Harold Jefferson Skill

Harold Jefferson Skill was born in Cape Colony (also known as Cape of Good Hope Province), South Africa in 1879. His father, Octavius Skill, owned The Bury Manor, Felsted, Essex, although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records him living in Africa. Octavius was a financier.¹ Harold had served in German East Africa and in the South Africa Campaign before serving in France. He left Cape Town on 11 July 1917, arrived at Plymouth seven days later and lodged at the Overseas Officers Club in Pall Mall, London. He was granted a temporary commission as Captain in the Middlesex Regiment, 6th (Special Reserve) Battalion. Just over six months later Skill, then living at 14 Farmer's Road (off Wyndham Road, near Camberwell New Road), married Elizabeth Anne Briggs, aged 24, at St. Mark's Church, Kennington 27 December 1917. Elizabeth gave her address as 108 Camberwell New Road, a short walk away from the church. Her father, Burton Briggs, is described as a sergeant in the West Yorkshire Regiment. The 1911 census records the then 42-year-old Burton Briggs, as unemployed and living with his wife Mary Ann Briggs, 40, father Isaac, two sons and an unemployed boarder at 7 Queens Row, Newington South, Southwark. Elizabeth Briggs was not on the census return for this address. It is possible that she is the Elizabeth Briggs listed at 18 Norfolk Street in Mayfair. This Elizabeth Briggs was a London-born under-housemaid, one of 10 servants working for the family of Frank Gore, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Yeomanry.

Less than three months after the marriage, on 11 April 1918, Elizabeth, then living at 15 Mysore Road, Lavender Hill, received a telegram from the Secretary of the War Office. It merely stated that Harold had gone missing on 24 March and that there were "no details known."

He had been wounded at Cambrai and been taken prisoner by the Germans. It was standard practice for the Germans or the Red Cross to issue postcards to prisoners, to be sent to their families to let them know their condition. One such postcard must have been sent as on 1 May 1918 Elizabeth received a letter from the Military Secretary. The "enclosed communication" had been intercepted by the Postal Censor, it said, and the Military Secretary was writing to "congratulate Mrs Skill most warmly on the safety of her husband."

However, Harold died 18 days after his capture. The German certificate of death showed that he had been captured at Cambrai on 20 March. He had suffered a shot wounds to his chest and was wounded in both hands. His left leg had been amputated. He was buried in the West Cemetery at Ghent.

On 12 September, Elizabeth received a letter expressing the Military Secretary's deepest sympathy for the loss of "her gallant husband". Harold's name would be added to the official lists. Elizabeth was then living at De Laune Street, Kennington.

Meanwhile, over in South Africa, Harold's family were attempting to get information. On 25 September Harold's sister Violet, the sister-in-charge at the Old Hospital, Salisbury, Rhodesia, wrote to the Military Secretary: "You were kind enough to send me a cable dated 18 Sept... I have his will here and wish to get it proved. The supreme court of Cape Colony - where the property is - will not take action on the cable you sent me and require the written official certificate of death from yourselves without which nothing can be done."

Did Violet and the Skill family in South Africa know that Harold had married before setting off for France? It is not clear from the records.

Elizabeth was attempting to get Harold's estate settled. On 18 September 1918 she wrote to the Military Secretary asking for the certificate of death. She wrote again on 18 October. "The space of time is costing me too much money to get things settled," adding that she had been instructed to write by Cox's bank. She had previously, while Harold was missing, applied for some of Harold's pay. Money was clearly an issue for Elizabeth.

The correspondence continued into 1919. "Can you please advise me as to how I can act about [the] small sum of money in Cox's bank and also in the Bank of South Africa," wrote Elizabeth on 24 July from Egginton Hall Hospital in Derby (this hospital was used for war casualties; it is possible she was working a nurse there). "I am also informed that a sum of money is to be payed [sic] to me through [illegible] by your branch. A will acted before I was married is in Africa. I understand it becomes invalid after marriage. If you will please advise me about this I would be thankful."

On 19 December 1919, writing from "Kite Rock", Moreton-in-Marsh, she enquired about an Army gratuity. "I have had no money except my widow's pension," she said.

The matter was not settled by 1920. On 20 February Elizabeth wrote again, a note of exasperation creeping in to her letter. "Will you please give me information re my late husband's money, or money due through Captain Skill's death. I am receiving widow's pension. Cox's bank inform me you have all the particulars concerning money etc."

There was no sum available for Elizabeth. The Military Secretary explained that because Skill had held a temporary commission and had no war service in the ranks, he was not entitled to this payment under Orders 17 and 85 of 1919. However, he was entitled to a gratuity under Articles 496/7 of the Royal Warrant for Pay, but this was "utilised in part settlement of outstanding Public claims to the extent of £153 19s 3d".

The harsh truth was that, even after this gratuity, her husband's estate owed money to the military for payments overissued, but at the end of 1920 it was agreed that the £32 15s 7d overpaid to Harold Jefferson Skill would not be claimed from his widow.

A handwritten note in the file says: "There is no clue to the financial circumstances of the widow, except that the addresses from which she wrote would not indicate that she was rich."

Harold's will was proved on 10 February 1920. Harold Jefferson Skill of Droogveld Diggings, district of Barkly, West Cape of Good Hope province left effects worth £70 10s 1d, "with will limited" in South Africa. The beneficiary in London was named as Harold's brother, Neville James Skill². There was no mention of Elizabeth.

Harold was captured and died as a prisoner of war on 7 April 1918. He is buried at the Ghent City Cemetery, Belgium. The Essex Weekly News of 23 August 1918 reported: Capt. Harold J. Skill, youngest son of the late Mr. Octavius Skill, The Bury Manor, Felsted, has died of wounds while a prisoner in Germany. He was 38 years of age.

More information at www.felstedremembers.uwclub.net

Photo: http://www.archive.org/stream/warillustratedal10hammuoft#page/3578/mode/2up/search/3579

¹ Rhodes, De Beers & Monopoly, Bob Turrell. London: Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History May 1982. http://alexanderhamiltoninstitute.org

² See also Kith 'n' Kin June 2009

Information from the 1891 census

In 1891 Harold Jefferson Skill, then aged 11, was living at Bury Farm in Felstead, Essex with his mother, Marion, 38, born in Cape Colony, and siblings:

Nevill Skill, born 1876 in Cape Colony

Violet Skill, born 1883 in Cape Colony

Mary Skill, 46, Marion's sister-in-law, was visiting with her brother, George Skill, 32. Both were born in Felsted. They were described as living on their own means. A nephew, Frederick Skill, aged 16, who was a student at Finsbury College and had been born in Great Waltham, Essex, was also present.

Three servants lived in: Alice Davis, 24, a domestic cook from Felsted; Emily French, 27, a parlourmaid, from Tolleshunt D'arcy, Essex; and Eliza Prior, 21, a housemaid from Hallingbury, Essex.