Bemand, HL
(1897 - 1917)
Key Facts
DATE OF BIRTH:
17th October 1897
YEARS ATTENDED THE COLLEGE:
1914 - 1915
HOME ADDRESS WHEN AT THE COLLEGE:
75 Wendell Road, Shepherd's Bush
REGIMENT
Royal Field Artillery
FINAL RANK:
Gunner
DATE OF DEATH:
7th June 1917
AGE AT DEATH:
19
WHERE HE DIED (or was wounded)
Ypres
LOCATION OF GRAVE OR MEMORIAL:
Bedford House Cemetery. Enclosure No.2 I. F. 15.
Gunner Harold Leslie Bemand
Harold was born in Jamaica on 17th October 1897, the second of four children born to a white father, George, and a black mother, Minnie. He spent the early years of his life in Jamaica before, in 1908 Minnie and the children came, via New York, to England where George Sr. was already working; he was to eventually follow in the footsteps of his elder brother George by attending Dulwich.
After leaving the College he went straight into the army, joining the Royal Field Artillery, the same regiment in which his brother held a commission. In February 1916 he went to France for the first time, and in July transferred to the 23rd Division, Trench Mortar Battery, with whom he served until a bout of illness in March 1917 took him out of the trenches. Upon his recovery he was assigned to the X/8 Trench Mortar Battery, with whom he was serving when he was killed on June 7th 1917, transporting mortar shells to a newly captured trench. His elder brother George, not only a fellow OA but also a fellow member of the R.F.A., also fell.
