Horace Ambrose Boyd. Died 19 September 1918.
Son of Henry and Maria Boyd, Horace was born in 1897. In 1911 he was living with his two brothers and a sister in Havelock Road, Wokingham. At thirteen, he was a school milk boy and was following the dairy business like his elder brother Harold. Horace enlisted in Wokingham into the East Surrey Regiment, 2nd Battalion. From his regimental number it is possible to ascertain that at only 17, he joined up in 1915 and served until almost the end of the war, dying just two months before the end of the war on 19th September 1918, whilst in Salonika. Horace’s regiment was sent to Salonika in 1915 and fought there throughout the next 3 years, many died from illnesses as well as as a result of enemy action.
An article appeared in the Reading Chronicle on September 29th 1918;
“The friends of private H A Boyd ( East Surrey) have been officially notified of his death in hospital in Salonika where he was ill with Influenza and Pneumonia”
This story is written about a contempory of Horace’s from the regiment. http://www.shalligettoblighty.co.uk
After the war his mother was living at 53 Havelock Road, Wokingham, although the caption on his photograph also gave his address as living at number 17a Havelock Road.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Surrey_Regiment