BORN HULL 1891. HULL PAL. SON OF ROBERT WATSON & HANNAH LEIGHTON ABOVE.
Born in April 1891, Oscar was the fourth of five children to Robert and Hannah Rounding of 19 Thoresby Street, Hull. A Law Clerk before the war he queued to enlist on the morning of 1st September 1914, and only 127 men in the entire city were more keen than Oscar to fight for King and Country. He joined the 10th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Commercials’, 1st Hull Pals.
Oscar trained throughout 1915 at barracks in Hornsea, Beverley and Ripon before leaving Devonport bound for Alexandra, Egypt on December 8th. The battalion served there over the winter and left Port Said bound for Marseilles in early March 1916. Then began the slow journey north to the trenches of the Western Front.
Oscar was killed in action during the bombardment which flattened the Pal’s trenches in the small hours of 4th June 1916 claiming so many young lives. He is buried in Sucrerie Military Cemetery, a young man of 25. His father was a preacher, a calling his elder brother had also taken up. I wonder if Oscar’s death tested that faith.
Leighton, Oscar Rounding
First name:
OSCAR ROUNDING
Military Number:
128
Rank:
Private
Date Died
04/06/1916
Place died:
Sucrerie Military Cemetery, Colincamps, Somme, France
Age:
25
