Horace was born on 15th August 1897 in Melton and was baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 17th October that year. He was the only son of Edward and Mary Eliza (née Emmens). Edward was a shepherd and worked all around Suffolk. In 1901, the family was living on the Broxtead Estate near Sutton and, by 1911, they had moved to the Tollgate Cottage on Bredfield Road, Melton. By this time, the thirteen-year-old Horace worked as a butcher’s boy.

Horace was too young to enlist when the war was declared, so it was not until conscription was introduced in 1916 that he joined the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) in September of that year. Over a year later, in October of 1917, he was posted to France, where he joined the 402nd Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery.

The RHA batteries (consisting of six light field guns firing shells weighing between 13lbs and 18lbs) provided support to cavalry brigades. In April 1918, Horace and the 402nd Battery were transferred to the Royal Field Artillery and became the 141st Battery. At the end of the war, the battery was part of the Army of Occupation in Cologne, Germany.

After war ended, Horace returned home and, in 1926, married Minnie Perryman in the Woodbridge area. By 1939, the family was living in Clare, Suffolk, where Horace was working as a butchery manager. He was also a special constable. Horace died in 1980 at the age of eighty-three.

For his war service, Horace received the British War and Victory Medals.