H. G. Steed
Service no. 702340
Private, London Regiment, “B” Coy. 1st/23rd Battalion
Killed in action on 23 March 1918, aged 32
CWGC: “Husband of (Annie) Hannah E. Steed, of 86 Acre Lane, Brixton, London; son of George and Emma Steed, of Bull Hill, Chadlington, Charlbury, Oxon.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France
British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920
Henry George Steed was a country boy. He was born in the village of Chadlington, in Oxfordshire, where he and his brother Albert, sons of a carter, were “under carters.” We do not know when he came to London, but once there he found employment as a gardener.
On 10 December 1915 Steed was enlisted into the London Regiment at Camberwell. He was wounded in action on 23 March 1918 and went missing. “Death presumed,” says the record. Three children lost a father and Hannah Elizabeth lost a husband.
Steed was 5 feet 9 inches tall, with a 37½ inch chest with 2½ inches expansion.
Information from the 1901 census
In 1901 Henry Steed, 15, lived with his family at a farm at East End, Chadlington, near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. Henry and his 14-year-old brother Albert Steed were “under carters”, presumably working with their father who is listed on the census as a “carter”. George Steed, 44, was a carter, born in Bowl, Oxfordshire; his wife, Emma Steed, 49, was from Great Rissington, Gloucestershire. Two other children, Clara Steed, 11, and Frederick Steed, 5, were also on the census. All four children were born at Langley, Oxfordshire. I have not located Steed in the 1911 census.
Google fact: The village of Chadlington is an ancient village dating back to the Domesday Book. Ivan Cameron, son of David and Samantha Cameron, is buried there.
