4149: Squire Lawrence Horsman

Squire Lawrence Horsman (who was not a squire - this was his name) was a pupil at Bradford Grammar School he joined the 6th West Yorkshires. He was only 18 when he went to France. He was wounded in the thigh on 9/9/1916 at Sunken Road on the Somme when his revolver went off in his pocket after the revolver was hit by shrapnel. He was evacuated to hospital - the wound was left open to drain. He convalesced in Oxford, possibly at St John's College. He did a musketry course at Clipstone Camp possibly training others. He was commissioned in 1917. He became a pilot on 22/1/1918. He flew his first sortie into France on an observer aircraft on 25/7/1918. At one point he was shot down after being attacked by 5 Fockers. He survived but his plane was full of bullet holes and unusable.

After the war he was offered his old job back in a solicitor's office. He declined and became a mill engineer working at Lister Mill, Bradford.