LIEUTENANT HENRY COWARD, 1st BATTALION BORDER REGIMENT DIED OF WOUNDS 20th APRIL 1917 AGED 37


LIEUTENANT HENRY COWARD, 1st BATTALION BORDER REGIMENT DIED OF WOUNDS 20th APRIL 1917 AGED 37




In mid April 1917 Henry Coward wrote to his father describing his first taste of action on the Western Front and his sorrow that his battalion was now moving out of the front line and away from the fighting. Although, he had joined the army in the early days of the war his experience as a teacher and Officer Cadet training meant that his skills were utilized to train new recruits.

Henry was born in Sheffield in 1880 the son of the famous conductor Henry Coward (later Sir) and his wife Louise in a large house in the best suburb of the city. His father was the conductor of the prestigious Sheffield Choral Society and had an international reputation. Like his father, young Henry excelled at music and was a noted classical scholar and sportsman, playing football and cricket and was also proficient at both swimming and wrestling. He attended the Wesley College in the City and from there went on to Kings College Cambridge as a choral scholar and attended his MA. His academic prowess was such that by his mid 20s he also held degrees from both Sheffield and London Universities.

In 1903 Henry obtained a post as an assistant master at Ilkley Grammar where he taught classics and was in charge of the cricket 1st XI. There exists a photograph of him with the school team taken in 1906 the year that he left and which is reproduced below.

It seems that he left Ilkley for a post at Newcastle-under-Lyme High School but in 1910 he returned to Yorkshire when he married Margaret Summerscales in Keighley. The following year his wife gave birth to a daughter Joan.

It was in March 1917 that Henry arrived on the Western Front as a Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion Border Regiment and on the 29th he joined his unit as they prepared for the upcoming Arras offensive. Two weeks later the Battalion went into the front line and it was during this time that he wrote his last letter to his father. On the afternoon of the 19th April having been relieved the men of the Border Regiment made their way back into the ruined town of Arras where they would rest. At about 4am the following morning Henry and another officer where outside the billet when a stray German shell landed nearby wounding both men. Rushed to a casualty clearing station it was soon clear that Henry’s wounds were serious and later that day he died.

Today Lieutenant Henry Coward  lies in the British Military Cemetery at Warlencourt and is remembered with pride on the memorial at Ilkley Grammar School


Ilkley Grammar School 1st XI. Henry Coward is seated on the extreme left


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