Lieutenant, “D” Company 15th Battalion Lancashire Fusliers.
Died 1st July 1916, age 24.
Buried in Connaught Cemetery, Thiepval.
Member of the University Officer Training Corps.
Harold was born in April 1892 at Pendleton, Lancashire, son of Thomas Fletcher and Emma Robinson. His father was a silk waste merchant and he was educated at Manchester Grammar School. After school he worked for Ashton Brothers & Company, cotton manufacturers at their Portland Street offices. In his spare time he played hockey and tennis for Swinton, was a Sunday School teacher at Pendleton Unitarian Church, Cross Lane and worked as an activist for the Liberal Party.
On the outbreak of war Harold joined the University Officer Training Corps and was commissioned into the 15th (1st Salford Pals) Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers as a 2nd Lieutenant in October 1914. By the time the Battalion went over the top at the Somme on 1st July 1916 in an attack aimed at capturing Thiepval Ridge he was a Lieutenant in “D” Company. He was killed leading his men forward. After his death a Serjeant Lawless wrote about Harold’s that he “was always anxious for the welfare of his men, whose confidence he gained, and was one of the bravest officers. For instance one night, in the same sector from which we went into action, we had a patrol out and the Germans turned their machine guns on them and wounded three of our patrol. As soon as Lt Robinson heard of it he dashed over the top and brought in two of the wounded, his orderly Private Watson bringing the third man.”