Regiment: 13th Battalion Yorkshire
Service No: 42435
Date and place of birth: 2nd qtr 1897 in Honiton, Devon
Date and place of death: 10 April 1917 (aged 19) near Peronne, France
Family background
Horace Bernerd Prout was one of the twelve children of William Parsons Prout and Louisa Prout who had married in Devon in 1877. William was born in 1855 in Launceston, Cornwall and Louisa Bernerd in about 1859 in Bridgwater, Somerset.
In 1891 William and Louisa were living in Honiton, Devon with their children William V (12), Walter R L (10), John J L (7), and Maud M (2). William was the manager of a boot and shoe shop.
By 1911 the family had moved from Honiton to 1 Hampton Place, Exeter, where William (56) was working at home as a bootmaker and repairer. Living there with him were Louisa (52) and four of their seven surviving children: Maud (22), Ernest (17), Ethel (16) and Horace Bernerd (13) who was working as a junior clerk in a mercantile office. William V (32) was living with the family of his future wife, Minnie M Powell (24), at Sunnyside, Ashfield Road, Midhurst.
At a later date the address of William, Louisa and Horace Prout was 28 Ashfield Road, Midhurst, Sussex.
Military service
Horace Prout, residing in Midhurst, enlisted in Horsham, Sussex. He first served in the Royal Field Artillery, no.183533. The Yorkshire Regiment (The Green Howards) formed in July 1915 as a Bantam Battalion within the 40th Division but by April 1916 they had combined with the Sherwood Foresters as part of the 18th Battalion of the 6th Division. It landed in Le Havre 6 June 1916 and took part in the Battles of Morval and Le Transloy. It is unclear what action contributed to Horace Prout’s death, as the Battle of Hill 70 and the Cambrai operations took place after his death in April 1917.
Death and commemoration
Horace Prout died of wounds on 10 April 1917 in France and Flanders and is buried in Tincourt New British Cemetery, grave VII.J.18. He is commemorated on the Midhurst War Memorial and the Panels in Midhurst Parish Church.
He was awarded Victory and British medals.
Subsequent family history
Horace’s sister, Ethel, married Philip Augustin Daniels in 1920 in Midhurst. He was the son of Thomas and Emma Daniels. Philip Augustin is listed on the Panels in Midhurst Parish Church among those who fought in the war and survived.
According to Kelly’s Directory Sussex 1930, Philip Daniels was a cycle agent in Rumbold’s Hill, Midhurst. Later Philip and Ethel Daniels ran an electrical shop in West Street, Midhurst.
They had two sons, Philip (born 1922) and Roy (born 1928) Daniels., who later continued the family business.
William P Prout died in 1926, aged 71, in the Plymouth district.
Louisa Prout died in 1932, aged 71, in the Chichester district.