Rayner, Harold

Hull Pals Memorial Post. SECOND LIEUTENANT HAROLD RAYNER. Born in York in 1893, Harold was the sixth of eight children to Joe and Kate Rayner of 30 Sholebroke Avenue, Leeds. He was working in Hull when war broke out and living at 56 Westbourne Avenue. Harold was originally commissioned into the 4th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment before transferring to the 10th. He was killed in action on 4th September 1918 at Verligham in Belgium as The Pals attacked the German trenches on Hill 63. Originally receiving a battlefield burial, Harold was exhumed after the Armistice and his final resting place is New Irish Farm Cemetery near Ypres; he was 25 years old. They suffered that day. When the British artillery opened up with what was intended as a creeping barrage for their soldiers to follow in quickly behind, it warned the Germans of their attack. A counter barrage was laid down on the exact position The Pals had taken in preparation to move forward. They lost four officers and ten other ranks killed, with a further fifty-nine wounded.