2nd Lieutenant Harold Charles Edward BARRATT was the younger son of John Harold and Ruby BARRATT of Hillfields, Redmarley, Glos and Fernbank, 2 Pitville Circus Road, Cheltenham. He was a native of Redmarley. He was commissioned into the 9th (Service) Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment on 14th December 1914, he went with his unit to Salonica in November 1915. This theatre of war was under the command of the French Army and the British contingent occupied a defensive position near the Bulgarian border at Doiran. During the spring of 1917 a general offensive was launched by all the Allied forces in the area, but few positive results were gained for the loss of some 14,000 casualties. On the 9th May, the Glosters had attacked and taken a middle section of the Bulgarian trenches near Patty Ravine, but due to enfilading machine-gun fire, had to withdraw to their original positions. It was during this action that Harold BARRATT was wounded and later died on the 18th May 1917 at No.28 General Hospital, Salonica. He is buried in Salonica Anglo-French Military Cemetery, Plot O, Grave 35.
Memorials: Cheltenham Borough Cenotaph (his name is incorrectly given as BARRETT) and All Saints Church. Cheltenham.
L'est we forget
