Harold Francis Cosser

Story:
Harold Francis Cosser was born in Donhead St. Mary, Wiltshire, on 30th November 1894 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Shaftesbury, Dorset, on 24th January 1895, the son of George Cosser and Anna Louisa Cosser (née Hopkins), a local family. Harold spent his early years in Donhead St. Mary until, by 1911, he was boarding in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, and working as an apprentice ironmonger.  He enlisted with the 1st/4th Battalion of the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire) Regiment as a Private (Service No. 1191).  He was later attached to the 2nd Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment (Service No. 200122).  He served in Mesopotamia and died in Turkish hands whilst a prisoner on 22nd May 1917 and is remembered on the Basra Memorial, Basra, Iraq, (Panel 22 & 63).   He was awarded the Victory and British War medals as well as the 1915 Star.