Harold De Brath

Parents: Stanley and Priscilla De Brath. Harold was born July 21, 1883 in Nasirabad, Rajputana (now Rajasthan), India. The chaplain attesting to his birth stated that Harold was born during his term of the chaplaincy at Nasirabad.

Harold and sister Gladys De Brath spent some Christmas holidays with their maternal Newton cousins, when their parents were in India. (source Winifred Newton)

"The Star" newspaper in Guernsey 26 June 1900 reported "CRICKET 6 H. De Brath"

The De Brath and Hemy families both lived in Jersey, Channel Islands in 1901 - Harold De Brath and Gwenytth Hemy (both aged 17 and 16 respectively at the time) Harold met her in the course of a mixed hockey match in Guernsey - she was goalkeeper, and his goal broke her wrist! They married in 1909 - see below.

(Source: The Times | January 4, 1901) "The following are declared by the Civil Service Commissioners to be the successful candidates at the competitive examination held in November and December, 1900, for admission to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst: Mil- Harold De Brath"

• "My son entered the army at seventeen" (quote by his father, in his book "How to make the best of life", page 10) 1901 English Census: Harold is listed in two :

1) 1901 Channel Island Census as residing at Honmets, 208 Grands Rognes, Castel (Parish of St Mary de Castro), Jersey, Channel Islands - along with his parents, sister, and Frederica Beatty (school partner and teacher) 3 pupils and four servants..

2) Harold is also listed in the 1901 Census* (age 17**) as a Student Gentleman Cadet at Sandhurst Military Academy, born abt 1882 Nasirabad, India.

Gazette Issue 27398 published on the 17 January 1902. Page 30 of 88. Army Service Corps: Harold De Brath.

Promoted to Lieutenant, to complete establishment. Dated 1st May, 1903.

1909, June 14 - Marriage of Harold to Gwenytth Aileen Hemy* (both aged 25) in St. Mark's Church of England Church (Hamilton Terrace), District of St. Marylebone, London. It is built on a site purchased in 1846 from the Trustees of Harrow School, who had owned the land since 1592. (Source: Ancestry.com BMD registration first quarter 1909) Marriage Certificate signed by the Duckworth, Sub Dean of Westminster and Witnessed by Harold's sister, Gladys De Brath. (Lists her address as 24 Abercorn Place*)

Gwenytth was the daughter of renowned marine artist Thomas M.M. Hemy, who came from a highly artistic and musical family.

World War I Service: Nominated for the 1914-15 Star. Royal Army Service Corps. Lieutenant Colonel (Source British Army WWI Medal Roll Index Card 1914-1920 - see photo)

1918 Birth of his son Denis in the second quarter of 1918.

"R.A.S.C. Quetta, India: 2.6.1924"

1908 India General Service Medal, with clasp inscribed "Waziristan 1921-24" (a mountainous region in the northwest of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² (4,473 sq mi). The area is entirely populated by ethnic Pashtuns. The language spoken in the valley is Pashto/Pakhto. It is part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, considered to be outside the country's four provinces.: source Wikipedia.)

1926 Harold is shown on the Dulwich College Register:

• Institution: Dulwich College
• Volume title: Dulwich College Register, Pub 1926
• Year: 1619-1926
• Town: Dulwich
• County: Surrey
• Country: England
• Image number: 646
• Record set: Britain, School And University Register Books

MEMORANDA.Gazette Issue 33135 published on the 23 February 1926. Page 4 of 74: Major H. De Brath, h.p. list, late R.A.S.C., "retired on ret. pay. 24th Feb. 1926"

During the 1930s (the Great Depression) Harold and family emigrated to Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to farm tobacco. By 1941 they were living in Ndola - a copper-mining town - in North Rhodesia , Africa, according to "Short after Midnight" by Roland Geiger, edited by Heather Tyreman, recounting death of Harold's son Peter 'Denis').

Granddaughter Di Kilpert relates that during the war Harold was superintendent/commandant of a refugee camp at Abercorn in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) - many Poles and Italians amongst others.

(Polish Refugees in Northern Rhodesia: In the 1940s, after the Nazis took Poland in the second world war, thousands of Poles (many Jewish) became refugees. A large number of them were transported first to Russia, then to Persia (Iran), and finally to the British colonies of Africa - Kenya, South Africa, and Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia). The locals and the colonials built African-style huts for them, and they took refuge from the war there. By the end of the war, the refugees went back to Poland and other countries. A Polish cemetery near the Congolese border in Mbala still remains)

Granddaughter Di Kilpert recalls that 'Grandpa Harold' had a smallholding called 'Greystones' - 15 miles from Salisbury (now Horare). It was very rural - no running water but water from the well and rainwater tank, and no electricity but with a wood stove and paraffin lamps.

On March 3 1961 Harold of a heart attack at Salisbury Annexe Hospital, Salisbury (now Horare), Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).