Horace Walter Fox

Born: 1895

Died: 25 November 1916

Rank and Regiment: Lance Corporal 33177 in the 10th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment (formerly 3621 of the Norfolk Regiment)

Resting Place: Vermelles British Cemetery, France - Plot V. G. 38

Memorials: War Memorial in St. Botolph’s Churchyard, Barford, Norfolk, United Kingdom

Horace was born in 1895 and baptised in a private ceremony in Barford on the 13th January 1896. He was the son of Frederick, a farm labourer, and Mary-Ann Fox (nee Bennington). He had an older sister, Rose, as well as two younger siblings: Edith and Percy. In 1911, he is recorded as living with his family as well as his cousins, William and Sidney Bennington. The census records that he was one of eight children, two of whom had sadly died. Aged 15, Horace worked as a farm labourer with his father and William.

Most of his military records do not survive, but it is recorded that Horace began his career as a Private in the Norfolk Regiment. He then served as a Private in the Northumberland Fusiliers before being transferred to the Yorkshire Regiment where he was promoted to Lance Corporal. Horace was tragically killed in action on 25th November 1916 aged 21. If he remained with his battalion, this would place him at the Battle of the Somme at the time of his death. He is buried at the Vermelles British Cemetery and his personal effects of £3. 10s. 10d. were left to his father, Frederick.

The rest of the Bennington-Fox family remained in Norfolk. Frederick and Mary-Anne Fox moved to Gorleston-on-Sea. Meanwhile, William Bennington is recorded as living in Norfolk in 1939, and Sidney was a Private in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He fought in India and Mesopotamia before being discharged from the army after the war in 1920. He then married and moved Great Yarmouth in order to be closer to Frederick and Mary-Anne. He remained there until his death in 1984 at the age of 87.

Vermelles British Cemetery, France