Oakley, Harold Henry (Bunny)

Age: 31
Date of birth: c1914

Parents: Edgar Samuel Goldsmith Oakley and Elizabeth Frances Moore Oakley (nee Rawlins)
Wife: Single
Address: 101 Wathen Road, Warwick

Occupation: Career soldier

Harold Henry (Bunny) Oakley was born in 1913 and was the youngest son of Edgar Samuel Goldsmith Oakley and Elizabeth Frances Moore Oakley (nee Rawlings). He has an older brother Edgar Frederick Thomas (Ted – born Q4 1905) and an older sister, Hilda Louisa (born 1908). There was another child (named Baby Oakley in the 1911 census) who was two weeks old but it appears he or she did not survive. At the time of the 1911 census, the family were living at 20 Albert Street with Bunny’s mother’s family.

Bunny’s mother died in 1925 and is buried in Warwick Cemetery. His father married again – to Elise Dolman in 1936.

Bunny left his estate to his father, so it seems that he was not married. Warwick Advertiser 8th February 1946:

Bunny’s father died in 1952 and is also buried in Warwick Cemetery. His stepmother married again, to a Mr Soden.

Military Service

Rank & Number: Lance Corporal, 5380850
Regiment/Service: 6th Battalion, Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
Brigade/Division: 74th Independent Infantry Division
Date of death: 8th February 1945
Cause of death/Battle: Died of wounds
Commemorated/Buried: Commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial, Myanmar. Face 15
Awards:
Commemorated locally at:

Harold enlisted in 1930 at the age of seventeen and served nearly seven years in India and Burma. He was recalled in 1939 and was wounded twice in 1940 before returning to service and dying from wounds received in December 1944.

The following appeared in the Warwick Advertiser on 23rd February 1945

Contributors

  • Unlocking Warwick Research Group
  • Warwick Advertiser excerpts courtesy of Warwickshire County Record Office

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