HAROLD ASHCOMBE CHAMEN
1894 – 1st August 1916
Harold was born in Harlsden, London in 1894, the son of William Ashcombe Chamen and Marion
Mabel Chamen. He was baptised in All Souls Church in Harlsden on 1st April 1894. In the 1901
census he was living in Partickhill Road, Govan, with his parents and brother William. By 1911
William and Marion Chamen were at 23 Victoria Square, Penarth. Harold’s father is listed as a
Manager of Electrical Power Company and Consulting Electrical engineer with South Wales
Electrical Power Company. As well as Harold and William there is also a sister Kathleen May
Chamen, age 8 born in Partick, Glasgow. Harold educated at The Wells House, Malvern and in
1911 he transferred to Lancing College (below)
After three years spent in the Lancing Officer Training Corp when Harold was at Reading
University, he enlisted in the Special Offiecrs Reserve on 25th August 1914. The remarks say he
was very fit, 5ft11ins tall and weighed 168 lbs., He decided to make the army his career and trained
at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Harold left Southampton on 5th October 1914 to form
part of the “Immortal 7th Division” on board the SS Winifredian. After a brief stop for supplies in
Dover they arrived in Zeebrugge to begin their campaign.
The men of the 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire regiment served with distinction throughout the Great
War earning hundreds of gallantry medals including the prestigious Victoria Cross. Around 1540
officers and men gave their lives for King and country serving the battalion and around 6,500 were
wounded in combat.
On the 8th July 1915 Harold arrived in France and joined the 2nd Battalion in the field and 10 days
later, while returning to a trench in the dark, stumbled and accidentally impaled his right thigh on a
bayonet. He was admitted to No.2 General Hospital in Le Havre on 4th August and shipped home
on a troop ship.