Thank you to Jane Anthony and Mary Hustings for the following research.
Horace was baptised at Christ Church on 26th September 1886, the fourth child of William and Amelia Longhurst; the family lived near Leigh Hill Place. Many of the men in the family worked as stablemen and domestic gardeners at various locations, including at Leith Hill Place and Anstie Grange. By 1901 Horace was working as a cow boy and in 1911 he had moved out of the family home and was working as a domestic gardener and living in staff accommodation at Anstie Grange.
PTE H. J. Longhurst
Leicestershire Regt.
Pte. Horace J. Longhurst, who was killed in action on July 14th, was the third son of Mr. and Mrs. Longhurst of Rowemount, Coldharbour. He was one of the earliest to join up, and for years previously had been in the gardens at Anstie Grange. He was wounded in January. His eldest brother Sidney was previously killed. Mr. and Mrs. Longhurst have three other sons in the Forces. Henry in the Royal Engineers, Fred in the Royal Fusiliers, and Edgar in the Queen’s. The sympathy of the village goes out to the bereaved parents, but they have the comfort of knowing that their dear ones have fallen at the post of duty.
Horace Longhurst Death Notice 14th August 1916 © Surrey Advertiser
Horace enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment on 4th September 1914. As his older brother was already a Company Quartermaster in the Queens Own West Surrey Regiment, it might be that Horace chose to serve in a different regiment from his brother. The 9th Battalion was a service battalion raised in September 1914 and disbanded in 1917. Horace was killed during the battle of the Somme and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial
| Born | Coldharbour, Surrey | |
| Son of | Amelia and the late William Longhurst of 2 Weald View Cottages, Coldharbour, Dorking |
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| Brother of | William Sidney Longhurst |
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| Regiment | 9th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment | |
| Number | 15004 | |
| Date of Death | 14th July 1916 | |
| Place of Death | France | |
| Cause of Death | Killed in action | |
| Age | 28 | |
| Memorial | Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France |
