Harold Frederic Chandler was born on 8th April 1886, and was the only child to Frederic and Rhoda. Frederic was a newspaper publisher, and the family lived in North London. The 1891 census found the Chandlers living at 1 Parolles Road, Islington; ten years later they were at 14 West View on Highgate Hill.

Those census returns included family members as part of the household. By the time of the 1911 census, however, when the were living in a substantial house at 22 Hillside Gardens, Highgate, there were no other family members with them, although they did have a boarder – banker’s clerk Alfred Schleicher – and domestic servant Esther Tebbutt living with them.

By this point, Harold was 24 years of age, and was employed as an architect’s assistant. War was coming, however, and he was called upon to play his part.

Full details of Harold’s service have been lost to time, but it is clear that he enlisted in the Royal Engineers as a Sapper, likely using the skills he had learnt in his civilian life.

The only documentation confirms Harold’s passing. Discharged from the army on 29th October 1919, he died just over a year later. He breathed his last on 17th December 1920, at the age of 34 years old. His death was registered in Edmonton, Essex, so it seems likely that he was there in some sort of convalescent capacity.

The body of Harold Frederic Chandler was taken back to Middlesex for burial, and he was laid to rest in Highgate Cemetery.

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