Henry Arthur Oborn

Story:
Henry Arthur Oborn was born in Hammersmith, London, on 2nd June 1882, the son of Arthur Oborn (a Police Constable originally from Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire) and Emily Jane Oborn (née Smith).  By 1911 Henry's father had retired and moved back to his birthplace and become landlord of the Horseshoe Inn, Ebbesbourne Wake.  Henry married Mabel Young at the Parish Church on 2nd May 1914 and they went on to have four children.   Henry enlisted on 11th December 1915 and was mobilized on 3rd June 1916, joining the 13th Works Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment as a Private (Service No. 2648).  He was transferred to the 312th Home Service Works Company of the Labour Corps on 28th April 1917 (Service No. 172906).  He served in the UK and was eventually discharged on 15th July 1919.  His military record shows he qualified for Medals which would have been the Victory and British War Medals. By the 1921 Census he was back in Ebbesbourne Wake working as a Carpenter and by the 1939 Register had moved to Crism Cottage, Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire, in the same occupation.  He died on the 29th December 1961 in Salisbury, Wiltshire.   His brother, Ernest William Oborn, also served for a short time before being discharged as unfit fit further duty. Henry's sister Emily Beatrice (b.1886) also served in the war, with the Voluntary Aid Detachment in a number of military hospitals around the UK.