Harold Egbert Foizey, born on 26th June 1885, was admitted to King Edward’s School in September 1900 as a Foundation Scholar. His father, Benjamin, was a schoolmaster, and the family lived at 11, Sedgley Road, Tipton. Harold had three brothers and a sister.
Harold does not feature in the School records, almost certainly because he stayed at School for no more than a year.
After School, Harold lived with his sister at 62, Hurst Lane, Tipton, and was employed as an estimating clerk in an iron and steel tube works. At the outbreak of the war, he was working for Messrs. Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd., iron and steel manufacturers in Leeds.
Harold enlisted as a Private Soldier in the Leeds Pals in September 1914, and later gained a commission in the 18th Prince of Wales’ (West Yorkshire) Regiment, Bradford Pals, in May 1915. After service in Egypt and Flanders, Harold was deployed to France as a Lieutenant. He was killed on 1st July 1916, aged thirty-one, during the action on the Somme, buried by the collapse of a trench under shellfire.
An entry in Corporal Norman Goldthorpe’s diary for the same day reads: “0820. I remember saying a little prayer and just before we climbed out, our officer, Lieutenant Foizey, said “I know that I will not come back.” I told him to believe he would, as I certainly believed I would…I scrambled out behind Lt. Foizey with his section of bombers. Having not travelled more than 30 yards or so, the section was reduced to 4 men. Lt. Foizey ordered his small party to take cover behind a small hillock whilst he went forward to see what was happening, but he was killed covering only a couple of yards.” George Cosby’s account remembers that: “I saw Lt. Foizey tumble over the back of a trench, wounded in the thigh. I made him comfortable, and had his wounds dressed, and placed him in a traverse at the back of a trench. Soon afterwards, a terrible explosion took place, throwing up all the sandbags…and burying several men together with Lt. Foizey.” The confusion over Harold’s actual fate is mirrored throughout the records of his military career. He is buried in Euston Road British Cemetery, near Albert, and is commemorated on the Moseley Ashfield Cricket Club Memorial.
For further information:
http://tiptonremembers.net/index.php/foizey-harold-egbert