Henry Chapman, known as Harry, was born in the village of Hindlip, Worcestershire in 1893, the oldest son of Henry Chapman and Alice Tranter. Henry and Alice had four more children; Annie, Frederick, Alfred Charles and Leonard. The births of the children corresponded with their father Henry’s employment opportunities as a Butler in large country houses.

Beginning with Harry and Annie who were both born close to Hindlip Hall in Worcestershire, where their father was Butler to the Allsopp Brewing family from Burton. By the time of Frederick’s birth in 1896, Henry was working at Broxton Old Hall, Cheshire for the Egerton family and when the two youngest children were born, the family were living at Airlour Lodge, Wigton, Scotland. Henry by this time was Butler at nearby Monreith House, the family seat of writer and politician Sir Herbert Maxwell 7th Baronet.

Harry followed his father into domestic service and it seems Henry may have helped him gain his first position when he left school aged thirteen in 1906. His employer was Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, 10th Baronet of Pollok, a Scottish Conservative politician and Philanthropist and a cousin of Sir Herbert Maxwell. In 1911 eighteen-year-old Harry was living and working as a ‘Hall Boy’ at 21 Portland Place, the London home of Sir John and his wife Christina.

By this time his father was Butler at Shendish Manor in Kings Langley, in service to the Longman family owners of Longman Publishing.

Following the outbreak of war, Harry enlisted with the 9th East Surrey Regiment at Guildford in September 1914. The 9th were a Service battalion raised at Kingston-upon-Thames in September 1914 as part of K3 (Kitchener’s New Army) and it came under orders of the 72nd Brigade in the 24th Division. It moved initially to billets in Worthing but by April 1915 Harry was with the Battalion at Shoreham in West Sussex before finally moving to Blackdown, Aldershot two months later.

The Battalion was mobilised on 31st August 1915 and one day later Harry had disembarked at Boulogne in France. The 24th Division concentrated between Etaples and St Pol on the 4th September and a few days later marched across France into the reserve for the British assault at Loos.

On the 26th September, the day after the assault began at Loos, orders to attack the enemy's position at 11 a.m. were received. The regimental War Diaries recorded the action: "The attack was launched at 11 a.m. & was carried right up to the enemy's trenches but the wire not being cut it was impossible to get through the enemy's lines although several fruitless attempts were made The casualties were very heavy at this point chiefly owing to some machine guns which formed a heavy cross fire on our men. The order was then given for the Bde. to retire to the line of trenches from which it had advanced in the morning This retirement was carried out in orderly manner under heavy shell fire of all kinds & the trenches were lined & manned The enemy continued to shell very heavily until about 5 pm in the afternoon & many of the slightly wounded were wounded again or killed. The casualties numbered 14 Officers & 438 other ranks"

Harry survived the assault but was one of the men tragically killed by the shelling when the worst seemed to be over. He had only been in France for twenty-six days when he was killed.

His death on Sunday, 26th September 1915 was communicated to his parents by a comrade in a letter and reported in the Hemel Gazette a month later.

Harry is Remembered with Honour at the Loos Memorial, Pas de Calais, France on Panel 65.

He was 22 years old when he died.

Harry was eligible for the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.