Sherwood Foresters Regiment but was selected to train as a signaller and transferred to the 2/6th battalion South Staffordshire Regiment. He landed in France in December 1916 and was killed in action on 21st March 1918, at Bullecourt, he has no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.
Harold Priestley is currently (June 2017) the subject of a project to restore and preserve letters which he wrote from the Western Front to his wife Eva between 1916 and 1918 (approx. 80 ) by the Vine community centre in association with St Stephens Church, Hyson Green, Nottingham Details of Harold Priestly were obtained from an article written about him in the Bygones, Nottingham Post by his grandson
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