In the late 1700s British colonists from Barbados began settling on the north coast of South America and by the year 1800 the area around Essequibo and Demerara had over 380 sugar cane plantations. In 1831 the British merged the old Dutch colonies of Essequibo and Demerara to create British Guiana.

Harold Ozanne’s mother Mary Searle had been born on the Trinidad Sugar Estate, Orange Grove, Trinidad, West Indies in 1858 and at the age of 18 married his father John Henry Ozanne a plantation manager, in 1876. At the time of his birth in April 1879 Harold’s parents were living on the Zeelandia Plantation on the north coast of Guiana. This was one of many plantations on Wakenaam, the largest of the Essequibo River islands. Located at the extreme northern end of the island overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Zeelandia is also a fishing village. Harold’s sister Katherine was born on the Lusignan Plantation, on the coast east of Georgetown in 1880.

Harold attended Elizabeth College in Guernsey from 1892 to 1895. He would have had three uncles and an aunt living on Guernsey at the time. One of the uncles Edward (later Sir) Chepmell Ozanne would become Bailiff (Governor) of Guernsey. His only son Edward, three years younger than Harold, was killed in France in 1915.

After leaving school Harold entered the Royal Naval College Greenwich in 1897.

Harold’s father John later moved from Guyana to St Lucia (around 1892) but after the failure of his agricultural venture he joined the British Colonial service. He became the Travelling Commissioner for the north bank of the Gambia River and played a key role in establishing the area as a British Protectorate. For his colonial service he was awarded the CMG (Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George). In 1902 he developed black water fever (a type of malaria) and he died aged 49 in Bathurst, the main town of Gambia. His wife lived in France to avoid the cold weather of England and died in Cannes in 1928.